Chinese beef balls 牛肉丸

Ah the humble beef ball. 

Subject of countless dirty jokes, smutty nicknames, and at least one trashy Hong Kong movie that makes liberal use of both.

More than their lesser-known pork cousins, beef balls command a cache that makes them culturally iconic. That’s in part because they are scarce, at least the good ones. 

Proper beef balls are a specialty of Guangdong, especially the Chaoshan 潮汕 region. Chaoshan is known for beef and beef hotpot. Almost anywhere else in China, hotpot beef is frozen into a block and sliced by machine into uniform, paper-thin curls. Only Chaoshan restaurants slice their beef fresh, charging different prices for each cut. While the machine-cut beef is dry and prone to foaming up, properly prepared fresh beef retains a more natural texture and taste. 

In other words, Chaoshan cooks know their stuff. Which brings us back to beef balls.

Chaoshan beef balls are dense yet moist and have a characteristically springy bite. The ones in the Hong Kong movie were so springy that they defied the laws of physics by bouncing higher than they were dropped—like flubber. 

Preparation is completely different from, say, Italian meatballs. The Chinese version starts by grinding well-chilled beef into a completely smooth paste, possibly with a bit of pork fat is the meat is too dry. Egg white, corn starch, and baking soda bring the characteristic texture, while added taste comes from shacha paste, salt and ginger water (even grated ginger would ruin the uniform texture). The mixture is then rechilled, formed into balls by passing back and forth between two spoons, dunked into rapidly boiling water to cook, and then firmed up in an ice water bath.

Other than Guangdong-style hotpot, the best way to enjoy these beauties is in a clear broth soup with rice noodles, a sprinkle of crunchy-fried garlic, and possibly some bean sprouts and pickled chilis. There are those who choose to drown their meatballs in curry sauce, which might be fine for the store-bought industrially-made product, but the handmade real deal, like the ones I had for dinner tonight in Macau deserve to be the star of whatever stage they are on.