During steaming the broth liquefies, poaching the pork in a rich, savory soup. As the dumplings cool, the broth solidifies and the skin hardens, which is why XLB need to be eaten quickly, but not too quickly. read more
If any of these constraints are not true, you've probably figured out a good way to eat them by now; these are, in my experience, the"maximally adversarial" circumstances under which one tends to encounter soup dumplings. So if all of this is the case, here's the best way I've found: Get one soup dumpling into a small bowl. You can also use a teacup. read more