Four expert tips turn prep work into a major part of the fun.
At the best dumpling parties, everyone helps out with the cooking and lingers long enough to pitch in on the dishes. So you’ll want to get your guests excited to be in the kitchen. If those coming over aren’t related to you (and even if they are), they should know they’ll be getting their hands dirty and that the dumplings will be ready whenever they’re done helping make them.
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The tips below will get you ready to host your first dumpling party — or may even help refine your technique if you’ve hosted a number of them before. But whatever you do, always remember that there’s a rhythm to making dumplings: a fill, fold, pleat and pinch that quiets the soul when practiced alone — and swells it with chatter and laughter when done with others.
1. Set up an assembly line
Set up your assembly line in a circle. Cooks can chat more easily if they face one another when wrapping dumplings.
Clear counter or table space for everyone to cook together, and be sure to get enough ingredients for each person to eat at least a dozen dumplings. Then, set up your assembly line in a circle: Place a bowl of filling in the middle of every three to five cooks, along with wrappers and a floured sheet tray or plate. (Cooks can chat more easily if they face one another when wrapping dumplings.) Together, they’ll line up their sealed parcels like soldiers on the tray.
2. Prepare your steamers
If you’re making any steamed dumplings, you’ll want to prepare your steamers in advance of cooking.
Next, have steamers or a pot of boiling water or nonstick skillets ready for cooking the dumplings. Cooks should have serving platters next to the stove to fill with the hot morsels.
Keeping steamers at the ready to cook the dumplings can make prep all the more streamlined.
3. Set up a sauce bar
Setting up a platter of sauces allows guests to mix and match.
Finally, set up a sauce bar with condiments that pair well with the dumplings, such as soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil and chile crisp. That way, each person can create a blend to taste. (If a recipe calls for a specific sauce, task someone with prepping it or do it before guests arrive.)
Guests can spend time at each of the stations or stay put at one. (Some saints will hopefully volunteer to create a dishwashing station.)
4. Serve them hot.
Either eat dumplings in batches, or assemble them and cook at once to ensure best results.
For nonstop nibbling, have people rotate among the stations to assemble, cook and eat as batches are ready. For a sit-down feast, everyone can help assemble the dumplings at the same time. Once the last one is pinched shut, the dumplings can be cooked all at once in a big pot of boiling water, a stack of bamboo steamers or multiple big skillets.
Assembled more dumplings than you can eat? Freeze uncooked ones spaced apart on a tray until rock hard, then transfer them to resealable containers or freezer bags. Cook them directly from their frozen state for up to three months.
And if your guests decline to be part of the cooking, use that freezer trick to prep for your party weeks ahead. Once everyone arrives, all you need to do is cook the dumplings. It may not be as exciting as a crowd at the counter, but it’ll be just as delicious.
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