Beef balls are transformed from the beef balls made by Hakka people. In other words, beef balls originated from the Hakka area. Hakka people generally raise cattle and use beef as a common meat product. Over time, the Hakka-style "beef balls" snack was created there. As early as the beginning of the 20th century, from Chaozhou Fucheng to Jieyang City, to Shantou (today's "old urban area"), which has only been opened for more than 40 years, there have been many Hakka people carrying burdens and selling beef ball soup in the streets. hawker. Twenty years ago, an old Shantou citizen who was nearly 90 years old recalled: "Especially at night, from the Bajiao Pavilion on Handi Road in Shantou to the Hanjiang River behind the park, we often see some small boats with lamps on their bows passing by. , this is what the Hakka people need to cater to the food customs of the Hakka people, and it is specially sold to the Hakka cargo ships docked there as a late-night snack." The smart Chaoshan people saw that the Hakka beef balls were very distinctive, so they used it. Introduce "transplantation". However, Chaoshan people did not simply copy the Hakka beef balls making method, but made full use of its strengths and avoided its weaknesses, and tried every means to create the characteristics of Chaoshan beef balls. For example, the Hakka people beat beef with the back of a kitchen knife, while the Chaoshan people use two special iron rods, each weighing about 1.5 kilograms and with a square or triangular cross-section. Cut the beef into strips along the meat grain and place on the cutting board. Holding two large iron rods in his hands, he opened his bow from left to right and beat the beef repeatedly until it was reduced to pulp. Another example is that when Chaoshan people make beef balls, they are more strict and precise in the selection of materials and craftsmanship than the Hakka people: as the raw materials for beef balls, they use high-quality meat from beef legs, breasts, backs, and buttocks, and they must be Remove the fascia above. For another example, Hakka people use water to cook meatballs, while Chaoshan people, who always pay attention to the "authentic taste" of their food, use beef and beef bones to cook beef balls instead. This gives the beef balls a richer beef flavor, and also adds Shacha sauce as a dipping sauce (sauce dish) for the beef balls. Chaoshan beef balls are carefully made, have pure taste, are soft, crispy and elastic. How did beef balls spread from Hakka to Chaoshan? Some people say that in the early years of the Republic of China, there was a Hakka who sold beef balls outside the south gate of Chaozhou. The soup is cheap, crispy and smooth, and the soup is fresh and sweet. There was a local monk named Ye Yanqing who liked beef balls very much. He became a frequent customer of this Hakka beef balls and later developed into a good friend. The Hakka people felt their friendship and passed on the Hakka Beef Noodles recipe to Ye Yanqing. Later, Ye Yanqing gradually improved the method of making beef balls, and the beef ball soup he made became famous in Chaozhou. Over time, it gradually developed into a famous snack in Chaoshan.