skewer in China

[zozzen]

Rarely has I seen any westerners talking about Chinese Muslim's skewers and I'm wondering its popularity among expats in china.

The most common type is goat meat skewer. The meat is sliced into a pieces smaller than a pinky finger, seasoned with chili powder and a spice (孜然) originated in the Middle East, mostly often around RMB1 for each.

People in the mainland china often have it with beer or rice wine and hang out with friends in a small skewer restaurant at night.

[onebir]

I think quite a lot of expats like them, along with the huge plates of meat you can order in Xinjiang restaurants...

[Gary Soup]

Most Westerners like this kind of fare, but don't talk about it much because it's not particularly remarkable or unusual; similar skewers are pretty easy to find in most Western countries, wherever people from the Middle East have migrated.

[heifeng]

In the US if you have a BBQ it's easy to make a few 'shish kabobs' as we call 'em...but usually we throw on some sliced veggies. So this food isn't really that unique to me...in fact, I think I like the different types of shish kabobs at home since they are marinaded. They may be out here too, but usually the 5 mao skewers are just the simple basic skewers with meat, fat chunks, and some sprinkled-on seasoning.

I'm a fan of actual grilled skewers out here, but not the fried ones...ewww. Although I'm a bit weary of eating too much street food, particularly in the summer. On a whole though I do enjoy eating them occasionally.

_______

Off topic, but I'll just throw it out here:

I wonder if there are injury statistics on the number of people who get stuck with their skewer or other people's skewer ends in China. I mean eating skewers or tanghulu with the pointy end sticking up and walking down a busy street must at least cause a few injuries each year ....

[zozzen]

I tried "'shish kabobs" (we call it Brazil BBQ) in Hong Kong, mmm, but the tastes of local restaurant is so-so.

In western world, what kind of seasonings would be added to "skish kabobs"? And what do you drink when having 'shish kabobs'? People take skewers as a snack or dinner? Are there any famous skewer chain stores?

[venture160]

I have seen the 串调料 for sale in American asian markets... I bought some and hurridly went home and made myself lamb kabobs.. so good, It was missing the ever important taste of Chinese coal bricks though:cry:

[cdn_in_bj]

It was missing the ever important taste of Chinese coal bricks though:cry:

I've often wondered about what kind of crap I'm subjecting my body to from eating food that's been cooked with a coal stove/grill. Surely it can't be too healthy? But is it any worse than eating food cooked with a wood stove? And don't get me started on those chunks of fat...

[cdn_in_bj]

In western world, what kind of seasonings would be added to "skish kabobs"? And what do you drink when having 'shish kabobs'? People take skewers as a snack or dinner? Are there any famous skewer chain stores?

Well I think they are usually marinaded in or cooked with some type of sauce, such as BBQ sauce. But people do add seasonings depending on what kind of kabob they are making. If you like Indian food you can also use Tandoori spices.

And of course, like with any kind of grilled meat, the favoured drink would be ice cold beer or a good wine!

People will usually have kabobs at dinner or weekend lunches if the weather's nice outside (since these need to be grilled outdoors), along with some other forms of grilled meat. Such as ribs, chicken, lamb, or STEAK!

Oh man you have no idea how much I am craving a good steak right now!

I hate how the local 牛排 places here think that "medium-rare" means: cold and RAW in the middle. It's so gross! And many of them also use baking soda to tenderize the meat (this is a standard "technique" in Chinese cooking btw). Ack! I'm seriously considering getting an electric grill and doing it myself!

[tallynole]

I think that the whole chuan'r + beer tradition is one that the foreigners in China get used to pretty quickly. I remember when I arrived here last year, that was one of the first things I did. Some of the teachers at my school in nanjing had made a wednesday tradition out of it whenever the weather was good.

[venture160]

Is there a place in China where people don't eat chuan'er?

[Ari 桑]

羊肉串=爱

[yonglin]

I hate how the local 牛排 places here think that "medium-rare" means: cold and RAW in the middle. It's so gross!

How did you communicate "medium-rare"? Here in Xi'an at least, steak is fried on a scale between one and ten. This is actually a lot more nuanced than back in the west. Back home, I once tried to order a steak "between medium-rare and medium" and the guy looked at be as if I were crazy before proclaiming that frying the steak as such would be impossible by all means. Here in Xi'an, a five would give you a good medium rare.

[cdn_in_bj]

Yes, I believe it is around a 5 or 6 here.

My dissatisfaction with the experience was with the fact that the steak was cold and uncooked in the middle. I couldn't eat it and asked them to cook it to an 8.

[Rincewind]

In the UK the Chinese restaurants serve skewers of chicken marinated in soy sauce and a little sugar. These are then served with a sauce made form peanuts. It's known as Chicken Satay. I haven't seen anything like this in china yet.

With regards to kebabs in the west, they form a very popular part of the UK culture. A large range of spices, flavours and sizes are available. Probably the most popular is the doner kebab. A large block of lamb about 1m long and 30cm thick which is slowly grilled and cut into thin strips as it cooks. Served with a chili sauce. The second most popular would be Chicken tikka. This is marinated in yogurt with heavy spices such as chili, cumin and coriander. Either red die or turmeric gives the dish a characteristically strong colour. It's then grilled and either served on it's own or with a curry sauce of many varieties. I went to a Muslim BBQ here in china on Tuesday and was served large chicken skewers that were quite similar to chicken tikka.

As for steaks. Usually I don't have a problem ordering them here, but last Wednesday I did. I ordered at a restaurant that I frequent. When it arrived it looked fine on the outside but the inside was as rare as it could possibly be. On the 1-10 scale this was a 0. I ate it just to see what all the fuss was about with rare steaks. Don't get it myself. I prefer them medium to well done.

[jonaspony]

In China, I first lived in Xinjiang. There the 羊肉串，or simply 烤肉，was served on wire skewers which looked like straightened coat hangers. The chunks of meat were larger and therefore more tender, and they were usually sold in lots of ten. Order one or two and they will more-than-likely cook ten or twenty for you. Outside Xinjiang I have never been impressed with the flavour.

As for injuries, my girlfriend scored a skewer through the foot the other day. Nasty.

I also noticed that many, if not most, people in Xinjiang have a V-shaped groove in their front teeth. Could be from fish bones, but I think the Chuan must be to blame for much of the damage - the skewers are metal, and quite long. But people don't tend to walk around with the skewers in hand because they are returned and reused. Of course, the tradition is to sit with friends and drink beer, cold or room temperature depending on the weather and your taste (I like the 常温的 myself).

A friend who likes to cook his own chuan says the secret is in buying poor quality lamb! You need real mutton. That's difficult to say find in Australia (and I presume also in Brazil). I have found the lumps of fat essential to the cooking, but not to the eating - many folks just discard them.

Thinking about this now, it all sounds pretty disgusting. I have to admit, I like roadside fare. I prefer to see the conditions under which something is cooked. Better the devil you can see than the devil that works in the back room kichen.

[liuzhou]

In the UK the Chinese restaurants serve skewers of chicken marinated in soy sauce and a little sugar. These are then served with a sauce made form peanuts. It's known as Chicken Satay. I haven't seen anything like this in china yet.

That would be because Satay isn't Chinese, but SE Asian - Malaysia, Indonesia area.

[imron]

I also noticed that many, if not most, people in Xinjiang have a V-shaped groove in their front teeth

I've noticed this all over the place in China. My personal theory so far is that it's gradual erosion caused by the cracking of thousands of sunflower seeds

[jonaspony]

Yeah, thanks for reminding me Imron... Those sunflower seeds must contribute to a lot of it. I am glad to see someone else has noticed. It's kinda cute I think.