Meat floss

Meat floss, also known as pork or yuk sung (Chinese: 肉鬆; pinyin: ròusōng; Jyutping: juk6 sung1 ; Mandarin Chinese: [ɻôʊsʊ́ŋ]), is a dried meat product with a light and fluffy texture similar to coarse cotton, originating from China.[1][2]

Meat floss
Meat floss made of beef
Alternative namesMeat wool, pork floss, flossy pork, or pork sung
Place of originChina[1]
Region or stateEast Asia and Southeast Asia
Associated cuisineCambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam
Main ingredientsPork, beef, or chicken
Meat floss
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese肉鬆
Simplified Chinese肉松
Literal meaningmeat fluff
Southern Min name
Chinese肉酥
Literal meaningmeat flakes
Eastern Min name
Traditional Chinese肉絨
Simplified Chinese肉绒
Literal meaningmeat fabric
Hakka name
Chinese肉麩
Literal meaningmeat powder; meat fabric
Vietnamese name
Vietnameseruốc (Northern Vietnamese)
chà bông (Southern Vietnamese)
Thai name
Thaiหมูหย็อง
RTGSmu yong
Indonesian name
Indonesianabon
Filipino name
Tagalogmahu or masang
Khmer name
Khmerសាច់ជ្រូកផាត់ sach chruok phat

Culinary use

Meat floss is used as a decorative and flavorful topping for many foods, such as congee, tofu, rice and savory soy milk. It is also used as filling for various savory buns and pastries as well as a topping for baked goods filled with bean paste, for example, or as a snack food on its own. Meat floss is a popular food item in Chinese, Vietnamese (called ruốc in the North, and chà bông in the South), and Indonesian dining.

Production and styles

Meat floss is made by stewing finely cut pork, chicken or beef (though other meats may be used) in a sweetened mixture of soy sauce and various spices until individual muscle fibers can be easily torn apart with a fork. This happens when the water-insoluble collagen that holds the muscle fibers of the meat together has been converted into water-soluble gelatine.[3] The meat is teased apart, strained and partially dried in the oven. It is then mashed and beaten while being cooked in a large wok until it is nearly completely dry. Additional flavorings are usually added while the mixture is being fried.

There are two styles of meat floss, which differ in whether oil is added during the last process of production. The Jiangsu style rousong is dry-cooked and the product is slightly chewy, while the Fujian style bak hu is fried with oil and the product is mildly crispy. Five kilograms (11 lb) of meat will usually yield about one kilogram (2 lb) of floss.[4]

Variations
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See also

A very similar product is pork fu (肉脯; pinyin: ròufǔ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: bah-hú), which is less fried and less shredded than meat floss, and has a more fibrous texture.

Fish can also be made into floss (魚鬆; yú sōng), though initial stewing is not required due to the low collagen and elastin content of fish meat. Rabbit and duck floss can also be found in China.[5][6]

In Japan, a variant made from fish is called dembu (Japanese: 田麩).

In Muslim-majority Indonesia and Malaysia, beef or chicken floss is the most popular variant, commonly called abon in Indonesian and serunding in Malay. In Malaysia, serunding is a popular delicacy during Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr.[7]

In the Muslim-majority Hausa cuisine of Northern Nigeria, dambu nama is a dry, shredded beef snack, similar to meat floss. It is fried and heavily spiced in its preparation.

Health effects

A study has demonstrated a positive correlation between increased processing temperatures of meat floss and increased formation of heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAAs) within the meat. Up to seven different HAAs were found when meat floss was processed at 150 °C.[8] HAAs are believed to promote the development of some cancers.[9]

See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Meat floss.

References
  1. Grigson, Jane (January 1985), World Atlas of Food, Bookthrift Company, ISBN 978-0-671-07211-7
  2. Dikeman, Michael; Devine, Carrick (2014). Encyclopedia of Meat Sciences Volume 1 (2nd ed.). Amsterdam: Elsevier/Academic Press. p. 524. ISBN 978-0-12-384734-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  3. Vickie Vaclavik, Elizabeth W. Christian. Essentials of Food Science. Springer, 2003, p. 169.
  4. Melia, Ken (2017). Review of Meat Floss – Identifying opportunities for Australian Red Meat. North Sydney: Meat and Livestock Australia Limited
  5. Zhou, Zhen (2017). "Research of new duck floss with spicy flavor" Food and Fermentation Technology: 120–125 – via Food Science and Technology Abstracts.
  6. Leistner, Lothar (2002). Hurdle Technologies: Combination Treatments for Food Stability, Safety and Quality. New York: Kluwer / Plenum Publishers. pp. 132, 139. ISBN 978-1-4613-5220-4.
  7. Thestar.com. "Thestar.com." Mum’s meat floss legacy. Retrieved on 2008-09-19.
  8. Liao, Guozhou (April 2009). "Effects of Cooked Temperatures and Addition of Antioxidants on Formation of Heterocyclic Aromatic Amines in Pork Floss". Journal of Food Processing and Preservation. 33: 159–175. doi:10.1111/j.1745-4549.2008.00239.x – via Web of Science.
  9. Weisburger, John H. (2002-09-30). "Comments on the history and importance of aromatic and heterocyclic amines in public health". Mutation Research. 506–507: 9–20. doi:10.1016/s0027-5107(02)00147-1. ISSN 0027-5107. PMID 12351140.
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