Xiaolongbao: the soup dumpling, done properly

The trick is not in the dough or even the filling — it is in the gelatinised pork stock folded into the mince. Cold, that stock is solid enough to wrap. Steamed, it melts. Get that balance wrong and you either have a dry meatball or a dumpling that bursts before it reaches you.

This is why Shanghai xiaolongbao and generic "soup dumplings" elsewhere are different things. The Wuxi version is sweeter. The Shanghai version is savoury, with a thin clear broth and pork that is seasoned rather than doctored.

How to eat one without burning yourself

Lift it by the top knot with chopsticks, moving gently — the skin is thinner than you think. Set it on a spoon, nibble a small hole in the side, and let steam escape for several seconds.

Then drink the broth from the spoon, and eat what is left. Do not bite straight into it. Dumpling broth is served near boiling and the inside of your mouth does not forgive.

The ginger is not a garnish. Put a sliver on the dumpling before you eat it.

What separates a good one from a bad one

Three tells. First, count the pleats at the top — a hand-made one has clear distinct folds, eighteen or more. Second, lift it by the knot; it should hang heavy and slightly translucent, not sag and tear. Third, the bowl it comes in should have broth in it, because some always leak.

If a steamer arrives and the skins are white and opaque rather than slightly glassy, they have sat too long.

Where to look, and where not to

The reliable places are usually small, older, and not on Nanjing Road. Look for a shop where the steaming is visible from the street and there is a queue of people who are clearly on their way to work rather than sightseeing.

Avoid anywhere with photographs of the food in the window in six languages. A place that relies on passing trade rather than repeat custom has no reason to keep its pleats hand-folded.