Culture Experience | 潮汕文化魅力之旅——美食篇

近日，一场别开生面的潮汕牛肉丸文化体验活动在广以校园内举办。澄海蔡溪记传承人蔡伟勉先生从潮汕全牛宴的发展、牛肉丸的制作、技艺传承与保护等方面与广以师生进行分享交流。

潮汕地区依山傍水的平原环境为发展地方畜牧业提供了丰富的自然资源，由此衍生出具有地方特色的美食文化，潮式全牛宴便是其中最具代表性的美食佳肴之一。牛肉经过精细宰割，细分为吊龙（里脊肉）、三花趾（牛的前腿肌腱）、匙仁（肩胛骨上部）等15个部位。切割牛肉需保持固定的厚度，每个部位涮多久也有要求，以保证其入口的饱满感和肉质鲜嫩性。

手锤牛肉丸是今天的重头戏，它的原材料取自于富有弹性的牛腿包肉，制作时采用“捣珍”的工艺技巧，用两个方形锤刀不断交替上下敲打。蔡先生现场进行讲解和演示，并邀请同学们参与体验。同学们踊跃上前学习，认真听师傅讲解，在师傅的指导下尝试捶打牛肉。

牛肉打成肉浆后被放入若干个小盆中，接下来便到了牛肉丸的制作环节。“勺子和手要沾水，防止牛肉粘在勺上，肉浆用手的后三根手指握住用力，使其从虎口处挤出，形成球状牛肉丸。”师傅一边示范，一边向大家讲解制作技巧。

同学们兴致勃勃，洗净手后纷纷前来参与。随后，师傅们将大家亲手制作的牛肉丸做成牛肉丸粿条汤，一股香气不断飘来。同学们搭配沙茶酱品尝牛肉丸，享用着自己的劳动成果，很是满足。

在本次活动中，蔡先生还向广以师生们讲解牛肉各个部分的叫法和肉质特点，并介绍了手锤牛肉丸技艺的传承历程和目前面临的危机。

“体验感很好，可以参与制作手打牛肉丸，很有新鲜感跟参与感，还能学到很实用的科普知识，比如雪花牛肉只是一个统称而非某个部位。”2021级生物技术与食品工程专业的伍绮君同学如是说。材料科学与工程专业2021级学生卢飞宇表示，每一个普通生活细节背后都大有学问，吃不仅仅是生活的乐趣与需要，更蕴含着中华民族传统饮食文化。“有人为之努力、传承、发扬，我们应该尊重并支持！”

Mr. Cai Weimian, the inheritor of Cai Xiji, a local beef company in Chenghai, shared the development of Chaoshan beef feast, the making of beef balls, and the skill's inheritance and protection with GTIIT's teachers and students.

The plain environment of Chaoshan area, surrounded by mountains and rivers, provides abundant land resources for local animal husbandry, which derives a culinary culture with local characteristics, among which the Chaoshan beef feast is one of the most representative delicacies. The beef is divided into 15 parts, such as short loin, foreleg tendon and upper shoulder blade. A fixed thickness should be maintained for cutting beef, and there are also requirements on how long to rinse each part to ensure the taste of the meat.

The most popular part of this activity was making beef balls, which is made from the elastic beef legs. Mr. Cai used two square hammer knives to repeatedly beat the meat up and down, and invited students to have a try. Students participated actively under the guidance.

The beef was beaten into pulp and put into several pots. Then it was time to make beef balls. "The spoon and your hand should be dipped in warm water to prevent the beef sticking to the spoon. Use the last three fingers of your hand to hold the pulp and force it out to form a beef ball." The master explained the techniques while demonstrating.

The students participated in making beef balls actively after washing their hands. Later, the chefs made beef ball noodles with the meatballs made by students. They tasted meatballs with satay sauce and enjoyed the fruits of their labor contentedly.

In this activity, Mr. Cai also explained the name of each part of the beef and the characteristics of the meat quality to teachers and students, and introduced the inheritance process and the current crisis of the handmade beef ball technique.

"It is a great experience. We participate in the production of beef balls, which is really interesting. We can also learn something useful, such as 'snow beef' is just a general name rather than an exact part." Said Wu Qijun, a freshman majoring in Biotechnology and Food Engineering Program. Lu Feiyu, a freshman from Materials Science and Engineering Program said that there was a lot of knowledge behind every detail of life. "Eating is not only the pleasure and need of life, but also contains the traditional culture of Chinese food. We should respect and support the efforts made by the contributors."