Yueyang Barbecue Skewers 岳阳烧烤

Yueyang Barbecue Skewers (岳阳烧烤) are the small, hot-and-fragrant skewers grilled over charcoal in the evening streets of Yueyang (岳阳), Hunan. According to the Yueyang city government, grilling came to the city from Xinjiang (新疆) in the 1970s, and local grillers reworked it with chilli powder, perilla (紫苏) and mountain pepper (山胡椒) into a style known for its spicy flavour and small skewers.

How it is made

The Yueyanglou District (岳阳楼区) government describes a barbecue built on the Dongting Lake (洞庭湖) area's catch from its rivers and lake and on local yellow-cattle beef. The ingredients are delivered fresh on the day, cut to order and grilled over charcoal with close control of the heat so the outside chars while the inside stays tender. What began with mutton has grown to more than a hundred items, including beef fat, crucian carp, chicken feet, shelled prawns and vegetables.

How it is eaten

Grilled beef fat is named as the classic: a little fat from the tip of the brisket, grilled slowly over low heat until golden and crisp, bursting with flavour and leaving a milky sweetness. Diners at the long-established Dingsanmao (定三毛) grill on the Paotaishan (炮台山) barbecue street usually order a trio of beef fat, beef tendon and beef. Other staples are iron-plate beef tossed on the griddle with onion and cumin, whole crucian carp grilled until the skin crisps while the flesh stays soft and soaked with chilli and sauce, crunchy grilled aorta, springy chicken knee cartilage and grilled garlic chives. The Yueyanglou government sums up the flavour as hot but fragrant, fragrant with a hint of sweetness.

Where it comes from

Barbecue has its own streets in Yueyang, among them Dongting South Road (洞庭南路), the city food street, Paotaishan, the Xiaogang grain depot (小港粮库) and Tianlun City (天伦城). Dingsanmao's founder, Ding Guangxiong (定光雄), came from Hubei (湖北) in 1990 and started with a mobile stall on Miaoqian Street (庙前街). A city barbecue association was set up in 2025, followed by a barbecue college with Yueyang Open University (岳阳开放大学).