Potstickers , Pork , Griddle
Best for: The lace skirt is the whole point.
Jian jiao — potstickers — get their name honestly: fried on the bottom, steamed on top, and stuck just enough to the pan. This griddle version uses the flour-slurry trick that fries into a lacy golden skirt connecting every dumpling, with a pork and garlic-chive filling. It is a different production from the site’s holiday cast-iron pork-and-ginger potstickers: flat-top, chive-forward, and built around the skirt.
Griddle: Flat-top griddle or large cast-iron griddle over medium heat on the grill; 375°F, with a lid or dome cover. Equipment: Griddle, lid, wide spatula, squeeze bottle.
Ingredients
Rest: 5 minutes. Total: 47 minutes.
Filling
- 3/4 lb ground pork
- 1 1/2 cups finely chopped garlic chives (or scallions)
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
- 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon fine table salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
Dumplings and skirt
- 24 round dumpling wrappers
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil
- 1/2 cup water mixed with 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour and 1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar (skirt slurry)
Dipping sauce
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Chinkiang black vinegar (or balsamic vinegar)
- 1 teaspoon chile oil (optional)
Directions
Stir the pork with the soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, ginger, sesame oil, salt, and white pepper in one direction until tacky, then fold in the garlic chives. Stir the dipping sauce ingredients together and set aside.
Fill each wrapper with about 2 teaspoons of filling, wet the edge, and pleat and seal into a crescent with a flat bottom. Rest the finished dumplings under a damp towel while you work.
Heat the griddle on the grill to 375°F and film it with the neutral oil. Set the dumplings in flat-bottom down, close together, and fry for 2 minutes, until the bottoms are golden.
Pour the skirt slurry around the dumplings, cover at once, and steam for 5–6 minutes, until the wrappers are translucent and the pork registers 160°F.
Uncover and cook for 2–3 minutes more, until the slurry has fried into a thin, lacy, golden skirt and the bottoms re-crisp.
Rest for 5 minutes, then loosen the whole sheet with a wide spatula, invert it onto a platter skirt side up, and serve with the dipping sauce.
Grilling tip: The vinegar in the slurry is a small trick with a big payoff — it makes the skirt shatter instead of chew.
