Hong Kong Barbecued Meats

Eastwood, Chatswood, Ultimo, Hurstville in the greater Sydney area.  Doncaster, Richmond, Glen Waverley, Little Bourke Street in Melbourne.  Frisco, Dallas, New York or Chicago in the USA. Vancouver or Toronto in Canada. Soho in London or Chinatown in Amsterdam. Scenes replicated in South-east Asia and Auckland's Dominion Road.  The first wave of emigration out of China was mainly form the southern Chinese provinces, where roasted, barbecued and charbroiled meats were essentially part of the menu and have matured to an art. Glistening, dripping and crunchy. They do look oily.  They can be soy sauced chicken, roast pork, goose or duck, always served whole, replete with neck, claws, buttocks and beaks.  May be it has to do with the Chinese penchant for wholesomeness and intactness.  People line up to buy them whole or cut up in more palatable bite size pieces.  Do note that Chinese styled stuffed sausages and marinated spare ribs are also available in such restaurants.  Above photograph, from left to right: roast pork (siew yoke in Cantonese); whole soy sauced chicken; and whole roast duck.

Seafood grilled and served (picture above), which are often less oily than sheer meats.

As the meats are consumed with steamed white rice (and Lebanese cucumber slices or tomato cuts), it is necessary to also prepare braising sauces to enhance the flavours of such barbecued servings.  Such sauces utilise a combination of light and dark soy sauces, added with touches and dashes of pepper, rock sugar, Shaoxing wine and Chinese rose wine.  It is preferable not to microwave such meats; instead it is better to heat them in the oven or use leftovers as additions to a fresh stir-fry.

Another variation is the compressed, dried and cured duck as shown above.  Originating from winter conditions, it provides a completely different sensation from the barbecued versions.  I am reminded of smoked hams.