Sixi meatballs are a classic dish in Shandong.

Sixi meatballs belong to Shandong cuisine. They are composed of four meatballs that are golden in color, fragrant and lifelike in shape, symbolizing happiness, wealth, longevity and joy in life. It is often used as the finale dish in wedding banquets, birthday banquets and other banquets to take its auspicious meaning. The main characteristics of Sixi meatballs are that they look plump and round in appearance and taste salty, fresh and mellow.

The method is very simple. It uses pork filling as the main raw material to make four large meatballs, which are finally fried and shaped. Usually people think that Sixi Meatballs are braised lion heads. In fact, this is a wrong idea. The main ingredients of Sixi Meatballs are five-spice powder, ginger, starch, light soy sauce, eggs, pepper, oyster sauce, pork, sesame oil, salt, cooking wine, water chestnuts, and green onions. The soup ingredients are light soy sauce, sugar, oyster sauce, water starch, and salt. , water, dark soy sauce, green onions, oil.

The allusion of Sixi Meatballs

It is said that Sixi Meatballs were created in the Tang Dynasty. One year, the imperial court held examinations, and students from all over the country flocked to the capital, including Zhang Jiuling. As a result, Zhang Jiuling, who was dressed in shabby clothes, won the first place. The emperor appreciated Zhang Jiuling's intelligence and recruited him as his consort. At that time, Zhang Jiuling's hometown was suffering from floods, and his parents had left their hometown and had no news of them. On the day of the wedding, Zhang Jiuling happened to learn of the whereabouts of his parents, so he sent someone to take them to the capital. Adding to the joy, Zhang Jiuling asked the chef to cook an auspicious dish to celebrate.

When the dish was served, it was four large meatballs that were deep-fried, steamed and poured with soup. Zhang Jiuling asked about the meaning of the dish, and the clever chef replied: "This dish has four circles. The first happiness is that the master will be named in the list; the second happiness is that he gets married; the third happiness is that he becomes a son-in-law riding a dragon; the fourth happiness is that the family is reunited." Zhang Jiuling listened. Liao laughed loudly and praised it repeatedly, saying: "Siyuan is not as loud and nice as Sixi, let's just call it Sixi Wan." From then on, this dish was a must-have at banquets for major celebrations such as weddings.