Qinyang Donkey Meatballs 沁阳驴肉丸

Qinyang Donkey Meatballs (沁阳驴肉丸) are balls of donkey meat fried in a wok of oil, made in Baixiang (柏香镇), a town of Qinyang (沁阳) in Jiaozuo (焦作), Henan. Dahe.cn calls them one of Qinyang's essential food signatures, and the Jiaozuo Daily lists them among Jiaozuo's foods not to miss, alongside Qinyang's Huaifu donkey meat in broth (怀府闹汤驴肉).

How it is made

At the Yuandan donkey-meat workshop (元旦驴肉坊) in Ge village (葛村), Baixiang, the meatballs are dropped one by one into the wok and tumble in the hot oil as they fry. Zhumadian Radio and Television reported on the same workshop's stall at a Qinyang donkey-meat food festival in January 2024, where golden-brown balls fried in a wok of hot oil; the owner said he had fried 25 batches since the morning and sold each batch as soon as it was done.

Flavour and texture

A customer queuing at that festival stall described them as crisp and fragrant, and the balls give off an enticing smell as they fry.

Where it comes from

Dahe.cn reports that Baixiang donkey meatballs date from the late Ming and early Qing, nearly 400 years ago, and that villagers carried them on shoulder poles and pushed them on carts to every corner of Huaiqing prefecture (怀庆府). In June 2023 the Qinyang government put the Qinyang donkey meatball making technique (沁阳驴肉丸制作技艺) on its seventh municipal list of intangible cultural heritage, nominated from Baixiang and covering three versions: Yuandan, Song family (宋记) and Dong Aiguo (董爱国). Its 2024 table of public cultural spaces lists heritage workshops for the Song family and Yuandan donkey meatballs, both in Ge village. Donkey meat is also a fixture of the New Year's Eve dinner in Qinyang.