The Sinosphere · Volume 29, The Delta, the Salt Road and the Mountain Behind It
Shizitou, lion's head meatballs
Yangzhou
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 1 hour 30
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
Yangzhou. Hand-diced, not minced, and beaten into structure rather than bound with egg.
As tradition built it
Serves 4. 1.5 hours.
Ingredients
- 500 g fatty pork shoulder, hand-diced to a coarse "pomegranate seed" texture
- 50 g water chestnut, finely diced
- 10 g ginger, 10 g spring onion, 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine, 10 g salt, 1/2 tsp white pepper ginger, spring onion, Shaoxing wine, salt, white pepper
- 500 ml clear stock, for clear-braising
Method
- Hand-dice the pork, never machine-mince it: the texture should be coarse, roughly pomegranate-seed sized pieces of fat and lean together, not a paste.
- Combine with the water chestnut and seasonings, then beat and throw the mixture against the bowl repeatedly ("摔打") to build structure without overworking it into a smooth paste.
- Shape into large, loosely packed balls, roughly fist-sized, taking care not to compact them too tightly.
- Clear-braise (清炖): lower gently into barely simmering clear stock, cover, and cook at the gentlest possible simmer for around an hour, until tender but still holding together as a loose ball rather than a dense one.
What a modern chef changes
Structure without density, engineered.
Method
- Dice the pork by hand to a genuinely consistent size, using the dedicated spice grinder's pulse function only as a last check on uniformity, never as the primary tool, since a blade mince collapses the texture this dish depends on.
- Poach sous vide at a low, precise temperature to guarantee the ball holds together without the risk of it breaking apart in an open simmer, then finish briefly in the hot clear stock only to heat through and pick up aroma.
- Serve in individual bowls with the clear stock ladled over at the table, keeping the ball's fragile structure intact until the last possible moment.