Everyone loves the deliciousness of fish. For example, I have loved eating fish since I was a child, so much so that I got the nickname Greedy Meow. Fish balls can be said to be a frequent visitor to my family’s dining table. I only talked about them when I was a child. It is smooth and chewy. When I grow up, I realize that fish is a good food with low fat and high protein, so I not only love to eat it, but also love to make it. However, although fish balls are just a piece of naked meat, I want to make them well. It’s not easy to be both tender and soft.

If you want to make fish balls delicious, you must first choose fresh live fish. Wash the fish, chop off the head, cut it in half, remove the belly edge and fish bones, and scrape the fish. Gradually scrape off the fish meat, thus removing not only the fine spines but also the tendons. Then chop the clean fish meat into minced fish with a pair of knives, the finer the better. Then make a pot of onion and ginger water. First, slowly pour the onion and ginger water into the fish paste. While pouring, stir the fish paste in one direction with your hands. This is the so-called fish ball. After stirring evenly, pour it slowly. Add water, continue to stir well, add salt and cooking wine, stir vigorously for a few minutes, then beat in the egg white, stir well, add water while stirring, one or three times, until the fish is completely The mud will be shiny and it won't drip when you pick it up with your hands.

Finally, squeeze the beaten fish paste into a round shape, put it into a pot of cold water, and heat it until it is 80% hot. Turn the fish balls over. At this time, change to a low heat and watch the water almost boil. When the temperature rises, take out the fish balls immediately and replace them with cold water three times, because the sudden changes in hot and cold temperatures will make the ingredients more compact. The fish balls that have been stimulated by cold water will naturally not break apart and have a very elastic texture. In fact, the key to making fish balls is salt. If it is too salty, the fish balls will melt when the water is boiled. If it is too light, the fish paste cannot be beaten and the fish balls will not be made well.

Detailed method

1. Remove the bones from the fish, take the fish meat, and chop it into fish paste with the back of the knife (note: you must use the back of the knife, not the tip, nor the meat grinder) , it won’t be elastic enough), take 1 pound of fish paste as an example, pour 2 egg whites, 1 spoon of cooking wine, and 1 spoon of ginger juice to remove the fishy smell.

2. Add 2 taels of fatty pork and a small amount of minced coriander (you can omit it if you don’t like coriander). The fat meat can make the meatballs less sticky and taste smoother.

3. Add a little water and stir for a few minutes until the fish meat becomes gelatinous. Insert the chopsticks into the fish and it will be ready when the chopsticks do not fall over.

4. Cut the remaining fish bones into pieces after removing the fish meat. Pour an appropriate amount of oil into the pot. After the oil is hot, add the fish bones and a few slices of ginger, and cut until both sides of the fish bones are golden.

5. Add water to the pot, add 2 tablespoons of ginger juice, and simmer for 10 minutes. The fish soup will become white and fresh.

6. Remove the fish bones, pour the fish soup into the pot, and then start cooking the fish balls.

7. Put a small piece of fish paste in the palm of your hand, slowly squeeze it out from the tiger's mouth, and then scoop out the fish balls with a spoon.

8. After the meatballs are put into the pot, simmer over low heat until the soup boils and the fish balls float.

To make delicious and chewy fish balls

The first thing is to choose fish. In addition to choosing dace raised in specialized fish ponds, there are also requirements for the "body" of dace. Generally, fresh dace weighing about 200 grams should be used. The isinglass produced from over-aged fish meat not only has a rough texture but also has a loose structure. However, if the fish is not fresh and has even passed the autolysis period, no matter how much you add it, it will be in vain.

The second is cleaning, which is an indispensable part. It is worth noting that moderate rinsing can remove blood stains, impurities in fish meat and myoglobin in muscles, but the washing time cannot be too long. long as this will make the fish tough.

The third is beating. This is a very important procedure that requires great patience. The beating time is at least 3 hours. It is a test of the arm strength and endurance of the pill-making master! Do not add it when starting to beat. For any condiment, just put the best fish meat in a large stainless steel basin and beat it vigorously. Use the condiment as the "back" to avoid blocking the "thermal condensation" of the isinglass molecules during the beating process and losing elasticity.

The fourth is "additives". Many people think that the delicious and chewy fish balls must be due to the addition of borax. In fact, anyone who knows a little bit about the production of fish balls knows that "adding borax" is just alarmist. However, the isinglass that is about to be completed does need to add "additives". It is limited to salt, water, oil, egg white and the popular enzyme preparation - TG enzyme (transglutaminase). Salt can enhance the dissolution of myosin and actin and the viscosity of the sol; water can dilute the isinglass, which can dissolve strongly, so that a large number of water molecules can be arranged around; and oil can increase the delicateness and smoothness of the fish balls. The taste is good and has a whitening effect; the egg white is also to maintain the tenderness and elasticity of the fish balls; (glutamine transaminase) promotes the cross-linking between fish protein molecules, making the fish balls more elastic.

Finally, the chef can squeeze the beaten isinglass into fish balls. After some "practice", the fish balls are finally ready to be cooked. At this time, the chef will put the raw fish balls into the cold water pot first, and then move it to the fire. As the water temperature in the pot increases, the elasticity of the fish balls will increase until the water in the pot bubbles around the edge of the pot. Turn to low heat and keep the water warm for about half an hour. The cooked Xiansha fish balls are white and plump and look really nice.

Tips

1. Add a little water while chopping the fish. Firstly, the fish will not stick to the knife, which saves effort. Secondly, the fish will be more tender.

2. After chopping one side, use a knife to turn the fish meat underneath and chop it up. Repeat this until the fish meat is chopped evenly and delicately.

3. The chopped surimi should be whipped in one direction to make the surimi more elastic and chewy.

4. If you feel that the surimi is too thick and dry, add an appropriate amount of water and continue to beat. If the surimi is too thick, the prepared fish balls will be hard and not tender enough.

5. There is no need to add any other auxiliary ingredients to the whipped surimi. Just add a little salt to taste and an appropriate amount of oil to make the surimi smoother.

6. You can squeeze out round meatballs with your hands. The trick to keeping the surimi from sticking to the spoon is: dip the spoon in a little cold water before using it.

7. The meatballs should be placed in the pot under cold water and heated at minimum heat. While heating, add fish balls into the pot so that the meatballs are heated more evenly. By the time the last meatball is put into the pot, the first ones will have matured and floated. When the water is out of the water, there won't be anything raw or cooked.

8. Don’t use boiling water to cook fish balls, otherwise the fish will become old easily and taste very bad. We need to use water temperature of 60℃ to 70℃ to cook it until the soup smokes slightly.

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