Cha siu kebabs came onto my radar about two weeks ago in a conversation I had with Paulina, a reader from Russia. She told me that instead of cooking traditional style BBQ pork, her family usually does a Russian style barbecue – shashlik, cooked on a manghal. The manghal is like a mini version of the American barbeque grill, fueled by charcoal and used exclusively for cooking kebabs. I found this idea very intriguing. Manghal is quite like the Chinese grilling pit used to cook lamb skewers, one of the most popular street foods in China. It gives the meat a great smoky flavor that you can’t get from an oven or gas grill. When Paulina shared her family’s favorite BBQ pork kebab recipe, I knew I had to try it out! It looked SO good. Plus, it was a perfect opportunity to do some grilling – Thomas could help me with prep and start the fire, and we have several public grills located near the house. Besides the kebab-style cooking, I tried out a few more things, including whole bone-in chicken thighs, chicken thigh skewers, chicken wings, and bigger cuts of pork shoulder. I have included cooking notes for all of those in the recipe below.
Our grilling party didn’t go so smoothly the first time. We marinated the meat and prepared to grill it on Memorial Day. However, after 30 minutes of grilling, it started to rain extremely heavily and continued all day. We got to cook all the pork kebabs, but we couldn’t finish cooking the pork shoulder or chicken thighs. The pork kebabs turned out perfectly. The surface of the meat was beautifully charred, with a super moist texture. They cooked extremely quickly, many times faster than bigger cuts. I found them to be a perfect snack for a party. The pork shoulder and chicken thighs were halfway cooked when it started to rain. So we had to continue cooking them in the oven. But since they had been cooked partially on the grill, they still had a very nice smoky flavor.
Last weekend, we did the whole process all over again. Luckily the weather was perfect – sunny, cool and windy. We got a huge batch of marinated meat prepared, with more variety this time. I’m so glad we tried it again. We experienced a bit more trial and error as we perfected the grilling process.
There were a few cooking notes:
If you’re hosting a party, definitely try the kebab style BBQ. It cooks so much more quickly and is a much easier method for generating super moist meat. Start a fire that is not too strong, you should able to cook the kebabs all the way through over direct heat without burning the meat (the glaze on the meat should burn/caramelize a bit, though). Do not cut the meat into smaller cubes before marinating. It causes the meat to dry out. I tried both ways. Although you need more marinating time, using bigger cuts of meat in the marinating stage generates much tastier, moister meat. If you’re cooking larger cuts of meat, make sure to pile the charcoal on one side of the grill. You will need to move the meat to the indirect heat side after the surface is charred. The seasoning in this recipe is toward the savory end of the BBQ spectrum. If you have a sweeter tooth, add more honey into the marinade. Definitely try cooking with chicken, too. It’s a bit similar to teriyaki chicken, only with a great smoky flavor. I prefer thighs and wings, because they yield a very moist texture. You could use chicken breasts, too.
Do you like Chinese style BBQ? If yes, definitely try cooking it over charcoal. The smokiness adds extra points to the BBQ and makes it so addictive!
