Small risen pork buns fried in a wide, shallow pan, steamed under a lid, so their bottoms go crisp and golden while the tops stay soft.
What makes it shengjian bao
A lightly risen dough, not the thin xiaolongbao wrapper.
Fried and steamed in one pan: crisp below, soft above.
Soupy pork filling, with sesame and spring onion on top.
Where it comes from
A breakfast of the city's teahouses and street stalls since at least the early twentieth century, cooked in great flat iron pans turned by hand over the fire so all the buns brown evenly.
Like xiaolongbao they hold soup, but the dough is leavened and thicker, and they're finished with sesame seeds and chopped spring onion.