Lion’s Head Meatballs and Leftovers

Background: One of the things we create out of a nice pork shoulder is sausage, both seasoned and unseasoned. The first thing we make, and really enjoy, with the unseasoned sausage is our “Lion’s Head” meatball dish, which is inspired by the Cook’s Illustrated January & February 2020 issue. We updated it to include several of our favorite ingredients in the broth, so we updated this to match our taste and to use our homemade vegetable stock. These are also great for leftovers that can be repurposed in several different ways!

Ingredients:
¾ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 lbs. ground pork
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 scallions, white parts minced, green parts sliced thin
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp Sake or Sherry
4 tsp sugar
2 tsp grated fresh ginger root
½ tsp white pepper
4 cups homemade vegetable stock
1 tsp miso paste
1 tsp hot sauce or hot pepper flakes
1 tbsp Mirin
1 tsp soy sauce
¼ tsp sesame oil
1 small head of Napa cabbage (1 ½ lbs.) quartered lengthwise, cored and cut crosswise into 2-inch pieces
4 oz Pad Thai rice noodles
½ tsp sesame seeds

Steps:

Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Whisk baking soda, salt, and 2 tbsp water together in a stand mixer bowl.
Add pork to baking soda mixture and toss to combine.
Add egg, scallion whites, soy sauce, wine ginger, and white pepper to the bowl.
Fit stand mixer with paddle and beat on medium speed until mixture is well combined and has stiffened and started to pull away from the sides of the bowl and pork has slightly lightened in color, 45 to 60 seconds.
Using wet hands, form about ½ cup (4.5 oz) pork mixture into 3-inch round meatball; repeat with remaining mixture to form 8 meatballs.
Put the stock in a Dutch oven and add miso, mirin and soy sauce and bring to a boil then remove from the heat and place the meatballs in the broth with one in the center and seven around it. The meatballs will not be totally submerged.
Cover and put Dutch oven into the oven and cook for about one hour.
Transfer meatballs to a large plate. Add cabbage to the Dutch oven in an even layer and arrange meatballs on cabbage, paler side up. Cover, return Dutch oven to the oven and continue to cook until meatballs are lightly browned, and cabbage is softened, about 30 min longer.
While meatballs and cabbage cook, bring 2 quarts of water to boil in a large pot and cook the rice noodles according to the directions on the package.
Place the cooked rice noodles into large soup bowls then ladle in the meatballs, cabbage, and broth in. Sprinkle it with scallion greens and sesame seeds and serve.
One of my favorite leftovers is to slice the Lion’s Head meatballs in half, then sauté in a skillet until both sides are brown, then drop in a quick broth and cook for a couple minutes, then serve. These can be used with many sides like rice, noodles, or my favorite sushi rice sticks.