Perfect Pot Stickers (Alton Brown)

Sandi (From CA)'s Note:

I finally got around to making these last night and, while my photos don't exactly reflect it, they were AWESOME! I made a very simple dipping sauce of about 2 parts Yamasa soy sauce to 1 part rice wine vinegar with some sesame seeds sprinkled on top. I froze the extra prepared, but uncooked pot stickers on a cookie sheet, each layer separated by waxed paper, then put them in a vacuum sealed Food Saver bag and back into the freezer. These got pretty consistent 5 star ratings on the FoodTV.com site.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 10 mins
• Prep Time: 50 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 35 potstic ...

• ½ lb ground pork
• ¼ cup finely chopped scallion
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped red bell peppers
• 1 egg , lightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons ketchup
• 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon light brown sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 35 -40 small wonton wrappers
• water , for sealing wontons
• 3 -4 tablespoons vegetable oil , for frying
• 1 1⁄3; cups chicken stock , divided

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.
2. Combine the first 11 ingredients in a medium-size mixing bowl (pork through cayenne). Set aside.
3. To form the dumplings, remove 1 wonton wrapper from the package, covering the others with a damp cloth. Brush 2 of the edges of the wrapper lightly with water. Place 1/2 rounded teaspoon of the pork mixture in the center of the wrapper. Fold over, seal edges, and shape as desired. Set on a sheet pan and cover with a damp cloth. Repeat procedure until all of the filling is gone.
4. Heat a 12-inch saute pan over medium heat. Brush with vegetable oil once hot. Add 8 to 10 potstickers at a time to the pan and cook for 2 minutes, without touching. Once the 2 minutes are up, gently add 1/3 cup chicken stock to the pan, turn the heat down to low, cover, and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove wontons to a heatproof platter and place in the warm oven. Clean the pan in between batches by pouring in water and allowing the pan to deglaze. Repeat until all the wontons are cooked. Serve immediately.

Reviews

[mommyoffour]

Delicious! I made these yesterday and my kids and I loved them. I really like the flavor in these, I have made others (that we liked) but these have a more unique flavor that we really liked. Thank you for sharing. BTW, I cooked half just like the instructions and the other half I fried....we liked both. Too good.

[Greeny4444]

Potstickers are so much easier to make than I thought they would be. They do take a while to fill/fold (took me about an hour, and I did the pleaty thing like AB did on his show - you can see it if you search for "Perfect Potstickers" on YouTube), but once that part is over, you can cook them in no time at all! I made this recipe, but the one on foodnetwork.com might've changed, because the amounts were a bit different: 2 T red bell pepper, 2 tsp. Worchestershire sauce (I used soy sauce instead), 2 tsp. ketchup, and 35-40 wonton wrappers. I only used 1/2 tsp salt (no salt would've been ok, probably), I used a 14 oz. pkg of wonton wrappers (which had about 42 in it), and still had a tiny bit of filling leftover. I also used ground turkey and added 1 1/2 tsp of minced garlic from the jar. Since it is just my husband and me, I only made part of this recipe and I froze the rest, as Sandi (From CA) suggests, which is SUPER convenient! I served these with shrimp fried rice (Chinese Fried Rice), and I made some Chinese hot mustard to go with them (Chinese Hot Mustard). Thanks for posting this, Sandi!

[Chris #5]

Made exactly as written, absolutely a hit. I like a crispier pot sticker, so next time will just fry them in a bit of peanut oil, and skip the simmering in chicken broth step. Don't be intimidated by the ingredients or the time it may take. Do it on a day that you have a bit of time free. Uncooked potstickers freeze wonderfully.