Boston you're my home

[katie_m]

The Story of Peking Ravioli. Which are the best.

(To be fair, it's a pretty reasonable name to come up with when trying to sell to people who knew Italian food...)

Comments

[elishavah]

Huh. "Peking ravioli" and "dumplings" are almost the same things in my head, with the former usually involving being pan fried, while the latter are steamed. Not sure why. I've always wondered what potstickers are, though, but never enough to look them up. ::facepalm::

And they're not kidding about Chinatown being a place you did NOT go until, oh, sometime when I was in high school.

[katie_m]

I will say Peking ravioli are breadier in my head than potstickers are. (The thing about French bread was pretty funny. I do still see rolls show up in Chinese food here, though I'm always puzzled by it.)

[nandamai]

Huh. Who knew.

[katie_m]

Not me!

[veejane]

Okay, the important part is that I can buy frozen Peking ravioli, if I can get to a Market Basket from here. Stephen Chen, you are my hero.

The funny part about calling them Peking ravioli now is that I know that's a term that doesn't travel. So when I'm describing my favorite Chinese foods to people from away, and I can't remember the Chinese term for them (usually), I end up being like, "Those northern Chinese dumplings, the ones with the thick skins, finished in a frying pan, you know..."

[katie_m]

There's this sushi place near where I work that I'm 95% sure has a high rating on Yelp primarily because it's hidden behind a cellphone store. (I mean, the sushi is fine, but really I think it's white people novelty factor it's getting points for.) ANYWAY, point is that in the mini-food court they've got (in the back of the cellphone store, don't ask me) there's also a place that sells frozen dumplings, and I should buy some sometime.

[poohmusings]

First, an admission: I kept misreading the title to read "Peking DUCK ravioli" which had me so excited because OMG YES GIMME PEKING DUCK RAVIOLI PLEASE. So I was mildly disappointed after reading the article that there are no Peking duck raviolis for me to eat. :(

But so interesting! As a West Coaster (who grew up in/around SF Chinatown), I'd never heard the phrase Peking ravioli before, but have to say it's a good descriptor.

[katie_m]

I'm sure somewhere there are Peking duck raviolis for you to eat! But I think you're more likely to find them in a city that's more into exciting food than Boston is.

(Did you ever watch Fringe? There's this episode in the first season that includes someone getting lost in Boston's Chinatown, which, uh. Walk sedately in one direction for ten minutes and you are no longer in Boston's Chinatown.)

[cofax7]

Huh!

The funny thing is, for all that I grew up outside of Boston, I don't think I ever had them until I moved west -- so for me, they're potstickers. The "Chinese" food I had as a child was the terrible Polynesian/Chinese stuff you got in the suburbs, with Pu Pu Platters and Chow Mein.

... and now I want potstickers. There's a new dumpling place in Chinatown that is supposed to be amazing...

[katie_m]

Oh, on the rare occasion I had Chinese growing up I stuck to the spare ribs. I was not interested in weird food. With sauces, horrifying. (I honestly can't remember what my parents used to order - now I'm curious.)

I'm basically in favor of all kinds of dumplings (except those sweet buns with the bean paste, if those count). I'm still working on how to eat soup dumplings right, though. I always burn my mouth.