Trio of Dim Sum: Wuxi Crab and Pork Soup Dumpling, Har Gow with Shrimp and Bacon, and Pork Belly Zongzi 

Cara's first course of the finale tells the story of her past, with help from her sous chef Beverly Kim. 

Cara: "My path — I'm gonna do a soup dumpling because it's technical and it also comes from where my Chinese family [is from]." 

Cara: "For my past, I'm making three types of dim sum, which means little bites. The first dim sum is going to be a crab and pork soup dumpling from Wuxi, which is where my family's from. These are the soup dumpling balls. And after soup dumpling, I'm going to go into the skins for the har gow. A har gow is a shrimp and bacon filling with a crystal dumpling skin. My mother taught me how to make this dumpling, and it's the dumpling that we grew up eating and distributing between my siblings because we loved it so much. And it's one of my favorite things. The third dim sum is a zongzi filled with sticky rice and pork belly, stuffed bamboo leaf. It's homey and comforting and rich and gooey in all the right ways." 

Cara (presenting): "These are all dishes from my family history and my culinary history as a child. The soup dumpling is a Wuxi soup dumpling with crab and pork, which comes from the province right outside of Shanghai. So that's where my family's from for a thousand years. The har gow is a filling that my mother taught me as a child, put into a crystal skin dumpling. And then the zongzi is a childhood snack. I would bring it and eat it with these kids, and they thought I was a little bit odd for my choice. It's a sticky rice that has been soaked and then wrapped in a bamboo leaf." Cara (after serving): "They said they loved everything, and that soup dumpling wasn't soupy enough. The soup dumpling didn't have enough soup. That's not a good sign. You know, it was a harsh critique. It felt like I didn't do a good enough job. It's juicy. It's just not soupy."