Help me duplicate crab rangoon from a little Chinese spot in St. Louis, MO.

November 25, 2006 6:45 PM

There's this rockstar chinese restaurant in St. Louis, MO (Manchester area) called Hunan and Peking. They had the best crab rangoon I think i've ever had. Any ideas on how they prepare it? I live about 700 miles away or else I would still be visiting to enjoy them.

Most crab rangoon i've had have been more crispy, almost tempura, with cream cheese that was more colloidal than gooey. These guys seemed to bake it, though numerous attempts at crab rangoon recipes i've tried don't come close. Can you help?

posted by arimathea to food & drink (3 comments total)

Never been to St. Louis, but have you ever had the crab rangoon at Trader Vic's? (Many locations.) Is it similar? I have that recipe. They make it in wonton wrappers. I suppose you could bake that instead of frying in oil.

I suppose you've already tried asking them? Some restaurants won't give away their secrets and others just can't--they can't make it small enough for a home kitchen--but worth a try.
posted by GaelFC at 11:49 AM on November 26, 2006

Pardon my derail, but what does "rockstar" mean in this context? You crazy kids and your slang...
posted by The corpse in the library at 1:24 PM on November 26, 2006

Can't help with the crab rangoons, but I did eat at Hunan and Peking Garden for lunch (inspired by the thread), and can say that in this context, "rockstar" means good-- really, really good.

For what its worth, I think the crab rangoons were fried, but they were triangles (kinda like a samosa) instead of the shape I'm used to, and had a lot more filling. I wonder if that cut down on some of the crispiness?
posted by cosmonaught at 2:31 PM on November 26, 2006