Brooklyn Brewery Chef Andrew Gerson spends lots of time on the road with our Mash Tour. Today, hear more about his time in Philly preparing a wild dim sum dinner, and learn how to make dumplings of your very own.
What do you get when you bring two Jewish chefs from Philly together? Dumplings, of course. For our Dinner With Friends on our fourth annual Brooklyn Brewery Mash tour, I got to prepare a dumpling-heavy feast with Chef Ben Puchowitz and the crew at Bing Bing Dim Sum. As a Philly native I love slurping brisket ramen at Cheu Noodle Bar and will literally drive down from Brooklyn for those black garlic wings, so I was super excited to get into the kitchen at Bing Bing. This wacky little spot that looks like my grandmother’s dream Mahjong parlor, minus the clouds of smoke and Floridian retirees. The crew there is killing it on Passyunk Ave., delivering the food they like to eat in a cross cultural mash up fit for all.
The menu for the night was amazing but my favorite dish was a szechuan pepper pork dumpling with a shishito pepper emulsion and fried shishito peppers paired with our Defender IPA. The crisp but malt forward West Coast IPA complimented the nuanced spice blend and cut through the richness of the fatty pork filling. I can’t fold a dumpling with the same finesse as the seasoned vets at Bing Bing, but I can put together a mean pork farce filling. I figured i would share the recipe so you can make it at home.
Szechuan pepper pork dumplings with shishito pepper emulsion and seared shishitos
Serves 4
Pork Filling
Ingredients:
1 lb ground pork (70/30 blend)
4 cloves diced garlic
4 tbsp ginger, grated
3 green onions, roughly chopped
2 tbsp ground szechuan pepper
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 egg
15 -20 dumpling wrappers
Rice flour for dusting
Make it:
Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly. Form filling into small balls about the size of a quarter and place in the middle of dumpling wrapper. With your finger wet the edge of the wrapper with water and fold over so edges meet. Pinch closed, pushing out any air, and reserve on a floured tray. Dumplings can be frozen for later use or steamed right away. To steam, set up a steamer basket in a pot and steam dumplings for 3-4 minutes. Remove and prepare to plate.
Shishito emulsion
Ingredients:
½ lb of shishito peppers
2 oz blended oil
1 oz black vinegar
1 tsp lime juice
Salt and pepper to taste
Make it:
Cut stems off of the shishitos and reserve. Get a cast iron skillet blazing hot, add 1 tbsp of oil and add shishitos to pan. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. When shishitos are soft and charred place in blender, add black vinegar and lime juice and blend adding oil to emulsify. Season with salt and pepper and reserve.
Seared shishitos
Ingredients:
½ lb shishito peppers
2 tbsp black vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp blended oil
Make it:
Get a cast iron skillet blazing hot, add 1 tbsp of oil and add shishitos to pan. Cook for 3 minutes stirring occasionally. When shishitos are soft and charred, remove from heat and toss with vinegar and salt and pepper. Reserve.
Assembly:
Place a dollop of the emulsion on the bottom of a bowl, add dumplings and place shishitos on top. Serve with our Defender IPA and enjoy. And if you are feeling lazy, just head to Bing Bing and let the dumpling masters fill your belly.