Small bundles of tangy, sweet and salty, crimson, roasted pork; dumplings of flaky pastry filled with succulent shrimp and pork; lotus-leaf-wrapped sticky rice with Chinese dates and sausage; translucent, crystal-like dumplings encasing pink jewels of shrimp; and rich, multilayer scallion flatbreads, all carted around as you sip tea and chat the morning away. Ah, the pleasure of eating dim-sum-style!
Dim sum literally means “delight your heart.” Dim sum is as much about the style of service as it is about the foods that are eaten. This traditional ceremonial tea and dumpling style of service speaks to today’s consumers and provides a solution to what they crave—a closer connection to their food.
Dim sum, along with other small plates, is impacting today’s menus. This trend is proven in chain concepts, such as TGI Friday’s, which is increasing its appetizer section by 25% this year. Appetizers and small plates, notes Scott Randolph, senior director of culinary, TGI Friday’s, Carrolton, TX, are “a great way for family or friends to communicate during a meal. It makes the occasion more of an event than just a meal.”
Doing research for a project at TGI Friday’s, I was not surprised to find pot stickers on the menu: “Chinese pork dumplings steamed, then pan-fried and served with Szechwan dipping sauce.”
Dim-sum-style appetizers are also increasingly hitting the grocer’s frozen-food and refrigerated sections, offering convenient, fresh approaches to snacking and entertaining.
The origin of dim sum
To drink tea, yum cha in Cantonese, has been a long-standing tradition in Chinese culture. In homes across the world, dried tea leaves unfold and impart their flavor. But what may have begun as a home ritual evolved into a teahouse culture, an elegant culinary ceremony and a restaurateur’s dream.
Entrepreneurial restaurateurs realized this ceremony created a platform for folks to gather and imbibe tea. This casual affair would last for hours and, as the hunger pains set in, small snacks became a necessity. Although the tea came first, it’s interesting that it can cut the fattiness of the fried dim sum items and the pork- and-shrimp filled dumplings—often with high fat content—piled in steaming towers of bamboo baskets.
Today, cavernous rooms filled with the buzz of chattering people and rolling carts filled with delicious dumplings and steaming pots of tea are easily found in most large cities. Although some places only serve dim sum on weekends, others dish up dim sum daily.
A la cart, or not
Carts, some as simple as stainless steel shelving units on wheels, roll by with small plates of food, like sweet egg tarts with seemingly endless layers of delicate tart shell encasing brilliant yellow egg custard. Other carts are fashioned with gas and griddles to cook shrimp-paste-stuffed peppers, taro cakes (crispy fried cakes of taro and rice flour) or brown dumplings. Other options include shrimp-stuffed seaweed rolls or plates of sliced duck or roasted pork. And, although roaming carts have become an iconic part of the experience, you can always order from the menu. In fact, many delectable dim sum dishes will never grace the nomadic carts.