Folk stories and origins of beef balls

Hakkas who originated in Meizhou-Hakkas who live in mountainous areas, generally raise cattle in every household.

When the commodity economy was not very developed, the surplus raw beef could not be preserved for a long time, so they chopped the beef, added salt, squeezed it into balls and cooked it for preservation, and gradually evolved into a local snack.

By the end of19th century, with the opening of Shantou Port, Shantou Port flourished rapidly, and many Hakkas gathered in Shantou to engage in business activities.

According to the old people's memories, most of the hawkers selling beef balls in the early days were Hakkas, who carried small burdens and peddled in the streets of Shantou City.

Especially in the evening, from the Bajiaoting of Handi Road to the Hanjiang River behind the park, there are often shuttle boats with a small light hanging from the bow, which are specially designed for Hakka cargo ships that stop there to sell supper and make beef ball soup.

Slowly, they settled down in Shantou, and beef balls gradually became a local delicacy in Shantou.

However, it is still because of the transformation and innovation of Chaoshan people that beef balls became a kind of delicious food until they were rated as "China famous snacks" and became famous at home and abroad.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the commercial prosperity of Shantou Port had driven all kinds of restaurants and restaurants to gather in the most prosperous small park in Shantou. Beef balls have long been a household name among local snacks, and there are a wide variety of beef ball restaurants.

2. The legend of beef balls

There is a folk legend that beef balls spread from Hakka to Chaoshan.

According to legend, at the beginning of the Republic of China, there was a Chaoshan man whose real name was Ye Yanqing and his real name was a monk. He often helped the Hakka people, and the Hakka people passed the recipe of this beef ball to Ye Yanqing.

Ye Yanqing constantly improves the method of making beef balls, so the beef ball soup he sells is particularly famous in Chaoshan. After that, Ye Yanqing has been working in Hu Rongquan, a famous Chaoshan store.

Extended data

Beef balls, also known as hand-pounded beef balls, are one of the famous traditional snacks in Shantou City, Guangdong Province, which originated from Chaozhou cuisine.

Beef balls, as the most famous and popular traditional snack in Shantou city and even in Chaoshan area of Guangdong province, can be used as a snack and a feast soup. Beef balls are well-made, ruddy in color, soft and elastic, delicious and fragrant, and tender and smooth in taste.

Shantou Niuqi beef balls have a history of nearly a hundred years.

Generally, it can be divided into beef balls and beef tendon balls. Beef balls are made of pure fresh meat, with tender meat and crisp taste. Beef tendon pills are made by adding tender tendons to beef, which makes beef more fragrant, elastic and crisp. There is soup in the pills and delicious juice splashes.

In the early 1990s, Stephen Chow, a master of Hong Kong Wulitou, introduced beef balls into film and television creation. "Gourmet" became popular all over the country as soon as it was broadcast. Many tourists come here to taste it, but many people don't know that its prototype is Shantou Niuqi Beef Pill (Jinniu Pill).

In Hong Kong, the capital of food, it has also greatly promoted the spread of the reputation of beef balls, thus making Chaoshan beef balls delicious and popular at home and abroad.

Although beef balls are imitated in many places, the local products of Chaoshan are still authentic in the food industry.