Cuttlefish ball

Last week, ZECHI invited us to his new apartment to have a Chinese traditional hot pot. Around all the food we had include lamb, potato and vegetables, the thing most interest me is the fish ball. The fish ball we bought was made of cuttlefish, which is the most popular one in our country.

Fish ball in CHAO ZHOU   

When I ate this fish ball, I remember the fish ball I had before in our country. Fish ball have many different levels, and people have often eat it can easily find the difference between the good one and the bad one. A bad fish ball is always made by flour and a little bit cattle fish, which I always ate when I was a kid. A bad fish ball is very soft, it is easy to over hit in the hot pot. A good fish ball is totally different with the bad one, the whole ball is made of fresh cuttlefish, and it is much harder than the bad one, you can also put it in the hot pot for a long time and does not need to worry it maybe melt in the hot water. In china, there is a province called CHAO ZHOU, and it is really famous for making fish balls. First of all, it is in the southern part of China, so, they have a good resource to get the fresh fishes. Second, they also have a very strict step when the fish ball was produced, and after they get the product, they also need to check the quality of the fish balls. A qualified fish ball must bounce to a specific height. So, most people in our country like to choose the fish ball which is produced in CHAO ZHOU.

How do people make fish ball

I have once watched a movie that told me how to make a fish ball. First of all, they put the cuttlefish on a machine to separate it into two part, they only use the body part to make the fish ball. Then, they clean the cuttlefish and keep only the white meat. After this, they put the cuttlefish on a board and use the back of the knife to pat the cuttlefish in order to make it looser, and then, they use the knife to cut the fish into minced meat. Second, they need to add some cold soup in it and some onion ginger juice. Third, they need to stir it in one way and add oil, salt, egg white in. finally, make it into fish balls and throw them into the hot water, fresh cuttlefish balls come out.

The invite of fish ball

            There is a very interest story that tells us how people in ancient china invite the fish ball. The first emperor of QIN Dynasty is a very cruel man, he liked to eat fish and there must be a dish of fish every meal, however, he did not want to see the fish bone. The cook also could not make the bones into powder; he thought it was a curse to him because he did many bad things in his life. So, many cooks were killed by him. One day, a new cook needs to cook the fish for the emperor, he did not know what to do and thinks he might be killed, so, he became so nervous and used the knife to pat the fish crazily to show his angry. Suddenly, he saw a thing that surprised him that all the bones of the fish had come out by themselves, as the dinner time quickly came, he quickly picked all the bones out and made the fish into the fish balls and put in the soup he already prepared before. So, when the emperor saw the fish ball which was white and looked really good, he was very happy.

            People should protect the cuttlefish

            Recently, I have seen a research paper which is from the United Kingdom that shows us the decrease of the cuttlefish. In the research, it tells us the change of amount in recent 10 years. Although the quantity of cuttlefish had increased in last year, the total amount is much less than 10 years ago. I have also check the research in our country, in shows the same thing with the first one. So, we should begin to protect cuttlefish. We cannot let people do not eat cuttlefish; however, we can invited some new skills to rise the cuttlefish by ourselves.