Lion’s head, a famous dish in Yangzhou. It is probably named after its resemblance to the shape, which is quite large. Northern restaurants call it four happy balls, because a plate of four. The northern method is not as far as Yangzhou lion’s head.
My classmate Mr. Wang Huacheng, a native of Yangzhou, lost his mother when he was young and was raised by his aunt, who was good at cooking, so Huacheng learned the way to reconcile and cook. After many years in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Hwacheng was finally appointed as a minister in Portugal after a long period of time. In his spare time, he used to entertain the guests with his own knives and chopsticks. One of his masterpieces is the lion’s head, which he once told us how to make.
Everyone knows how to make lion’s head, but there are different techniques. The method that Hwaseong taught me is like this –
First of all, the material should be well taken. A large piece of tender pork, seven parts lean and three parts fat, without some tendons tangled in it. The most important thing to pay attention to when cutting, do not cut crooked, nor chopped into mush, the secret is “more cut less chopped”. The secret is “more cutting and less chopping”. Cut into pieces next to the knife, the more pieces the better, and then slightly chopped.
The next step is also very important. If you don’t add gravy powder to the meat, it will easily break apart; if you add gravy powder, it will be sticky and not tasty. So mix the gravy powder on two palms, and then knead the minced meat into four balls, so that the exterior of the balls will be naturally coated with a layer of gravy powder, but not inside. Flatten the meatballs slightly and fry them in a frying pan, so that the surface of the meatballs is taut and lightly browned.
The next step is to steam them. Put a layer of asparagus in the bowl first, then otherwise cut the yellow buds across the white for several pier-shaped or. Put the fried balls gently in a bowl and steam for more than an hour on high heat. Remove the lid of the pot to see the bowl full of oil floating, skim off the oil with a large spoon, or use a large straw to suck away so that there is not a drop of oil in the bowl.
You can’t use chopsticks to make the lion’s head, but use a spoon to scoop it up. Add onion juice, ginger juice and salt to the meat. If you want to add sea cucumber, shrimp, water chestnuts and mushrooms, you can do as you like, but it should be chopped.
The lion’s head is an important color in the recipe of the Yashima. The most appreciated one was Mr. Xiao Yiwu, a colleague of the compiler in Beibei, who was learning English at first and called it “Laiyang seaweed”, and he was so excited to see it. He died in a foreign country, and his tomb has been arched early, so I am disappointed!
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