halloweenfoodfour

Utterly Fresh Steamed Eyeballs

In order for this recipe to be really delicious it is imperative that you have fresh eyeballs! Trust me ...they may be hard to come by! It is also important as to who removes them because if not properly removed they will have a bitter taste to them. The ultimate is if you have a friend that is a pathologist, he really would get the eyeballs removed correctly. In the case that you do not know a pathologist I will give you some instruction on the procedure to do this.

It is very important to not attempt to remove the eyes from the top of the head, its tempting because as you well know we have served fresh brain and have that part of the head open at times. If you try to remove the eyeballs from the top of the head after the brain has been removed they will be no good because with excision of the brain it would pull on the optic nerve which is attached to the back of the eyeball and it would rupture the eye.

So its very important to follow these instructions precisely......

Know ahead of time that the same procedure is used whether you are working on a corpse or a human that is actually going to still be breathing after you take his eyeballs!

In the enucleation of the eyeball with a corpse...don't worry about restraints...but if the person is alive it is recommended that you put them under general anesthesia unless you don't like them! (Ouch). Prep the area around the eye with batadie soap & paint solution. If these things are not in your medicine cabinet use dishwashing liquid. Drape the victim so you don't get blood all over your work area.

Next put in an eye speculum if not having one on hand get a large paper clip. Straighten the paper clip, put a large bend in it so the 2 ends are equal and roll the ends over to form a small loop. Next insert the loop under each eyelid and spread the paper clip back open.

Next with a pair of forceps or you can use tweezers you would cut the 6 entrensic eye muscles. With a long pair of curved scissors you would pass behind the eyeball, cut the optic nerve. Next take 4 suters and place stiches in the sclra or white of the eye at the 10, 2 & 4 o'clock positions. Using these 4 sutures you gently pull the eye from the socket.

In our photo we used a corpse that was on its way to the funeral hall so we replaced the sockets with glass eyes as you can see. If you do not add a set of glass eyeballs, control the bleeding and sew the eye shut!

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Now...if you are going to cook with these right away simply wash them well in vinegar. Also you can remove the iris if you like. I did with mine. If you are not cooking with them the same day as removal put them in a jar of formaldehyde and be sure to rinse them well under water when you get ready to cook them.

Our photo here shows the victim with one eye removed and the glass eyeball replacement in. Work was being done on the brain at the same time as we were running late and our guests would be arriving soon!

Here the bamboo basket is lined in tin foil to keep our goodies from sticking.

Here the meat mixture is formed into balls

When using a bamboo basket you must have a pot that it can sit on top of. I filled this pot 1/2 way with water and let it come to a full boil before setting my baskets on top. Cook your 1st batch and when you get ready to put the 2nd batch on be sure you have already added more water for what has boiled away and be sure to bring it back to a full boil before setting the basket on top.

Here is the finished product

The eyeballs finished and plated for guest!

Recipe

Pork Ball Dim Sum

1/2 lb.      ground pork
1/4 lb.      ground raw shrimp
1 tsp.       sugar
1 tsp.       salt
1 tsp.       black pepper
3 tbsp.     soy sauce
2 tbsp.     oyster sauce
2 tbsp.      sesame oil
2 tbsp.     cornstarch

Mix the gound pork & chopped
up shrimp ( I just chopped my
shrimp good w/ a fork) and add
all the other ingredients. Mix the
ingredients into the meat mixture
thouroughly.

Refrigerate the mixture for 10 minutes till it gets cool so it will be easy to roll the meatballs. This meat mixture is a bit gooey so as you roll pop the balls from hand to hand. Place the balls in the bamboo basket making sure to leave room between them. Make sure your tin foil is on the bottom of the basket or the eyeballs will stick.

Set the bottom part of basket aside and fill the other level. When finished put the basket on top of the pan, add on the next level and put the top on on. Steam 10 to 15 minutes.

When finished remove the entire basket off the pan, plate up your meatballs and serve w/ sauce. If you are making another batch of meatballs I suggest using clean tin foil as the grease from the balls gets the foil wet.

Sauce Suggestions

1st bottle from the left: Dark Soy Sauce, Sweet & Sour, Vietnamese Dipping Sauce (delic w/ homemade eggrolls) ,Sesame Oil, Regular Soy Sauce, Oyster Sauce & Chinese Cooking Wine (Rice Wine).

These are small red mexican peppers if you like some heat in your foods and lastly Mango-Habernero sauce...
delic w/ meatballs, egg rolls and chicken wings.

I would just like to make a few notes here about asian cooking ingredients and sauces. Everyone has a local asian grocery store close to them, many of them are small stores but the folks inside are very happy to assist you. You can go in looking for anything as I do. My asian grocer is run by people from Cambodia and she helps me all the time. The ingredients in the asian store are much cheaper and much more delicious than the items you find in our local grocery stores.

Stuffed Steamed Ear Skins

There is nothing as delicious as Stuffed Steamed Ear Skins, your guests will simply adore them! The ear skins can be purchased at any local Voo Doo store but I try to catch them when they are in sale. Some say you can freeze the skins prior to use but I actually believe buying fresh skins makes for the tastiest ears.

Shumai - Chinese Dim Sum

1lb.        ground pork
1/4lb.     chopped raw shrimp
1 tsp.     salt
1 tsp.     pepper
1 tsp.     sugar
1 tbsp.   soy sauce
1 tbsp.   sesame oil
2 tbsp.   cornstarch
Won Ton Wrappers

Mix ground pork & shrimp.
Add in other ingredients &
incorporate well into wet mixture. Refrigerate for 10 minutes or so till mixture
is cold. Put 1 tsp. of filling into each wrapper and seal. Put finished dumplings in a pan that is lined w/ a wet paper towel so they don't dry out. If you are making a lot of these its wise to have a wet paper towel to cover the ones that are finished and are sitting as you do the other ones.

Put dumplings into bamboo basket along w/ tin foil like in the above recipe. Don't crowd. Steam 10 -15 minutes or more. Dumplings should not be gummy they should be steamed and puffy so leave them in the basket till they look that way. It is very important to have your water boiling hard before you put the baskets on top of the pan.....otherwise your ears will not cook correctly and will be raw inside.

Won Ton Wrappers can be found in your local grocery produce section do not mix them up with egg roll wrappers, won tons are the small wrappers. The package will tell you how to seal your dumplings or you can find many sealing styles on you-tube videos.

As before, place all the dumplings into both baskets before placing on top of the pan of boiling water. It is very important to make sure you have a rolling boil when you start counting down how long your dumplings will be on top of that pan. When finished, plate them up and serve w/ sauces. They are good hot or at room temperature.

This recipe can be doubled or tripled with good results.

Ears are finished steaming.

Be careful when you pull these out of the basket by the tips of the foil, the steaming temperature makes everything very very hot! Let them cool a bit before removing off the foil.