Post by Takeda Sanjuichiro on Nov 14, 2005 18:47:14 GMT -5
This is good stuff!
Ingredients:
Meatballs:
1 lb ground pork
1/2 cup very finely chopped leek
2 tablespoons sake
Pinch of salt (I say a big binch)
1 large egg, beaten
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Mix these together in a big bowl, you will need to knead, so be prepared to get very very messy... if you have issues with sticking your hands into raw egg and raw pork, well...get take out.
When well mixed the "dough" should be a sticky nasty mess, it will have the tendancy to "stick to kids" like napalm.
Get yourself a big bowl of water, and a place to put your shaped meatballs. Wet hands lightly (reduces sticking) and take a rounded tablespoon full of "dough" and roll in your hands to make a little meatball. Set finished meatball on tray. (It should be about the size of a gumball)
Have a nice happy cast iron pan set up for deep frying. The oil has to be 350 degrees. Pop them in, watching to make sure the temperature does not drop below 325 and fry (turning them to make sure they are evenly done) until golden brown. (less than 5 minutes). remove and drain well.
At this point, these suckers are happy little tasty gobs of pork. Cutting one open, you might find they are a hair pinkish in the very core, this is ok, the residual heat would cook them through at this point as they cool.
Plus they have another step to go on their way to the crack category.
The sauce/glaze.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of water
2 tablespoons sake
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons mirin (see notes)
2 tablespoons shoyu
4 teaspoons cornstarch
Mix the sauce ingredients well in a container, add to a deep dish pan (a non-stick pan for this is a good thing, cast iron pans must be well seasoned, and scrubbed with salt to remove all the loose "black stuff" that can discolor food... yeah yeah, I know this is my one of my few concessions to teflon and aluminum pans) simmer over low heat stirring constantly. As this mixture has a tendancy to separate, and if it is separated at the temperature it decides "to go" you will end up with a lumpy sauce without peak crack-flavor.
As it gets close you will notice the color start to darken, and then in seconds it will thicken into a proper glaze.
Add the meatballs, and reheat them in the glaze, coating them well.
Serve... (see notes)
Notes:
Mirin: sweet sake...
Essentially sake and sugar, if one does not have mirin heat a measure of sake gently (do not go above 175 degrees) and add an equal measure of sugar to it, stirr gently at heat until dissolved, then cool. Mirin is basically sugar super-saturated sake. My tastebuds have yet to distinguish the diffrence of using mirin in a simmered dish to sugar and sake.
Serving:
Wear arm protection and hire bodyguards. These are so good, as I was reheating them for serving I allowed one of the TRM's retainers to sample one. She tried to walk off with the container! Other people then mobbed me after either hearing about them, or smelling them as they went by.
Ingredients:
Meatballs:
1 lb ground pork
1/2 cup very finely chopped leek
2 tablespoons sake
Pinch of salt (I say a big binch)
1 large egg, beaten
2 tablespoons cornstarch
Mix these together in a big bowl, you will need to knead, so be prepared to get very very messy... if you have issues with sticking your hands into raw egg and raw pork, well...get take out.
When well mixed the "dough" should be a sticky nasty mess, it will have the tendancy to "stick to kids" like napalm.
Get yourself a big bowl of water, and a place to put your shaped meatballs. Wet hands lightly (reduces sticking) and take a rounded tablespoon full of "dough" and roll in your hands to make a little meatball. Set finished meatball on tray. (It should be about the size of a gumball)
Have a nice happy cast iron pan set up for deep frying. The oil has to be 350 degrees. Pop them in, watching to make sure the temperature does not drop below 325 and fry (turning them to make sure they are evenly done) until golden brown. (less than 5 minutes). remove and drain well.
At this point, these suckers are happy little tasty gobs of pork. Cutting one open, you might find they are a hair pinkish in the very core, this is ok, the residual heat would cook them through at this point as they cool.
Plus they have another step to go on their way to the crack category.
The sauce/glaze.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of water
2 tablespoons sake
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons mirin (see notes)
2 tablespoons shoyu
4 teaspoons cornstarch
Mix the sauce ingredients well in a container, add to a deep dish pan (a non-stick pan for this is a good thing, cast iron pans must be well seasoned, and scrubbed with salt to remove all the loose "black stuff" that can discolor food... yeah yeah, I know this is my one of my few concessions to teflon and aluminum pans) simmer over low heat stirring constantly. As this mixture has a tendancy to separate, and if it is separated at the temperature it decides "to go" you will end up with a lumpy sauce without peak crack-flavor.
As it gets close you will notice the color start to darken, and then in seconds it will thicken into a proper glaze.
Add the meatballs, and reheat them in the glaze, coating them well.
Serve... (see notes)
Notes:
Mirin: sweet sake...
Essentially sake and sugar, if one does not have mirin heat a measure of sake gently (do not go above 175 degrees) and add an equal measure of sugar to it, stirr gently at heat until dissolved, then cool. Mirin is basically sugar super-saturated sake. My tastebuds have yet to distinguish the diffrence of using mirin in a simmered dish to sugar and sake.
Serving:
Wear arm protection and hire bodyguards. These are so good, as I was reheating them for serving I allowed one of the TRM's retainers to sample one. She tried to walk off with the container! Other people then mobbed me after either hearing about them, or smelling them as they went by.