Dim sum =? savory snack

Thu Aug 18 06:55:07 UTC 2011

I'm a bit concerned about this thread because many of the post do not
necessarily reflect my own experience with dim-sum. I tried to put some
notes together--some may be wrong, so feel free to correct them at any
point.

First, the word has come to represent many things, some likely broader than
I would feel comfortable using. It refers to a style of meal, the meal
itself, items served at such a meal, items typical of such a meal but not
necessarily served at one, all Chinese savory "mini-bites" such as shao-mai
and har-gao. Furthermore, restaurants that serve such a meal are also
sometimes referred to as "dim-sum" or "dim-sum X", where X stands for
anything that traditional may identify a restaurant (e.g., restaurant,
place, joint, house). "Going for dim-sum" usually means a visit to such a
restaurant--irrespectively of whether this is a specialty of the house or a
sideline, perhaps offered only once or twice a week. And if you go to your
local Costco, you may find a plastic tray full of prepared dumplings (to be
microwaved), with a big "Dim-Sum" label across the top. I've also seen some
simple shao-mai packages labeled as "dim-sum".

Only last week I had a discussion with a Chinese friend (don't recall the
specific place of origin, but it is South Coastal China). And I was
corrected (unnecessarily, as it turned out--the distinction was not relevant
to the point I was making) that dim-sum is never served past mid-afternoon,
although one can certainly buy dim-sum items and eat them at his leisure.
That is, dim-sum is traditionally a morning-to-early afternoon meal or
snack, i.e., the spot traditionally occupied in American cuisine (if there
is such a thing) as "brunch". You don't have dim-sum for lunch or for
dinner--or, for that matter, for breakfast, nor do you have "dim-sum lunch"
or "dim-sum brunch"--it's just "dim-sum". This does not mean, of course,
that no one uses these expressions, just that they are not what is normally
intended by "dim-sum" (i.e., those uses might well be considered
non-standard--for a time).

Although most American Chinese restaurants serve dim-sum only on weekends
(sometimes only one day a week), in larger cities (NYC, Boston, Chicago,
SF), there are now numerous restaurants that specialize in dim sum and serve
it daily, although never after 3 pm (some only until 2 pm). But even at
these locations, the selection is more limited during the week than it is on
weekends.

Meal content: Most of the items are quite small and served on small
plates--sometimes still inside the individual steamer baskets in which they
were prepared (if steamed). But this is by no means exclusive. Such
specialties as steamed greens, clams, jellyfish, chicken feet, etc., are
often served on larger plates and must be ordered separately. To the best of
my understanding, this is not an Americanized addition, but a part of a
traditional meal. Still, the majority of dishes are pre-plated on small
plates or bowls. The differing colors or styles of plates usually correspond
to different prices charged for the items (or individual prices are marked
off on a pre-printed gridded receipt). Each small plate may contain anywhere
from one to four of any particular item, depending on the item and the
proprietor's preference (diners rarely have a choice--they must choose any
multiple of plates, but not specific numbers of items). The most common
service consists of "waitresses" pushing carts around the floor of the
restaurant, each cart containing stacks of plates, usually representing a
particular kind of items. For example, there may be a shao-mai cart, a
dumpling cart (including har-gao, and other fully enclosed dumplings with
different shells and different fillings), a bao cart, a noodle cart, sticky
rice cart (rice steamed in lotus leaf, banana leaf, or simply under a small
glass bowl), deep fried cart, etc. Not all cart contain pre-plated items.
For example, hot soy milk or hot almond-flavored "soup" may be ladled into
individual bowls at the table. The "dumplings" made out of tofu slices,
eggplant slices, green pepper halves or shiitake mushroom caps stuffed with
some kind of meatball mixture (pork, beef or pork/shrimp combination) are
often carted around together, but either already floating in a sauce or each
sitting in its own pot and ladled with sauce once plated. Each restaurant
may have its own specialty that may not be tradition or available elsewhere,
e.g., seafood dishes, baked pastries, etc. What passes for dessert is
usually 1) egg custard, 2) soy-milk or almond-flavored pudding, 3)
almond-flavored or bean-flavored jelly, 4) occasional sweet pastries (e.g.,
with red-bean filling) that may be baked, steamed or deep-fried. Other than
these and soy milk, to the best of my knowledge all other dishes can be
considered "savory" (or "savoury"). Some restaurants also serve one or more
soups (in addition to the hot soy milk or something similar).

