Packed with flavor

Delicate xiaolongbao on offer at the Shanghai Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant Photos: Courtesy of Shanghai Yuyuan Tourist Mart Co., Ltd

The perennial queue outside the time-honored Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant in Shanghai's City God Temple precinct zigzags much like the nearby bridge, with eager patrons craning their necks and standing on tiptoe as they await their chance to tuck into a steamer full of delectable Nanxiang xiaolongbao.

Xiaolongbao, literally meaning "small bamboo-steamer bun," are tiny pagoda-shaped steamed buns with a delicate, thin casing neatly pleated around a hearty, succulent filling of minced meat. The bun-making technique was listed among Shanghai's first batch of intangible cultural heritage items in 2007.

Nanxiang xiaolongbao are a traditional food icon popular with locals and tourists alike. Their history dates back to the 1870s during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) when they were invented by Huang Mingxian, the owner of a bakery called Ri Hua Xuan in Shanghai's suburban Nanxiang town. In 1900, one of Huang's apprentices named Wu Xiangsheng opened his own bakery near City God Temple, which he later converted into a xiaolongbao business - the Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant.

A well-made xiaolongbao has a neat shape, fresh and tender meat, juicy gravy that fills a spoon when pricked with the chopsticks, as well as a wrapper firm enough to envelop the filling and soft enough to yield when bitten. Jelly-like aspic is stuffed inside and melts into a mouthful of tasty soup upon steaming.

One of the few masters to have inherited the cooking technique is You Yumin, a sixth-generation maker of Nanxiang xiaolongbao. "Xiaolongbao are more than just a delicious snack, they are a tradition containing the memory of old Shanghai," You, a Shanghai native, told the Global Times at Nanxiang Steamed Bun Restaurant, where she serves as deputy manager.

In 1996, 17-year-old You graduated from a Shanghai culinary vocational school and started her apprenticeship with master Xu Huili, a fifth-generation inheritor of the Nanxiang xiaolongbao technique. You said that an apprentice has to go through numerous rigorous tests to become a potential inheritor of the skill, as well as years of study and practice before qualifying as a true xiaolongbao master.

"The training process is quite difficult, especially in winter when you have to touch the piercing cold frozen aspic," You said. "As the saying goes, 'the master teaches the trade, but the perfection of the apprentice's skill depends on his own efforts.' Much of the know-how can only be grasped through trial and error."