Long Chao Shou

Founded in Chengdu in 1941 by Zhang Guangwu at Yuelai Market. The name is generally said to derive not from 'dragon' (long) but from a planning meeting at the Nonghua Teahouse (浓花茶园): the founders borrowed the homophone of nong (浓 → long/龙), a character also read as auspicious — evoking 'descendants of the dragon' and a flourishing trade. The shop later moved to its long-time home on Chunxi Road and was recognized as a China Time-honored Brand in 1995. Chao shou is the Sichuan regional word for wonton; one folk account ties it to the cook crossing the arms (chao shou) while the quick-cooking parcels boil.

The wrapper is rolled to near-translucency — thin enough to see the pink filling through it — and stays tender and slippery, never doughy. Inside is a small nub of pure pork, beaten springy rather than packed dense. In the clear-broth version the bowl is light and savory, the long-simmered stock clear and rich at once, finished with scallion and a few drops of sesame oil; in the red-oil version the same delicate wontons sit in a fragrant, faintly sweet chili oil. These are wontons, not the heavier Zhong dumpling — that has a thicker skin and a dry sweet red-oil dressing.

Two things define it: the skin and the filling. The wrapper is an all-flour dough (often with egg and a pinch of salt) rolled and folded under the pin again and again until it is paper-thin and translucent, so it cooks in seconds and stays silky. The filling is 'water-beaten' (shui da xian): water or stock is worked into the ground pork a little at a time, stirred in one direction until the meat absorbs it and turns sticky and bouncy — the water trapped in the protein is what keeps the cooked filling tender and juicy rather than dense. The clear original broth is the house signature: pork bones and whole chicken and duck simmered for hours, skimmed so the collagen gives body and mouthfeel while the broth stays clear, then seasoned only lightly with salt, white pepper, scallion and sesame oil. The red-oil version skips the rich stock and dresses the boiled wontons in chili oil, soy and a touch of sugar instead.