Fuzhou Fish Balls

Fuzhou fish balls are 'stuffed fish balls': fish such as eel or shark is pounded into a paste, worked with starch to form a wrapper, then folded around a pork filling and shaped into smooth white spheres that release juice when bitten.

Sitting at the mouth of the Min River, Fuzhou has long enjoyed abundant catches, and forming fish paste into balls is an old folk expression of this coastal, fish-centered way of eating.

They are usually simmered in a clear broth and finished with chopped scallion and a dash of aromatic vinegar or pepper, bobbing in the bowl like pearls—a staple of Fuzhou breakfasts and street stalls.

The hallmark is the filling: a springy, slippery skin around a savory pocket of meat that bursts with juice on the first bite, setting it apart from fish balls elsewhere.