Xiao long bao (soup dumplings), those amazing constructions of delicate dumpling wrappers, encasing hot, ____1____ (taste) soup and sweet, fresh meat, are far and away my favorite Chinese street food. The dumplings arrive steaming and dangerously hot. To eat one, you have to decide whether ____2____ (bite) a small hole in it first, releasing the stream and risking a spill (溢出), ____3____ to put the whole dumpling in your mouth, letting the hot soup explode on your tongue. Shanghai may be the ____4____ (recognize) home of the soup dumplings but food historians will actually point you to the neighboring canal town of Nanxiang as Xiao long Bao’s birthplace. There you will find them prepared differently—more dumpling and less soup, and the wrappers are pressed ____5____ hand rather than rolled. Nanxiang aside, the best Xiao long bao have a fine skin, allowing them ____6____ (lift) out of the steamer basket without allowing them tearing or spilling any of ____7____ (they) contents. The meat should be fresh with ____8____ touch of sweetness and the soup hot, clear and delicious.
No matter where I buy them, one steamer is ____9____ (rare) enough, yet two seems greedy, so I am always left ____10____ (want) more next time.