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1
Hand-chop the pork shoulder and pork belly fat separately with a cleaver, using a combination of mincing and smashing strokes. The object is a coarse, heterogeneous texture — not the uniform paste produced by a machine grinder. When both are chopped, combine them in a cold bowl and keep cold throughout.
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2
Add the egg white, cornstarch, Shaoxing wine, and diced water chestnuts to the cold pork. Mix with cold hands until the ingredients are just incorporated. Stop the moment no dry streaks remain — the mixture will appear slightly shaggy and rough. This is the step on which the dish lives or dies: the temptation to continue mixing until the mixture looks smooth and homogeneous is the most common error. A shaggy mixture produces the characteristic yielding meatball; a smooth one produces a rubbery, bouncy result through overdeveloped myosin proteins.
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3
Transfer the mixed pork to the refrigerator and rest for 30 minutes. The fat firms slightly during this rest, making shaping easier without requiring the cook to compress the mixture.
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4
Wet both hands with cold water. Divide the mixture into four equal portions. Form each into a ball by tossing it lightly between both open palms — do not squeeze or compress. The formed ball should feel noticeably soft, holding its shape but yielding perceptibly under the lightest palm pressure. This is correct. It will become cohesive in the braise.
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5
Combine the light soy, dark soy, Shaoxing wine, rock sugar, spring onions, ginger, and enough water to half-submerge the meatballs in a clay pot or deep heavy pot. Bring to the gentlest possible simmer. Place the shaped meatballs directly into the liquid without searing. Adjust the heat so the surface barely trembles — no vigorous bubbling. Cook for 2 to 3 hours. The meatballs are done when they are a perfect pale sphere, glossy from rendered fat, with no cracks or collapsed sections.
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6
In the final 30 minutes, lay the napa cabbage leaves around the meatballs in the braising liquid. The cabbage is done when it is fully wilted and has absorbed the braising liquid — it should be tender throughout.
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7
Test the finished meatballs with chopsticks: apply gentle pressure to the surface of one. It should yield before it springs back. A meatball that bounces back immediately was over-mixed. Serve in the clay pot or a deep bowl with rice alongside.