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Gow Gees

Gow Gees are deep‑fried dumplings filled with shrimp, pork, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, green onions, ginger, and seasonings.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Bamboo shoots and water chestnut share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 61 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

The recipe

Time2 to 3 minutes

Ingredients

Contains: egg, soy, shellfish, sesame (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Also mentioned in the method: egg

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Soften the dried mushrooms by soaking them in warm water for 20 to 30 minutes.

  2. Squeeze out any excess water.

  3. Remove the stems and chop finely.

  4. Soak the shrimp in lightly salted warm water for 5 minutes.

  5. Drain and pat dry with paper towels.

  6. While the mushrooms and shrimp are soaking, prepare the vegetables.

  7. In a medium bowl, combine the first 11 ingredients.

Shape the gow gees

  1. Lay the wonton out.

  2. Place 1 teaspoon of filling in the middle.

  3. Wet all the edges with water (you can also use lightly beaten egg if desired).

  4. Carefully fold the wonton over the filling and seal, crimping the edges as you do so.

  5. Continue with the remainder of the wonton wrappers until the filling is gone.

Fry and serve

  1. Add the oil to the wok and heat to between 360 and 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

  2. Deep-fry the gow gees, a few at a time, until they are golden brown (2 to 3 minutes).

  3. Use a slotted spoon to remove the gow gees from the oil.

  4. Drain on paper towels.

  5. Serve the gow gees hot with soy sauce, sweet and sour sauce, or chili sauce, or your favorite dumpling dipping sauce.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Bamboo shoots + water chestnuttop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together61 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Bamboo shoots + sesametop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together53 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  3. Water chestnut + sesametop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together112 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Ginger + sesametop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,531 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  5. Mushroom + porktop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,840 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Shrimp
Provides the main savory, slightly sweet filling flavor and a tender bite.
Ground pork
Adds fat and moisture so the filling stays juicy when fried.
Wonton wrappers
Form the thin dough casing that crisps and browns in the hot oil.
Dried mushrooms
Add earthy umami depth and a chewy texture to the filling.
Water chestnuts
Add crisp texture that stays crunchy after frying.

The step that matters

Heat the oil to 360 to 375°F and seal the wontons well. If the oil is too cool, the wrappers absorb grease and turn soggy; if too hot, they brown before the filling heats through. Well-sealed edges keep filling from leaking into the oil.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mushroom, shrimp, pork, bamboo shoots, water chestnut, ginger, sesame):

  1. Welsh onionbetter flavor fit
  2. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  3. Potatoabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mushroom, shrimp, pork, bamboo shoots, water chestnut, ginger, sesame. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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