Pork and Leek Dumplings

I saw Anthony Bourdain’s show where he was chowing down on soup dumplings at the Nanxiang Xiaolong Mantou Dian, a restaurant in Shanghai.

It made me hungry and reminded me of the time when my mom and I went to Shanghai.

My mom and my two aunts (her two sisters) made dumplings one night for twelve of us. It was a labor intensive process because there weren’t any dumpling wrappers from the store nor a Cuisinart to make the dough in 5 seconds. They kneaded the dough and then rolled it out into wrappers. The dumplings were perfect.

That’s what I thought of when I was walking by a freezer case at 99 Ranch and saw these Pork and Leek Mini Buns. My brain connected back to an event I could grasp. I also hoped these wouldn’t be dried out inside like the other ones I bought once. These were about one third the size of the ones my family made but they were juicy. I’d buy them again and not just for the memories.

New York Cut Pork

I went to Save Mart yesterday and in the meat section, I saw something I’d never seen before, New York Cut pork.

I googled “New York cut” and found Barry Popik‘s excellent etymological discourse. After living 25 years in New York City, I knew that “New York cut” steaks don’t exist in New York (at least the last time I was there) – they’re called sirloin steaks. New York steak is their moniker everywhere else.

I guess Save Mart just decided to call a pork sirloin (cutlet) a New York Pork Cutlet.

(Photo courtesy of Chris Watson, The Pug Father)