I love meat floss; you’ll understand why I can’t get enough of it when you take a bite.

The shredded meat’s savory, slightly sweet taste and fragrant spices are irresistible. Its fluffy and cottony texture will leave you speechless when it melts in your mouth, leaving you with a satisfying crunch.

It’s quite easy to make. I am sure you’ll be hooked on it  after trying it for the first time, 

Meat floss, or Rousong (肉松), is a beloved Chinese snack with a fluffy texture. To prepare it, lean pork, chicken, or beef is slowly simmered until tender, shredded into fine pieces, and dried in a wok over low heat until it becomes fluffy, dry, and cottony.

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Chinese-style meat floss is seasoned with soy sauce, sugar, and spices such as cinnamon and star anise. It is a snack used as a topping for buns, tofu, or congee. Various methods and seasonings can be used to make meat floss. In this recipe, I’ll share my interpretation and preference for making meat floss with pork, mainly seasoned with basic Cantonese ingredients such as soy sauce and sugar.

Let’s dive into how to make meat floss right now.

1. Simmer the pork

Meat floss is a delicious dish that requires lean meat to be shredded into fine pieces. The best type of pork to use is pork tenderloin, which contains very little fat. If you use a different cut of pork, it is important to remove the skin and fatty parts. Chicken breast meat has become popular among those who do not eat pork. This universal option is suitable for people of all races and beliefs. The preparation method for chicken is identical to that of pork.

First, we must braise the pork until tender, then shred it into small pieces.

Here are the steps:

1. Bring enough water to a boil in a stockpot to submerge all the pork pieces.
2. Add the light soy sauce, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar, and salt to the water according to the amount stated in the recipe.
3. Add the spices of your choice. I keep it simple by using only the star anise and cinnamon stick. You can add some dry chili if you like it spicy. Some recipes suggest adding a small amount of paprika to improve the color.
4. Cut the pork loin into 1-2 inches pieces, then submerge them into the liquid.
5. When the liquid is boiling again, reduce the heat to low to simmer it until it is almost dry.  This process may take 45 to 60 minutes, depending on the amount of liquid and the heat.
6. Continue cooking the pork until the meat is tender. You may need to add more water if the meat is not fully tender. 
7. Remove the star anise and the cinnamon stick from the pork.
8. Break up the pork into smaller pieces by using a wooden spatula. This step helps shorten the time until the pork is soft and tender.
9. Once the pork is tender and easily breakable, cook until all the liquid evaporates. Remove the pork from the pan and let it cools.
10. Transfer the pork into a plastic bag and bash it with a rolling pin to brakes up the meat further. After that, shred the meat floss by hand into fine pieces.

Note:

• Some cooks prefer to boil the meat with rice wine, ginger, and spring onion for a few minutes to remove the porky smell and impurity before simmering the pork in a fresh pot of water. I skip this step since my pork is free from unwanted smells. 
• Some recipes include a small amount of paprika to make the meat floss slightly reddish. I’d rather cook the pork longer until it turns golden brown.
• There are other methods to season the meat floss. For example, you can add seasonings to the cooked pork after simmering. However, you must discard the water if you do that, which contains plenty of flavors. As a result, I choose to simmer the meat with the seasoning until dry to retain all the flavor.
• Shredding the meats by hand into small pieces Is a tedious process. Putting the meat floss into a plastic bag and then rolling it over with a rolling pin is to break down the meat further so that it is easier to tear them apart into small pieces.

2. Dry the shredded meat over low heat

The next step is to dry the meat over a low heart. Drying the meat over low heat serves two purposes. First, it makes the meat very dry, enabling it to break down further into very fine pieces. Secondly, the meat floss can be kept for a few months when fully dry.

Here are the steps:

1. Place the broken meat pieces in a large skillet or wok.
2. Heat the pork until dry and fragrant over low temperature. You must keep stirring it continuously to ensure it will not burn at the bottom. The stirring process also speeds up the moisture evaporation in the meat.
3. Keep using your hand to tear apart the meat along the way. You can use the wooden spatula to break up the meat, but shredding it with a clean hand is far more efficient.
4. It is undeniably a tedious process. Eventually,  the meat floss becomes light and loose.
5. The endpoint is when it is completely dry. The meat floss becomes bouncy and cottony, and does not stick to your head. 
6. Remove the meat floss from the pan and let it cools. Afterward, you can keep it in an airtight container at room temperature.

Note

• The drying process aims to remove all the moisture from the meat. Remove the pan from the stove briefly and return it when it cools slightly if it is still too hot, even at the slowest heat of your stove. The heat is right when you touch the meat with your hand and tear the meat further into the floss. 
• The meat floss can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for about three months. You can store it in a freezer-safe container to keep it longer.
• As I said, it is a drying process, not a stir-frying process. Therefore, you do not need to include vegetable oil in drying.

3. How to serve meat floss

Meat floss has a universal taste that pairs well with different ingredients. Here are some common usage”

• Used it as a filling or topping for buns, such as in the popular Taiwanese snack Gua Bao. You can also find pork floss buns at most Chinese bakeries in Malaysia, where the meat floss is used as a filling or a topping to complement the sweet, soft buns.
• Another way is to use meat floss as a sandwich substitute for ham, with some mayonnaise, cucumber, and other toppings.
• Meat floss is also a great condiment for congee. Sprinkle it over the congee (or rice) to serve.
• Sprinkle some meat floss over your salad for a twist.
• And let’s not forget the simplest option: grab a handful of this fluffy, savory treat and munch away!

Related recipe

Please check out how to make bak kwa. It is another popular dried meat product apart from meat floss.

Continue to Content

Meat floss- How to make rousong (Chinese-style pork floss)

Yield: 450g (30 servings)

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

The articles show you how to make meat floss (rousong 肉松), the traditional Chinese snack to be eaten alone or with buns, salad, and tofu.

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Ingredients

• 500ml water
• 5 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
• 1 star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 60g sugar
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 900g pork tenderloin

Instructions

1. Bring enough water to a boil to submerge all the pork pieces.
2. Add the light soy sauce, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar, and salt to the water.
3. Add the star anise and cinnamon stick.
4. Cut the pork loin into 1-2 inches pieces, and simmer with the liquid.  
5. Remove the star anise and the cinnamon stick from the pork.
6. Break up the pork into smaller pieces by using a wooden spatula. This step helps shorten the time until the pork is soft and tender.
7. Once the pork is tender and easily breakable, cook until the liquid evaporates. Remove and cool.
8. Transfer the pork into a plastic bag and bash it with a wooden roller to brakes up the meat further. 
9. Place the broken meat pieces in a large skillet or wok.
10. Heat the pork until dry and fragrant over low temperature. You must keep stirring it continuously to ensure it will not burn at the bottom. 
11. When it is completely dry, remove to let it cools. 
12. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Notes

950g of lean meat yields 450g of meat floss.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield: 30 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 54Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 22mgSodium: 353mgCarbohydrates: 2gFiber: 0gSugar: 2gProtein: 8g

This data was provided and calculated by Nutritionix on 3/3/2023