What it is
Gongwan (貢丸) are firm, bouncy balls of pork that has been pounded rather than just minced. The name comes from the Taiwanese word kòng (摃), to pound. It is usually written with a Mandarin character of similar sound that means "tribute". Gongwan soup (貢丸湯) is a few balls in clear broth, topped with chopped coriander and spring onion.
Where it came from
A folk tale places the first pork balls in a coastal village near Fuzhou, across the strait, in the late Ming or early Qing period. In the story a man named Meng Bo (孟波), raised by his widowed mother, pounds pork into a paste for her because her loose teeth could no longer chew meat.
Pounding by hand with wooden sticks was hard work, and gongwan were once a luxury that only the well-off could buy. Hsinchu's contribution was to mechanise the job. Huang Hai-rui (黃海瑞) started the Hai Rui (海瑞) brand there in 1948, and in 1962 he adapted a blacksmith's hammering machine to beat the meat, which raised output sharply. Later, after neighbours complained about the din, his son changed the process to horizontal mixing. Factory lines now turn out at least ten times what hand workers could. Hai Rui, Hua Pin (華品) and Jin Yi (進益) are among the city's best-known makers, though pork balls are made across Taiwan.
How it is made
Makers want pork from freshly killed pigs, often the leaner, firmer hind leg, and some buy it at the slaughterhouse in the small hours. The meat is pounded or beaten into a sticky paste with salt, and ice is added to keep it cold. Fat, pepper and sometimes diced shiitake are worked in. The shaped balls are set in water at about 80°C, then cooled quickly, which tightens the proteins and gives the springy bite.
How to eat it
In Hsinchu gongwan are a common local snack. They pair naturally with rice noodles (米粉), the city's other speciality, as pork ball rice noodle soup (貢丸米粉湯). The balls also go into other noodle soups and are a standard hotpot ingredient. Hand-made balls bought to take away should be eaten soon or frozen.
Around Taiwan
- North
- Hsinchu is known as the home of gongwan because its makers moved pounding from hand to machine, and the city holds an annual festival for them. Hai Rui said in 2011 that it held 30 to 40 per cent of the market.