Tea is an integral part of such a meal. Traditionally, it might have been
the center of the meal, although, in the American version, that's hardly the
case. In fact, the Wiki article on dim-sum goes further: "Going for dim sum
is usually known in Cantonese as going to "drink tea" (yum cha, 飲茶)."

In general, the Wiki article is sloppy and somewhat tendentious, but it's
worth checking out. In particular, it starts out with an important bit for
this discussion: "Dim sum is a Cantonese term for snack. However, dimsum
more typically refers to a style of Chinese food prepared as small
bite-sized or individual portions of food, traditionally served in small
steamer baskets or on small plates."

Now, "snack" could also mean a number of things. It can be a small meal or
consumption of something edible that is consumed between meals--e.g., an
apple, a candy bar, a cookie. The third meaning is an item for such an
interlude--i.e., the apple or candy bar itself. So, while the entire dim-sum
meal is certainly not a snack, each individual item may well be considered a
snack in that third sense. Perhaps, in French it would sound different, but
we are talking about Chinese food, not French haute cuisine.

As Wilson keeps reminding us, your mileage may vary. But that's my take on
dim-sum.

VS-)

PS: I am not trying to represent anything in a particular authentic
spelling. For example, shao-mai can be written as shumai or in a number of
other ways and it's a common item in supermarket freezers (and, lately, at
sushi counters). Har-gao is another one with a multitude of spellings, but,
despite Wiki claim of it being "traditional", it's actually a fairly recent
invention--in particular, the translucent dough wrapper is by no means
traditional and has been around for less than 50 years (according to one of
my Chinese cookbooks). Many items have been invented in Hong Kong, some
in Singapore and some actually have been brought back to China from the US.
Tracking down the history of each dim-sum item is very difficult at this
point. What people think is traditional may well be endemic to a particular
city.

On Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 9:04 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com>wrote:

>
> On Aug 17, 2011, at 5:21 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>
> > On Aug 17, 2011, at 7:56 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> How about "in Cantonese cooking, small dishes of food often served from
> carts in a restaurant."
> >>
> >> Dim sum is served outside strictly Cantonese restaurants now,
> >
> > I've had good dim sum in a Hunanese restaurant.  Maybe "Chinese" would be
> safer.
>
> I suppose it comes down to how people perceive it, though ultimately I
> think you're right.
>
> >
> >> I think, so perhaps that is too restrictive. Also, maybe "often served"
> should be "traditionally served" or "typically served."
> > Sounds good to me.  (On various levels.)
> >>
> >> I've eaten tapas and pintxos only in three or four places. In my
> experience, tapas are not necessarily snacks, though pintxos are. (I've
> eaten a whole meal on pintxos, but it took quite a few dishes∑) The
> non-savory dishes I definitely recall are dates and chocolate. I think the
> dates had cheese inside, but the chocolate simply was not savory by any
> means.
> >>
> > Well, presumably it would be in the broader sense (= 'tasty,
> appetizing'), in which case it's not opposed to "sweet".
> >
>
> That's another reason to dislike the word "savory": It's confusing! Is this
> meaning of "savory" basically applied when you eat something and say, "That
> was scrumptious"?
>
> I can't imagine anyone wanting to point at cuisine 1 and call it savory
> (tasty, appetizing) and cuisine 2 and call it not savory, so I have trouble
> figuring out how using this word would make a useful contrast.
>
> BB

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