Lion's Head Meatballs (獅子頭)

We recently acquired a copy the Joyce Chen Cook Book. Joyce Chen was a pioneering figure in the development of Chinese food in the United States. Chen is credited with inventing both the flat-bottomed wok and the Chinese buffet. After leaving China, she made her home in the Boston area. In her restaurants, potstickers were re-branded as "Peking ravioli" to appeal more to American audiences. Many Chinese restaurants in Boston still call them that. The book itself is out of print, but we found a very good quality used copy on Amazon. Like Peimei's books, this one also comes from the 1960s, but the perspective is from making Chinese food in the United States, as opposed to Taiwan. Chen's recipes are generally quite simple in terms of ingredients, but go into a lot more detail on the step-by-step instructions than Peimei does. As with Peimei, I'm going to be making recipes from this book, discussing them, and updating them for the 21st century. It will be especially interesting to see dishes that appear in both.

For my first Joyce Chen creation, I'll be looking at shizitou, literally translated as "lion's head." These are large, soft meatballs made from ground pork, so named for their resemblance to, well, lion heads. They aren't the most common thing to see in Chinese restaurants, so I often order them when they're available. Shizitou are a classic dish of eastern China, and I ate quite a few of them in Shanghai. I've featured a lot of western and southern Chinese dishes on the blog, and I really need to delve deeper into this region. I've preserved most of the original Chen recipe here, though I have scaled it down to one pound of meat rather than two pounds. I did, however, use the original amount of sauce, and I don't think it would have been enough sauce for the full two pounds. Overall, I think Chen nailed it here, and they turned out great. Next time, I may tweak the seasoning a bit, but the texture was perfect.

There is nothing particularly unusual in this recipe, but this is a good time to discuss the various kinds of Chinese cabbage. There are three main types you'll commonly see: napa, bok choy, and Shanghai bok choy. I use napa a lot, and you can see it popping up as a component in many different recipes here. For eating on its own, though, I prefer Shanghai bok choy. Compared with regular bok choy, they are smaller (about 6 inches long as opposed to a foot) and the whole thing is a pale green instead of white stalks with green leaves. They are tender and mild and also work well as the center component of lovers' shrimp. While you can usually find napa and regular bok choy in supermarkets, I usually only see Shanghai bok choy in Asian markets. The last thing I wanted to mention is MSG (monosodium glutamate). Chen adds a little of it to the meatballs, and it shows up in a lot of her recipes (and a few of Peimei's, as well). I omit it, not because I buy into the fear mongering surrounding it, but because I expect most people won't have it on hand. 

Ingredients

Meatballs

• 1 lb pork shoulder, with fat
• 2 Tbs + 2 tsp light soy sauce
• 1/4 c cold water
• 1 tsp Shaoxing wine or Amontillado
• 1/2 tsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 Tbs cornstarch

Coating

• 2 Tbs cornstarch
• 1 1/2 Tbs water

Sauce

• 1/2 c water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 Tbs dark soy sauce
• 1/2 Tbs light soy sauce

Everything else

• Vegetable oil for frying
• 1 - 1 1/2 lb Shanghai bok choy (can also use regular bok choy or napa)
• 1/2 Tbs cornstarch
• 1 tsp water

Instructions

If using whole pork shoulder, grind the meat. Chen recommends running the meat through the grinder twice. Since I had already ground my pork, I chopped it with my knife a bit. Combine the meat with the rest of the meatball ingredients. Mix well and let set in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.

Meat after resting

While the pork is resting, mix the cornstarch and water for the coating in a bowl. Heat a little vegetable oil (just enough to cover the bottom) in a dutch oven or saute pan on medium heat. 

Forming the meatballs

Divide the meat into four equal portions. Form each portion into a ball and roll in the cornstarch mixture to coat. Carefully place each meatball in the pan. Fry until browned. 

Meatballs frying -- note the white cornstarch coating

Carefully turn to brown on as much of the outside as you can. When flipping, make sure to loosen the bottom with a spatula first. The mixture should be quite loose, so the meatballs will naturally flatten a bit. 

Ready to braise

When done browning, remove the meatballs and set aside. Drain the excess oil from the pan. Add the water, sugar, dark soy sauce, and light soy sauce for the sauce. Place the meatballs back in the pan and bring to a boil. Back off the heat to low, cover, and cook for 90 minutes. Flip the meatballs halfway through. 

Stir frying the vegetables

While the meatballs braise, prepare the vegetables. If using Shanghai bok choy, remove the bottom half inch and separate the sections. The center core can stay together. Rinse well to get rid of any dirt. If using regular bok choy or napa, cut into 2-inch slices after rinsing. When about 10 minutes of the meatball cooking is left, stir fry the vegetables on high heat. Vegetables do not need to be cooked through, just browned. I did this in two batches -- do not crowd the wok.

Before going in the oven

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Arrange the vegetables in a casserole dish. Place the meatballs on top. Mix the last 1/2 Tbs of cornstarch and 1 tsp of water into a slurry. Add to the sauce and pour all over the meatballs and vegetables. Bake for 20 minutes. Serve with rice. If you start cooking the rice about when you start the vegetables, it will finish at about the same time.

Notes

In Shanghai, I often ate shizitou in a bowl of soup noodles rather than with rice. Chen also recommends that the meatballs can be made in advance and held in the refrigerator. As the braising process is lengthy, I like this suggestion. When ready, you can just start at the vegetable stir frying and bring the meatballs up to heat in the oven. She also notes that crab meat can be mixed into the pork.