How to make tender handmade fish balls

The Internet is so developed that you can learn to cook whatever you want to eat. But without a perfect method and steps, you will definitely not do it well. Therefore, if you are also pursuing perfection, why not follow me to learn how to make tender and delicious handmade fish balls.

1. Choose about 1000 grams of fresh fish. Freshwater fish suitable for making fish balls include whitefish, knife fish, catfish, black fish, black carp, grass carp, mandarin fish, etc. Saltwater fish include conger eels, sharks, pomfret, yellow croaker, and flounder.

2. Clean the abdomen, remove the internal organs and wash them. Make a straight cut down the middle of the fish spine, then use the knife to slice out 2 pieces of fish meat on each side close to the bone, then peel off the skin and scrape the fish meat from the tail to the head. The fish blood (the red part) can be removed so as not to affect the white color of the finished product. Rinse the scraped fish meat with cold water to remove impurities and fishy smell, and make the fish meat whiter. After rinsing, wrap it in gauze and squeeze out excess water.

3. Put about 600 grams of fish meat on the chopping board and smash it into a paste with the back of a knife. Then use the blade of a knife to chop it into a very fine and fat-like paste and shovel it into a bowl. (The picture only shows the beginning, not the end). When chopping fish paste, you can put a piece of fresh pork skin on the chopping board to prevent sawdust and other debris from mixing in. The blade should not be too sharp, and the cut should be light. Use the back of the knife to hit more, the blade to crush more, and less to chop. This way, the mincing is quick and it is easy to pick out the tendons in the fish meat. This step is critical. If the fish meat is too thick and has too many tendons, it will be very difficult to stir it later.

4. Mix 20 grams of cooking wine, 40 grams of chopped green onion, 30 grams of ginger juice and 300 grams of water, and add them into the fish paste in three batches. If you add all of them at once, it will be easier for the fish paste to produce soup. Add 60% for the first time, 30% for the second time, and 10% for the third time. Add slowly each time while stirring until it feels slightly sticky, let it sit for a while, then add the next batch of liquid and stir. The stirring technique should be slow at first and then fast, light at first and then heavy, and it must be stirred in one direction. (This process is very laborious. You can use an electric mixer to beat the fish paste into a paste, which will be more labor-saving, but the texture will inevitably be inferior to manual mixing.)

5. Next, add salt and continue stirring. The fish paste will become significantly more viscous. The amount of salt can be increased or decreased depending on the texture of the fish and even the temperature. Then beat 120 grams of egg white (not the yolk) with chopsticks and add it to the fish paste in three times, stirring thoroughly after each addition.

6. Finally, sift 30 grams of starch and pour it into the fish paste and mix well (if you are sure that the fish paste is well mixed, you don’t need to add starch at all). The signs of successful fish paste are that it becomes porridge-like, has pores of uniform size on the surface, is bright and jade-white in color, shakes when you tap the fish paste, and you can hear a popping sound when you stir it. If a small ball is picked up and placed in a bowl of cold water and it does not sink, it means that the fish paste is stirred just right. After stirring, place it in a cool place (below 25 degrees) and let it sit for 30 minutes to 2 hours before use. It should not be too long or too short.

7. Blanching: Pour clean water (excluding the amount of ingredients) into a pot and bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to around 60-70 degrees and maintain this temperature. Use the base of your left hand to squeeze the fish paste into round balls the size of egg yolks. Use a small spoon in your right hand to scrape it down and let it slide along the edge of the pot into the pot. Keep a cup of cold water next to your right hand and dip the small spoon in it every time you scrape the fish balls to prevent the fish paste from sticking to the spoon and affecting its shape.

8. When the fish balls turn white, let them sit for 5 minutes to prevent them from becoming tough on the outside and raw on the inside. You can push them gently with the back of a spoon. If the water surface is boiling, add a little cold water and always keep the temperature between 65-95 degrees to make the fish balls fresh and tender. Avoid high heat (over 100 degrees) as the fish balls will become rough and tender. When the fish balls float to the surface of the water and turn white, and small bubbles rise from the edge of the pot, you can take them out and soak them in a basin of warm water to prevent them from losing water, becoming tender, and changing color.

9. Boil in water and then cook with fresh soup: Put chicken broth into another pot and add fish balls. You can also add winter bamboo shoots, mushrooms, ham, black fungus, chopped green onions and other color embellishments. Bring to a boil.

Although the method of making tender and delicious handmade fish balls above seems a bit complicated, I believe that you are smart enough to master it. Now that you have mastered the text, you can start doing it yourself. I believe that you have strong hands-on ability.