China's Bounciest Meatballs | Gastro Obscura

Making Chaoshan’s signature bouncy meatballs is a grueling process—maybe wait until you’ve finished your lunch to watch this video. For 25 minutes per cut of beef, a worker rhythmically executes a two-handed pounding and folding maneuver, steadily softening the meat until it reaches a paste-like consistency. Restaurants in the area stick to the hand-pounding technique not only to maintain tradition, but because automated meat tenderizers destroy the animal’s muscle fibers.