Gobble Gobble Viet Meatballs | Recipe
A Vietnamese style Pho meatballs (bò viên) made of ground turkey
If you know what Pho is then you definitely know what Vietnamese meatballs taste like. For me, beef Pho (Phở Bò) is not complete without the beef meatball (bò viên). These Vietnamese meatballs are often made with beef and has a very unique texture, often known as a bouncy texture. I do have to admit, the bouncy texture sounds very unpleasant, but trust me, this texture is what make these meatballs irresistible. Growing up, I often get beef meatball soup (soup bò viên) for breakfast as Pho takes too long to make.
Since Thanksgiving is around the corner, let learn how to make some Vietnamese turkey meatballs because you will need this for the upcoming recipe. ;)
Here is the link to a printable recipe.
What do I need?
- 1 lbs of ground Turkey, preferred dark meat. (ground chicken works great too)
- 2 tbsp of fish sauce
- ½ tbsp of sugar
- ½ tsp of mushroom seasoning (optional & can be subst. w/ chicken seasoning)
- 1 tbsp of black pepper
- ½ tsp of baking powder
- 1 tbsp of vegetable oil (or any unflavored oil)
- 1 tsp of grated ginger
- 1 tsp of garlic powder
- A pinch of paprika ~¼ tsp to give it that nice red color (optional)
Necessary kitchen tools
- Food processor
How to?
Into a large mixing bowls, add in all the above ingredients. Using your hands mix up everything really well for about 2–3 minutes. If you have a kitchenAid, you can use it to mix up your meat too.
Spread the mixture out thinly onto a container. The thickness should be no more than ½” thick. The thicker the layer is the longer you have to leave it in the freezer.
Cover with a saran wrap and freeze it for 1 ½–2 hrs. The goal is not to freeze the meat, but just to get it really cold. This is a trick to get that bouncy texture of the Vietnamese Pho meatballs. Check out the Tips and Tricks section to learn about the science behind this technique.
Remove the meat from the fridge and grind it up in a food processor. This can be done in small batches if you have a small food processor like me. Make sure to keep the meat chill by putting it back in the freezer between each batches. Otherwise, do it all in one batches in a large food processor.
Boil a pot of water. While waiting for the water to boil, oil your hand and form the meat mixture into round balls about 1.5” diameter. It doesn’t have to be a perfect shape and don’t form into such a large round balls. Remember we added baking powder to this mixture, so the balls will expand bigger when you boil it.
Prep an ice bath bowl and place it nearby. Drop the meatballs into the boiling water. Boil for 5–7 minutes or until it float above the water for about 1 minutes. Once float, fish out the meatballs and placed it in the ice bath. When this meatballs cooked it float to the top of the water. This is how you can tell if it is cooked. Do this step in batches.
Enjoy it with a nice bowl of light chicken soup top with a lot of green onions or freeze it to use it for Pho. Gobble Gobble Pho recipe coming soon. ;)
Tips and Tricks (Advices :P)
Storage Tips:
These meatballs can be made in advance and freeze in the freezer. Whenever you are ready to eat, just drop it into the boiling pot of soup. No need to cook it thoroughly or defrost.
Why freeze the meat before grinding it in the food processor:
Freezing the meat mixture prior to grinding it keeps the meat cold and prevent the meatballs from losing its juicy flavor and bouncy texture. Grinding the meat creates friction which add heat. As the meat warms up, its fat and texture get soften. This causes the meat to lose all of its fatty flavor and become mushy.
Keeping the meat cold before grinding also prevents the protein myosin in the meat from dissolving. This protein plays a key role in meat binding and flavor. Meat naturally releases it juice through a process known as osmosis. The salts, found in fish sauce and the salts added to the marinade, mix with the meat juice and create a briny liquid. This liquid dissolves the myosin and prevents the meat from binding and loosing all of its juicy flavor.
Here is the link to give you all the information about myosin. Learning the science behind meat will help you make a perfect burgers and sausage for your pizza.
Why ice bath is needed:
Bathing your meatballs in the ice bath right after you cooked it not only remove it from the danger zone, where the bacteria can grows, but also gives it that nice bouncy texture. This techniques shock the meatballs, helping it firms up to create that desired bouncy texture. Also, this process helps stop the cooking the process and keeps the meatball juicy.
Avoid getting meat on your hands:
Instead of using your hands to form the meatballs, you can use two spoons. Dip the spoon in the boiling water. Scoop out a spoonful of the meat mixture and repeat the scooping between the spoon until you get a nice smooth shape similar to a mini potatoes. It won’t be a perfect circle, but who cares. These meatballs are homemade and that is all that matters.
Don’t skip the step where we dunk the meatballs in cold water after cooking. This helps to firm up the meatballs and aids in the springy texture as well.
Education Time
I got to admit that searching for the history behind Vietnamese meatballs has been a very challenging task. After reading through many websites and continuous hours of online search, I ended up empty handed. :( Guess I need to work on my Vietnamese and google searching skills.
My best guess is that Vietnamese meatballs are influenced by the Chinese. This is because original pho is made of only cooked sliced beef and rare beef. These meatballs are a Chinese common dish as it is often served in their noodle soups. Therefore, my guess is that Vietnamese meatballs are a Chinese influenced dish.
Fun Facts
- Vietnamese meatballs come in many varieties. The two common types are beef and fish meatballs (bò viên cá). Beef meatballs can be found in form of only beef (bò viên) or beef with beef tendon (bò viên gân). There are also other types of meatballs such as squid, shrimp, cuttlefish, etc…
- There are two kinds of Vietnamese meatballs, so make sure you know which one you are preferring to. Bò viên as you already learned is a type of Vietnamese meatball served in soup, commonly Pho. However, there is also another type of Vietnamese meatball known as xá xíu, often served in Vietnamese sandwich (Bánh Mì). Xá xíu is a meatball made of pork and cooked in a tomato base sauce, similar to Italian meatballs.
- You can find Vietnamese beef balls in Thai cuisine as they are often served in the Thai boat noodle dish, a Thai version of pho.
