Bouncy, springy beef balls studded with crunchy water chestnut and scented with dried tangerine peel, steamed in a basket over a sheet of bean-curd skin and served with Worcestershire-style sauce. Unlike a soup beef ball, these are a steamed dim sum, loose-packed and tender rather than dense and rubbery, with a clean beefy taste lifted by the citrus fragrance of the peel. They are a regular on the savory yum cha trolley and are eaten hot.
The steamed beef ball is a staple of the Cantonese dim sum table, where it is set apart from the bouncy beef balls of noodle soups by its loose, tender texture and its aromatics. The defining touch is dried tangerine peel (chenpi) — aged citrus peel, a prized seasoning in Cantonese cooking, especially the Xinhui peel of Guangdong — which gives the meat its characteristic fragrance and cuts the richness. Water chestnut is folded in for crunch, and the balls are steamed on a sheet of bean-curd skin that soaks up the juices. It has long been one of the standard meat items of yum cha service.
Pale, juicy balls about the size of a walnut, soft and springy under the tooth with a gentle bounce rather than a hard snap. The beef tastes clean and savory, threaded through with the warm, faintly bitter citrus of dried tangerine peel and broken by little crisp pops of water chestnut. The bean-curd skin beneath has drunk up the meat juices and turns silky and savory. A dash of tangy Worcestershire-style sauce sharpens each bite. Best hot from the steamer, while the balls are at their juiciest.
The bounce is built, not given. Minced beef is seasoned, then beaten or thrown against the bowl repeatedly; the mechanical working dissolves the muscle's salt-soluble proteins and draws them into a sticky, elastic network that traps water — the same protein-binding that gives a sausage its snap. A little baking soda raises the pH, helping the meat hold water and stay tender, while ice water is worked in cold so the fat does not melt and the paste stays bouncy. The aim, though, is springy-tender, not the hard rubber of a soup ball, so the mixture is kept looser. Dried tangerine peel is soaked and minced fine; water chestnut is folded in last to keep its crunch. Steamed gently over high heat for about 8 minutes, the balls cook through while staying juicy; over-steaming dries them out.
Variations
Recipes differ in how much they bind the meat: some cooks chill and beat the paste hard for a snappier ball, others keep it loose and tender. Beyond the standard water chestnut and tangerine peel, cooks may add chopped cilantro or scallion, a little caul fat or pork fat for richness, or dried mandarin peel in larger amount for a more pronounced citrus note. The bean-curd-skin lining is sometimes swapped for a bed of cilantro. The bouncy beef balls of brisket noodle soups and hotpot are a different, denser, harder-bound cousin of the same idea.
On the Palate
Where Steamed Beef Ball sits in the Chinese flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
6 steps · 35 min active + 25 min waiting
- 110 min
Soak dried tangerine peel until soft, scrape off the bitter pith, and mince very fine; peel and finely dice water chestnut.
- 28 min
Season minced beef with salt, sugar, white pepper, a little baking soda and cornstarch, and work in ice water a little at a time.
Watch outWork in the ice water cold, a little at a time — kept cold, the fat doesn't melt and the paste stays bouncy; warm and it goes greasy and flat.
- 38 min
Beat or throw the beef paste against the bowl repeatedly until sticky and elastic, then fold in the tangerine peel and water chestnut.
Watch outBeat the paste against the bowl until it turns sticky and elastic — this pounding draws out the proteins that give the ball its snap.
- 48 min
Wet your hands and shape the paste into walnut-sized balls; set them on a sheet of bean-curd skin in a steamer basket.
- 58 min
Steam over high heat for about 8 minutes until just cooked through and springy.
Watch outSteam about 8 minutes just until springy — over-steamed it toughens toward rubber instead of springy-tender.
- 62 min
Serve hot with Worcestershire-style sauce for dipping.
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