Chinese · Jiangnan · main

Lion's Head Meatballs (Shizi Tou)

Lion's Head Meatballs (Shizi Tou) reads umami 8.6, richness 6.0 and salinity 5.5 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Chinese · Jiangnan main, about 2 hr 13 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 8.6 · Richness 6.0 · Salinity 5.5 · Sweetness 3.9 · Allium 2.8 · Funk & Ferment 2.8 · Nutty 2.6 · Warm Spice 2.1 · Earthy 0.9 · Herbaceous 0.9 · Bitterness 0.8 · Heat 0.7 · Sourness 0.6

What's in it (16)

Time & effort: about 2 hr 13 min (1 hr 43 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 82.6 kcal, 6 g protein, 5.1 g fat, 3.3 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains egg — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (6 steps)

  1. Mix the pork with the salt, white pepper, Shaoxing wine and egg, stirring hard in one direction, then work in the ginger-and-spring-onion water a spoonful at a time until it is all absorbed. Fold in the water chestnuts and potato starch last. The pork should be chopped rather than pasted; a Huaiyang cook wants a meatball you would describe as loose, which is why lion's head is tender instead of bouncy.
  2. Wet your hands and form four large balls, about 150 g each, tossing each one from palm to palm a dozen times to compact the outside. Chill 30 minutes.
  3. Heat the oil in a wide pan over medium-high heat and brown the balls on two sides only, 2 minutes a side. Handle them gently; they are fragile now and will firm up in the braise.
  4. Line the pan with half the Chinese cabbage, sit the meatballs on top, tuck the rest of the leaves and the sliced ginger around them, and pour in the stock with the soy sauce and sugar. It should come two-thirds of the way up the balls.
  5. Bring barely to a simmer, cover and cook at the faintest tremble 60 to 90 minutes. Never let it boil or the meatballs will tighten and break. The cabbage collapses into something sweet and silky and the broth turns faintly milky.
  6. Lift the meatballs and cabbage into a bowl. Stir the slaked starch into the broth, simmer 30 seconds until it just coats a spoon, and pour it over.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.