Bakso

Indonesian Food - Bakso - Bakso or baso or meatball is a food, commonly made from ground meat blended with other ingredients. rolled into balls (small and sometimes bigger) and then to be cooked. Generally bakso are cooked by stewing, but can also by baking, frying, or steaming. Unlike sausage, making bakso is without process of curing, casing and smoking.

Generally the term bakso is followed by the type of basic ingredient (meat), such as bakso ikan (fish bakso/meatball), bakso ayam (chicken bakso/meatball) or bakso sapi (beef bakso/meatball). Based on main ingredients, particularly on types of the meat and the quantity of flour, bakso is divided into 3 types, bakso daging (common meatball), bakso urat (muscle meatball), and bakso aci (flour meatball).

Bakso Daging or common meatball is bakso made from (muscle-less) meat, such as chuck and silverside/outside, with less adding flour than meat.

Bakso Urat or muscle meatball is bakso made from muscle or meat that has a lot of connective tissue, such as rib. Bakso urat contains less flour than meat.

Bakso Aci or flour meatball is bakso made by adding much more flour than meat.

Bakso quality parameters of concern to both producers and consumers are texture, color and flavor. The most preferred texture of bakso are smooth, compact, chewy and tender. The smoothness of bakso is characterized by smooth on meatball surface, homogenous and no meat texture. The toughness of bakso can be tested by throwing it to surface of table or floor, the though bakso will bounce. The tenderness of bakso is tested by biting it, the tender bakso will break easily.