It is undeniable that fish ball is very well known among people around the world. It is most popular traditional food product in Southeast Asia including Singapore, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines. Each country has their own name for a fish ball such as Yu Huan (Singapore), Yu Wan (China), Bebola Ikan (Malaysia and Indonesia), Look Chin Pla (Thailand) and Bola Bola (Philippines). Now, fish ball product is spread widely in Europe and United State. So, this clearly shows that fish ball is very familiar throughout the world.
Fish ball is one of the most famous food grabbed by people who are workaholic and had never-ending deadlines. It is best eaten with sweet and spicy sauce or thick, black sweet and sour sauce. However, the fish ball also can be cooked and served in soup. There is no doubt that its popularity is increasing each year. It becomes a mushroom-liked business that sprouted in almost all busy corners of the streets including cafes, school canteen and malls. By eating those yummy fish ball, they can free their mind from work for a while. What a relief!
Figure 1 The fish ball made from white flesh fish
Source: https://www.tokopedia.com/kingluys/bakso-ikan-white-fish-ball-hiwantanpa-bahan-pengawet-halal-enak
THE MAIN SOURCE! 🐟🐟🐟
Anyway, do you know how a fish ball is basically made from? Obviously, it is made from fish. But what are the basic ingredients that make it looks delicious and tasty thus make people falling in love with it? So, let me start with the main source first, which is the fish!
Generally, the use of fish is unlimited as fish can come out with a lot of communited products like ball, burger, fillet and cake. Fish ball is one of the communited food product that is well known among people worldwide. The fish ball can be made from any type of fish depending on regional variations. For instance, fish ball in the Philippines was produced from cuttlefish or Pollock. However, the best options should be the fish with more glutens and fewer bones. Thus, mackerel is the most common popular type of fish balls.
The raw fish meat or frozen fish meat, both can be used to yield fish ball. Where do these raw and frozen fish meat come from? Actually, they are obtained from both dark and white muscles meat of fish. Dark muscles are located just beneath the skin of the fish. They are classified in the category of fish that are well supplied with blood and rich in myoglobin. Besides, they contain a higher fat, vitamins, glycogen and nucleic acids than white muscle. However, the fish ball which made from white flesh fish is much better than dark flesh fish in terms of its quality.
ITS INGREDIENTS! 😄
Fish balls are prepared from a basic mixture of fish meat or surimi, starch (3%), salt (3-5%), sugar (3%), flavour enhancer (MSG, 1%) and water (40%) in addition to the primary ingredient. These ingredients were mixed together thoroughly and allowed to gel by cooking in boiled water. According to Malaysian Food Regulations 1985, the fish ball must be prepared from a mixture of fish with starch and each ball shall contain >50% of fish. Usually, the composition of fish ball consists of 150 calories, 7 g fat, 10 g carbohydrates and 12 g of protein.
CHANGES HAPPENED WHEN...
Salt was added at the end of the comminution to prevent denaturation of surimi. Then, setting is the most important step where the surimi was kept set at 40-50 °C before heat setting (80-90 °C). It is also known as ‘Suwari’. It allows the unfolding of myosin and activates TGase to polymerize myosin heavy chain via cross-linking of ε-(γ-glutamyl)-lysine. The transition of sol forming a wider range of cross-link and extensive network gel which is in a 3D network. This will furthermore increase the water holding capacity (WHC) and the elasticity of the fish balls.
Next, ‘madori’ was performed where the gel was softened. When the setting is done at higher temperature (60-70 °C), heat resistant proteases was activated. The floatation of the fish ball can be done by reducing their density. Lastly, a good quality of fish ball will show a white colour and soft but has elastic texture.
HERE IT GOES- THE PROCESSING STEPS…
During the production of the fish ball, a bowl cutter machine was used to chop the flesh of the fish and mixed all the ingredients homogeneously. This process allowed the muscle fibers to break down and loosen. The salt was added to the paste in order to extract salt-soluble fish proteins and followed by other ingredients and ice water. The addition of other ingredients and ice water were to enhance the taste and flavour of the finished product.
Once chopping was done, it is the time to form the fish balls! The paste was transferred into a meatball making machine to yield the fish balls. Any size of the fish ball can be made by using this type of machine.
After that, the fish balls were shifted into a molding groove with water directly before they were cooked in hot water (90 °C) for about 10 min. The water was heated by the steam pipeline while its temperature was controlled by the high-temperature and high-pressure valve. This cooking step was also being done to pasteurise the fish balls.
Then, the cooked fish balls must be conveyed into a cooling groove to be cooled quickly. The water inside the cooling groove was left opened to allow the cold flowed in and the warm water flowed out. This is to ensure that the temperature was kept for around 25 °C. To preserve the quality of the fish balls, they were subjected to a freezing process (-18 °C) and remained frozen until ready to be consumed.
Packing of fish balls can be done manually or mechanically in the different type of containers. They must be packed in chilled water or brine solution and kept in a refrigerator until delivery. The packaging materials were the critical step and must be chosen wisely because it will determine the storage stability. In addition, the fish balls can be vacuum packed to extend their shelf life.
Figure 2 The process flow of making fish ball
In a nutshell, there is a huge loss for those people who do not love to eat fish ball. I can guarantee if you have tried fish ball you will want it more and more! Do not miss to eat fish ball because fish ball is the most delightful food ever! 😍
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