Mingshui Grilled Meat 明水烤肉

Mingshui Grilled Meat (明水烤肉) is the charcoal barbecue of Mingshui County (明水县) in Suihua (绥化), Heilongjiang. Its featured item is the dayoubian (大油边, literally 'big oily edge'), a meat skewer that Mingshui began promoting with a barbecue contest at the end of 2024 and that, according to a county official, has made a name for itself in the surrounding area.

How it is made

The skewers are turned over charcoal until golden and glossy, and the fat dripping onto the coals throws up sparks. Wang Anguo (王安国), who has run a barbecue shop in Mingshui for more than ten years, told the Suihua Evening News (绥化晚报) that the result depends on a secret marinade and a house recipe, and on a grilling method called 'three turns and nine rotations' (三翻九转).

Flavour and texture

Wang describes a good dayoubian as crisp outside and bursting with juice inside. Diners eat it straight off bamboo skewers, and one regular quoted by the paper opens with her usual order of ten.

Where it comes from

According to Zhao Changchun (赵长春), deputy head of the county market regulation bureau, Mingshui held its first 'Mingshui Dayoubian' barbecue contest at the end of 2024. Sixteen barbecue shops from across the county competed and were judged on the freshness of their ingredients, their grilling technique and flavour; the winner was named the dayoubian flagship shop and the next four specialty barbecue shops. Heilongjiang Daily (黑龙江日报) reports that during the following Spring Festival the county town's barbecue shops took up the skewer. In mid-April 2025 Wang, whose shop came third, opened a branch in neighbouring Qinggang County (青冈县), the first to leave Mingshui, and said that more than 400 skewers a day were not enough to meet demand there.