smooth dumpling meat

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It’s not cornstarch!

It’s not even fat! (maybe…)

It’s salt!

See attached image for test dumpling at westwood!

See below for science and references!

A dumpling is basically a chinese sausage in a chinese wrapper! To make the meat smooth and not crumbly, take the meat, and mix it with salt at least 8 hours ahead of time to allow the proteins to break down forming a unified, smoooooth meat. 😀

no more crumbly dumpling filler! Woo!

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To prove this, I ground up two batches of pork, both cut from the same shoulder. The first was seasoned with a 2% salt mixture (to make sausage, you must use a scale) and allowed to rest for 8 hours. The latter was left completely unseasoned. I ground both of them in a meat grinder, formed them into balls, then poached them in 180°F water until they reached an internal temperature of 160°F before cutting them in half. Check out what happened:

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Westwood test confirmed this with potsticker meat! I used a 1:60 ratio of salt, may need to tone it down to a 1:70 ratio of salt:meat for potstickers

-Isaac

Edit – 2020-03-21
Elizabeth said that she tried to recipe, and without a scale, you can do 1 level teaspoon table salt/1lb ground pork to create 1:60 ratio salt:pork.