STEAMED MEAT PATTY: 咸魚肉餅 - HAAHM YU YIUK BENG

A discussion on another blog reminded me of one of my favourite old-timey Cantonese dishes, one which is rarely offered in restaurants because it is too home-style, too unpretentious.
As well as being quite unimpressively simple, and not likely to appeal to the refined tastes of educated white folks.
Who, as everyone knows, are famous for their refined tastes.
And tender sensibilities. Yes.


咸魚肉餅 - HAAHM YU YIUK BENG
[Salt-fish steamed pork patty, also called 咸魚蒸肉餅 haahm yu jing yiuk beng. Jing (蒸) means 'steamed'.]

One pound fatty ground pork.
One TBS cornstarch.
Half TBS soy sauce.
Half TBS sherry.
Half TBS oil (optional - how fatty is your pork?).
A little garlic and ginger, minced fine.
Pinch of sugar.

Salt fish, between 2 and 3 oz, rinsed and soaked, patted dry and cut into a few pieces.

Mix everything except the salt fish together and let it stand thirty minutes. Then spread it into an oiled shallow bowl or plate, arrange the salt fish on top. Steam until done. If you have spread it thinly and you have a big steamer, it will only take ten minutes or so. If, on the other hand, you've made a thick layer it may take half an hour.

Sprinkle some shredded fresh ginger and scallion on top ere serving.

Please note that the salt fish is optional - if you are very white you might not like it. But the whiffy salty fishy fermenty sabor autentico it adds is VERY important to the experience.
Besides making it utterly delicious.

You could also substitute some other ingredients in moderation - szechuan pressed vegetable, dried scallop, shrimp paste, whatever.
I usually replace some of the ground pork with Italian sausage. Just squeeze it out of its skin and mix it in.




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UPDATE as of 11/10/10: Which post on that blog? This one: PANCAKE.
If you are offended, well, that's just too bad. I'm certain there is a lot about you that I find hideously offensive, nay, repulsive even. With far more justification. And if you in any way sympathized with that horrid person, OR her loathsome parental units, feel free to shut up. I will not be interested in your opinion, as I have already had plenty of exposure to Berkeleyites - I used to go to school there. Berkeley blows.
Berkeley is ground zero for people who feel soft and gushy about murdererous savages. Feel free to join the congregation at St. John's Presbyterian Church on College Avenue in Berkeley, which hosted an anti-Semitic replacement theology love-in during 2007. Without a doubt you can find someone there who agrees with every subhuman idea that ferments in that dried up rear-end wiping rag that is your soul. That church is filled with them. Berkeley, remember? Your mother is a hamster and your father smelled of elderberries.
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