# Pot Stickers or Dumplings?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-stickers-or-dumplings/28052>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 3, 2000, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-stickers-or-dumplings/28052 "2000-08-03T22:14:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Chas.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2000, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-stickers-or-dumplings/28052/21 "2000-08-05T01:13:40Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Baglady \*  
> **Green Bean asks: Hmmm… does “yaki” mean “grilled?” I am thinking of “teriyaki” and “yakitori” and "negima-yaki."**

Yes. “Yaki” is a noun form of the verb “yaku” which means “to bake, to grill.” There are other variants, like “yakimono” which literally means “baked things” but specifically refers to kiln-fired pottery.

Apropos of nothing in particular, I’ll quote an old Japanese proverb, “hiasobi o suru to, te o yaku suru yo” which loosely translated means “if you play with fire, you’re going to get burned.”

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**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\
**Post date:** [August 6, 2000, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-stickers-or-dumplings/28052/22 "2000-08-06T12:59:31Z")

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Baglady,

Yup, go into just about any restaurant in Japan and ask for “gyoza”, and they’ll pan-fry them without even checking if that’s what you mean. In fact, AFAIK, steamed suigyoza are only sold in Chinese restaurants (that is, restaurants specializing in Chinese cuisine, not restaurants in China). Of course, I could be wrong, and often am.

–sublight.

P.S. I’m only speaking for restaurants in Japan here. In the U.S., I once had some nice steamed gyoza at a Russian restaurant. The menu called them “Siberian dumplings.”

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**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\
**Post date:** [August 6, 2000, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-stickers-or-dumplings/28052/23 "2000-08-06T14:09:04Z")

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Leeann Chin, the local quasi-Chinese chain here in the Twin Cities, serves these really yummy dumplings that are sauteed to a light brown, then allowed to steam for a while. They’re VERY heavy on the meat. They’re called “pot stickers”. Everywhere else, I’ve seen them called “dumplings”. Linguistics aside, whenever I bite into one of these, I come damn close to orgasm.

Robin

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**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\
**Post date:** [August 7, 2000, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pot-stickers-or-dumplings/28052/24 "2000-08-07T03:23:36Z")

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As I understand it, they’re called pot stickers because they stick to the pot when you’re cooking them (could be wrong, Mom’s made them but I haven’t)

And as Dad used to say “Dim sum good eating” 😃

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