In Denver's vibrant culinary scene, chef Lon Symensma's French onion soup dumplings at ChoLon stand out as a signature dish. This article delves into the history, technique, and cultural inspirations behind these beloved dumplings.
In the city's ever-evolving food scene, some dishes have made a particularly memorable mark. In this series, we're digging into the stories behind these signature dishes and breaking down how they're made. Last week, we highlighted soup dumplings. It’s easy to see why. Dumplings allow for almost endless variations of fillings, flavors and textures. The meticulous hand-pleated wrappers drizzled with brightly colored sauces and eye-popping garnishes are highly Instagrammable.
And as a shared plate, they're perfect for groups of dumpling veterans and novices alike.So perhaps it should come as no surprise that when chef Lon Symensma put his French onion soup version of soup dumplings on the menu at the original ChoLon when it first opened downtown in 2010, they proved to be an immediate and lasting hit. Since then, ChoLon has continued to serve them and recently debuted an outpost at DIA. Symensma also added an offshoot, YumCha, which closed its downtown outpost this week but his French onion soup dumplings remain a popular menu item. “I didn’t know that it was going to be something that stayed on the menu forever,” says Symensma, “but this was the one that I started on day one, and it just stuck.” Symensma is planning to roll out a lineup of new dumpling flavors for the upcoming Lunar New Year on January 29. The YumCha Central Park location is also hosting a dim sum-making series called Do Sum Dim Sum — the next class, on January 19, is sold out, but look for more coming soon.While Symensma may use traditional Chinese techniques to make his soup dumplings, his choice of French onion soup for the filling is decidedly not standard. Neither is serving Chinese dumplings in a Vietnamese-themed restaurant. But there is a certain logic to it. “ChoLon is actually named after a market built by the French in the Chinese district of Saigon,” says Symensma. “So I was like French-Chinese-Vietnamese, and it just kind of tied all together.” The chef credits his longtime colleague Michelle, whom Symensma met while working at Buddakan in New York. Before he convinced her to join the team in Denver in 2019, Symensma would send his dim sum chefs to Xiao in New York to train. Once she made the move to the Mile High, she took over the entire dim sum program and has run it ever since. “It was a great technique that Michelle and I spent a lot of time working on at Buddakan in New York City,” says Symensma. “Soup dumplings were kind of a thing at that restaurant. Just like here, they were always the top sellers.”Exactly how a liquidy soup could get stuffed into a dumpling wrapper has remained a mystery for many diners over the years, particularly those experiencing the delicacy for the first time. Is the soup frozen and then wrapped with the dumpling dough? Is the soup injected inside? Symensma chuckles at some of the creative theories he’s heard. But in reality, the construction is a simple, straightforward process that employs basic kitchen science. Getting the soup dumpling “broth” into the dumpling requires making an aspic. When making stock, the bones being simmered release gelatin into the liquid which, when chilled, solidifies like Jell-O. Chefs often amplify this process with actual sheets of gelatin for a firmer, more stable aspic. When wrapping soup dumplings, chefs use cubes of aspic combined with whatever other filling is desired (in this case, caramelized onions). The dumplings are then chilled again to retain their consistency. Upon service, the buns are steamed in the familiar circular bamboo container, which both hydrates the wrapper and melts the aspic into a warm, flavorful, comforting broth.When ChoLon first started making soup dumplings, the stock was made the traditional way — roasting beef bones and simmering them with carrots, onions and celery for over 24 hours to extract all the flavor and gelatin. Once the volume of dumplings required increased to serve more restaurants, Symensma needed to do something differen
FOOD DUMPLINGS CHEF RESTAURANTS DENVER FRENCH ONION SOUP DIM SUM AS PIC GELATIN VIETNAMESE CHINESE CULTURE
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