Meat floss facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Meat floss

Meat floss made of beef
Alternative names	Meat wool, pork floss, flossy pork, or pork sung
Place of origin	China
Region or state	East Asia and Southeast Asia
Associated national cuisine	China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Indonesia
Main ingredients	Pork, beef, or chicken

Meat floss is a unique dried meat product. It feels light and fluffy, almost like cotton. It first came from China.

It's also known by other names like rousong, yuk sung, or bak hu. You can find it in many parts of East Asia and Southeast Asia.

What is Meat Floss Used For?

Meat floss is a popular topping for many foods. It adds both flavor and a nice look.

You might see it sprinkled on congee (a type of rice porridge) or tofu. It's also great on rice and savory soy milk.

Meat floss is often used as a filling inside savory buns and pastries. Sometimes, it tops baked goods that have bean paste inside. You can even eat it by itself as a snack!

It's a very common food in Chinese, Vietnamese, and Indonesian meals. In Vietnam, it's called ruốc in the north and chà bông in the south.

How is Meat Floss Made?

Making meat floss involves a special cooking process. It usually starts with pork, chicken, or beef. Other meats can be used too.

First, the meat is cut into small pieces. Then, it's cooked slowly in a sweet mixture. This mixture includes soy sauce and different spices.

The meat cooks until its tiny muscle fibers can be easily pulled apart. This happens because a part of the meat called collagen turns into gelatine. Collagen usually holds the muscle fibers together.

After cooking, the meat is pulled apart and dried a little in an oven. Then, it's mashed and beaten while cooking in a large wok. This continues until the meat is almost completely dry. More flavors are often added during this frying step.

Different Styles of Meat Floss

There are two main ways to make meat floss, which affects its texture.

• The Jiangsu style rousong is cooked dry. This makes the final product a bit chewy.
• The Fujian style bak hu is fried with oil. This gives it a slightly crispy texture.

About Five kilograms (11 lb) of raw meat usually makes about one kilogram (2 lb) of meat floss.

Other Types of Floss

There are some products very similar to meat floss.

• Pork fu is like meat floss but less fried and not as shredded. It has a more stringy texture.
• Fish floss (yú sōng) is made from fish. It doesn't need to be stewed first. This is because fish meat has less collagen.
• You can also find floss made from rabbit and duck in China.

In Japan, a fish-based floss is called dembu (Japanese: 田麩).

In Indonesia and Malaysia, where many people are Muslim, beef or chicken floss is very popular. It's called abon in Indonesian and serunding in Malay. In Malaysia, serunding is a special treat during Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr.

In Northern Nigeria, the Hausa make a shredded beef snack called dambu nama. It's similar to meat floss, but it's fried and has a lot of spices.

Images for kids

• 

  Fish floss is roasted to look similar to yuk sung

• 

  Beef floss for sale in Sulawesi, Indonesia

• 

  Meat floss buns from Hong Kong

See Also

In Spanish: Rousong para niños

• Serundeng
• Dried shredded squid
• Bakkwa
• List of dried foods
• Machaca
• Pulled pork
• Čvarci
• Pemmican
• Katsuobushi