Beautiful South in Charleston, S.C., recently launched an all-day dim sum menu on Sundays, featuring beef and pork dumpling varieties, as well as a vegan beet and mushroom option served with a tofu cream sauce.

Credit: Caroline Herring

Trend Insights: Dumpling Discovery

Further insights and opportunities with dumplings

Chefs love to be challenged with making dumplings, and food lovers appreciate the craft and creativity that go into every single one.

—TJ DELLE DONNE, Assistant Dean, Johnson & Wales University College of Food Innovation and Technology

Dumplings offer limitless flavor options, from the fillings to the sauces. The next evolution could be flavoring the dumpling wraps themselves.

—CHARLIE BAGGS, President/Executive Chef, Charlie Baggs Culinary Innovations

Extend the role of dumplings by considering them as an ingredient within a dish rather than as the dish itself. Using dumplings as a component within a larger build could allow operators to create globally inspired LTOs that are based upon a particular cuisine’s flavor profile and that can morph from season to season. Take, for example, pumpkin spice soup dumplings as a “garnish” for cream of butternut squash soup or shrimp har gao aguachile. Or use dumplings in sandwiches, like a sauerkraut pierogi Reuben or a duck potsticker banh mi or even as salad components, such as a crab rangoon “crouton” or a soup dumpling dressing that coats the other salad ingredients once the dumpling is pierced.

—REBECCA PEIZER, Chef/Founder, All Things Culinary