Remove tendons from the beef, mash it into meat paste with a wooden mallet or stone mortar (no iron tools are needed), mix with seasonings, make balls, boil in water and stewing in oil. Then add onions, ginger, and red dates and cook it in soup. The meatballs are fragrant and smooth, tender and crispy, and the soup is clear and delicious.
Yulin’s beef balls are said to have a history of more than 200 years. It's good because of the word "crisp". For foreign guests who are new to Yulin City, if the beef balls they taste are soft and crispy, smooth and fragrant, chewable without residue, and the soup is clear and fresh, then they must be of the best quality.
Yulin meatballs can be divided into beef balls and pork balls. Because of their round shape, Yulin people vividly call them "meat balls". It is said that the earliest meatballs were created by Liang Guangzhi’s great-grandfather Liang Yexun in the late Qing Dynasty, and the technology has not been spread to the outside world. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China, Liang Yexun's son Liang Daji sold beef brisket powder by the Naihe Bridge in Xihuchi Park, Yuzhou District, Yulin City, hand-making dozens of kilograms of meatballs as ingredients every day. The meatballs are fragrant and crispy, no residue in the mouth, tender and delicious, attracting many repeat customers. During the Republic of China, Li Zongren was stationed in Yulin. One time, his subordinates gave him meatballs to taste. Li Zongren liked them very much after tasting them. After leaving Yulin, Li Zongren once sent his men to Yulin to buy meatballs. Liang Daji's meatballs became famous. Before the founding of New China, "Yulin Daily" once published an article introducing Naihe Qiao Daji Beef Brisket Noodles.
After the founding of New China, the West Lake Pond was filled in and the Naihe Bridge was demolished. Liang Daji Beef Brisket Noodles became the memory of old Yulin people. In 2000, Liang Guangzhi, the fourth generation successor, inherited the ancestral business. At first, he just sold beef brisket noodles and some meatballs on the street like his ancestors did. With the development of Yulin's economy, Liang Guangzhi saw the potential market for meatballs, so he operated the meatballs and beef brisket powder separately. He introduced modern technology, continued research and improvement, and finally succeeded in combining modern technology with traditional handicrafts to produce meatballs that can maintain the traditional taste. In 2008, Liang Guangzhi registered the "Laobao" trademark for Yulin meatballs, becoming the only company in Yulin to register a meatball trademark. "Laobao" is originally a Yulin dialect, meaning "naughty, naughty". It is this trademark full of local flavor that makes "Laobao" meatballs a household name in Yulin. The product has been sold in local supermarkets, and businessmen from other places come here.
How to make Yulin beef balls:
Choose yellow beef, preferably hind leg meat, or lean meat can be used instead.
1. Remove the sinews and membrane from the selected beef and cut into thick slices.
2. Beat into pulp. Place the meat slices on a smooth bluestone board and use a wooden mallet (lychee mallet is better) to pound and turn them. Use even force and moderate speed. If it is too fast, the heat will not dissipate and it will easily become rotten residue, making the food tasteless. The meat paste should be picked up and put down with your hands, and the meat should not stick to your hands. One person can pound 1.5 kilograms of beef in one hour.
3. Mix the ingredients and beat them. Transfer the meat slurry to a large clay bowl, add appropriate amounts of water, salt, pepper, and MSG. The maker spreads his fingers, inserts them into the meat slurry, and stirs continuously in the same direction to increase the micropores of the meat slurry and form a network. -like structure to make the moisture and seasoning even; then lift the whole ball of meat paste and beat it in a bowl for more than ten times in a row to pull the meat paste apart and automatically shrink to a certain extent to increase the crispness of the meat and eggs.
4. To make balls, first heat the water in the pot to 50 degrees, then grab the meat ball with your left hand and use a little force to let the meat ball strips emerge from the circle formed by the thumb and index finger. Take a quick spoonful with a spoon to get thumb-sized meatballs and drop them into the pot. After the operation is completed, heat the water in the pot to a slight boil. When the meatballs float, remove them and place them in a container.
5. When eating, put it into the soup and cook it for a while, and add a little light soy sauce, turnip and other spices. It will have a good color, aroma and taste. In Yulin, there are also people who mix this kind of meatballs with rice noodles, or add a little Yulin specialty "soy oil paste", which is called "meat and egg powder", and it tastes more local flavor.
In Yulin, according to the local eating method, beef balls can be mixed with rice noodles or Yi noodles. If you only make beef ball soup, you can also add a few meat-filled tofu wedges. It tastes crisp, smooth, elastic, delicious, fragrant but not greasy. Even if you are eating hot pot in winter, Yulin beef balls are the best hot pot companion.