There are two basic types of dough, one with flour and water only and one that includes yeast, too. Of the doughs that include only flour and water, sometimes hot water is used, sometimes cold water is used and sometimes a mixture of the two is used. The resulting doughs have differences in elasticity. Standard all purpose, wheat flour with a medium gluten is recommended.

In general terms, the doughs that include yeast are typically used in buns and those without yeast are typically used in things like potstickers.

Check out Fuscia Dunlop, although she is an expert on Sichuan cuisine.

Her cookbooks are thorough and informative..

Land of Fish and Rice.

This one may have recipes that are closer to HK

This a recipe for Wontons in hot oil. but the filling is typical..

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/sichuanese-wontons-in-chilli-oil-sauce-em-hong-you-chao-shou-em-51147600

TYou could easily mmake the wontons, and have them in nice broth, if the heat is to much




If you to make it to NYC, i recommend taking the 7 train, and check out Flushing, Queens. The Chinatown there is growing larger than the one in Lower Manhattan..

In reality riding the 7 train you can sample Thai, Burmese, Indian, Mongolian. Nepalese,Dominican, Mexican, Salvadoran, etc...

Usually but have used bread flour. Not super critical, this dough isn't going to rise, form crumb, crisp up, etc. It simply needs to be cooked, not fall apart, and ideally not be too thick.

Make a test batch, experiment with different size/thickness for the rolled-out disk/wrapper and different pleating. You want to get a process that works for you, before starting to mass produce.

I remember my grandmother and aunts in the kitchen, wrapping dumplings.

I should make a batch and freeze some.

Get a book and have him learn. If he's gonna live far from his favorite food, he needs to learn to make it.

Hard to believe there is no good dim sum anywhere in SC or NC - I know NC has good bulgogi...

a food trip to NYC is never a bad idea however

It sounds like the problem is that they aren't near any major hubs that would have it assuming it exists. I'm sure that there are parts of every state that due to the location don't have much ______ cuisine. She didn't say there weren't any in the state, just that they aren't near where they live.

It might be easier, nicer, better to learn to make them than it would be to drive 6, 10, 14 hours round trip to see if there are good dumplings around.

There are 3 Trader Joe’s in S.C
Lots of dumplings, including soup dumplings.

https://www.google.com/search?q=trader+joe%27s+frozen+dim+sum&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari

Thanks. Good to know Trader Joe's carries some good stuff. I'll need to check it out.

We do have 2 Asian markets that are within 15 minutes of the house. A former Mandarin tutor my son had didn't think much of their frozen stuff so I never tried that. But having those markets close makes it easier to get some of the ingredients needed for dishes.

There a lot of discussion about how to make dumplings but I see no concern at all about the sauce

If the sauce sucks then it doesn’t matter how good the dumplings are


While subjective, I think it’s pretty obvious when the sauce is perfect. You don’t just dunk a well crafted dumpling in soy sauce

The Asian markets are more likely to have better stuff than Trader Joe's. At least the markets in my area do...

Some dim sum is eaten without any sauce...

Lots of recipes out there for a sauce for potstickers, etc... Google is your friend, you don't even have to get out of your comfy chair and put on pants.

I will say that any soy sauce-based dipping sauce benefits from using a good soy sauce. Not the crap you buy in a regular grocery store... I'd start with one that is brewed using traditional methods. I generally use condiments that are indigenous to the cuisine I'm cooking but I do have preferences and might use a Japanese soy sauce when cooking Chinese, for example.

Last thing... When eating dim sum out, skip the chicken feet offering.

I have a few of those. They certainly speed up the process, but the resulting dumpling is not as nice as one that is hand formed.

I agree

I’ll add that I don’t stick to always using indigenous condiments. Lately my preference for dipping sauce is a Vietnamese sauce called
NUOC CHAM. I could pour this on everything. Don’t be afraid of fish sauce. !!!!

Hell, fish sauce has been in my pantry for decades. Not that I would put it on dim sum, but I get your point.

To the OP, I used to live in manhattan. While there I would frequent a place in China town called Lin’s Dumpling House. I would get the boiled shrimp dumplings which came with spicy chili oil as the sauce. 20 years later I still dream of a big plate of these. I believe they are still there but whether or not they are still good, I can’t say. If you go, I suggest you check it out