A Dumpling Party with Bit + Grain!

Okay, so it wasn’t really a party. But ever since I received Tasting Table‘s email about having a dumpling party, I’ve been intrigued, pinned recipes, and hoped that the day would come when my friends would drink Asian beers and fold dumplings with me. That was last fall.

And then I got this text from my friend Baxter:  “Can you make dumplings? The Asian kind.” * My moment had arrived.

Working on a story for Bit + Grain, a badass online publication covering the best of North Carolina that she and a couple others started (my friends are doing cool shit you guys, following their dreams and such), we were going to make dumplings while she captured it in photos as a promotion for their latest piece.

In the past I’d only ever experimented with Alton Brown’s perfect potstickers recipe, but they’d always turned out great so I was pretty confident in my ability to rise to the occasion. Dumplings might look intricate and intimidating, but if you can read a recipe and follow directions (I realize this might weed some folks out), you can definitely make them. You also need to stop by your preferred Asian market. We planned to try out a more authentic style dumpling and at the same time, we decided to make an Eastern North Carolina not-at-all-authentic batch too.

We started with Tasting Table’s pork and chive dumplings and then… we got creative. Baxter picked up some pulled pork from local legend Allen & Sons Bar-B-Que for us to mess around with. If the guys at the North Carolina State Fair can fill egg rolls with pulled pork, then this would have to be delicious. I mean, you can fill a dumpling with anything right?

Yes, that’s the answer. Yes you can. And to make these dumplings even better, aside from the traditional Asian dipping sauce of black vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil, we topped lots of them some locally-made sauces and chutneys from Farmer’s Daughter, a local, small batch business. Yeah, things got really North Carolina. There were toppings like sweet potato hot sauce, corn and pepper relish, and (my favorite) Atlantic Sea Kraut which is made with seaweed (!!!) that tasted surprisingly amazing on the Asian-style dumplings. I sound like a commercial right now, but I’m not kidding.

Now from a food photography standpoint that evening, I learned that being a legit food blogger is pretty difficult (and annoying) if you’re trying to get great shots. Props to you, Pioneer Woman, because it’s very hard to pause your cooking and impulse to eat in order to take the time for photos, especially quality photos. (Risks involved: food burning, cold food, everyone being hungry and angry). Not only was there a fancy camera involved, Baxter had a white board for that crisp background and a light reflector (which I want to call a “bounce board,” but I don’t think that’s right according to Google) – we needed these things since we were about to lose our natural light (the sun, not the beer). Damn having a job that last until 5:30 PM.

It was a process, but having a lot of hands helped (as did the Singha beers we consumed). Stancil rolled balls of meat, while Trina and I folded dumplings. Baxter took care of all the photography while also giving me some tips on how to use my new camera in the “M” mode. (Yes, I know it stands for “manual” –  just jokes, you guys.) I also learned a little more about shutter speed. Baby steps.

However, for this post [shocker] I’m using Baxter’s photos that she took for Bit + Grain’s Instagram account. Don’t even pretend like you thought they were mine. God, they look so good. It makes me hate myself a little when I look at my own pictures from that night. She’s a pro. Mine are below…

No, we didn’t have our dumpling party in time for the Chinese New Year and there may have been some Bud Light and local beer thrown into the Asian mix, but I feel like the deliciousness of this event will inspire future Asian-themed dinner parties or at the very least, future barbecue-filled everything. At least I really hope so, because good times, good friends, good beers, and good food, um, what is better? We should all really have more dumplings, more often.

Check out Bit + Grain’s story about friendship, food, and how the owner of David’s Dumplings made it from Saigon, Vietnam all the way to Raleigh, North Carolina. And if you want, learn a little more about those ridiculous sauces and chutneys too. And by the way, this isn’t a sponsored post you guys, it’s just the first in a series of what I hope to call “my friends are doing cool shit.”

*Yes, this is the actual text. I scrolled back to find it.