Recipe - Danny Kayes Lions Head

CALDWELL
8 Dried black mushrooms
1 One fourth pound Ground pork
20 Water chestnuts; finely
minced
1 teaspoon Ginger; finely minced
3 Scallions; chopped
1 teaspoon Garlic; finely minced
1 Grated rind of 1 orange
One fourth teaspoon Sesame oil
1 tablespoon Dry sherry or shao hsing;
Chinese wine
1 tablespoon Light soy sauce
1 teaspoon Salt
1 tablespoon Cornstarch
Peanut; vegetable or corn
for deep frying
Steamed spinach or broccoli

Danny Kaye was a superb chef, specializing in Chinese cooking in his
Chinese kitchen. According to Craig Claiborne, he has cooked for Henry
Kissinger, Luciano Pavarotti, Beverly Sills, Jascha Heifetz, Itzhak Perlman
and Zubin Mehta as well as Paul Bocuse, Roger Verge and Jean Troisgros. The
following is one of his specialties.

Lion's Head: Place mushrooms in a mixing bowl and add hot water to cover.
Let stand 20 minutes or longer until softened. Place pork in a mixing bowl.
Drain the mushrooms and squeeze dry. Chop them. Add to the pork. Add water
chestnuts, ginger, scallions, garlic, grated orange rind, sesame oil, the
wine, soy sauce, salt and cornstarch. Mix well and shape into 8 to
12 balls. Set aside.

Heat the oil for deep frying and add the meat balls. Deep fry until crisp
and golden on the outside. Drain well. Place the meat balls in a steamer
and steam 20 to 25 minutes. Serve on a bed of spinach or broccoli.
Posted to MCRecipe Digest by Nancy Berry nlberry@prodigy.net on Apr 20,
1998