Lanzhou Grilled Lamb Skewers

Lanzhou grilled lamb skewers thread lean-and-fat pieces of leg or rib onto iron pins, grilling them openly over a charcoal trough while turning and dusting with cumin, chilli powder and salt until crisp outside and tender within, sizzling and dripping, one of the commonest street snacks of Lanzhou and the Hui-Han communities of the northwest.

Lanzhou's Hui community long made lamb central to its food, and grilled skewers have deep roots here; with the rise of the Zhengning Road night market and the Nanguan food street from the 1980s and 90s they became the signature of a Lanzhou summer night, and a visit to the night market for skewers is now a must for visitors.

After dark at Zhengning Road night market or the Nanguan food street, the skewers are ordered by the handful and grilled to order, eaten hot off the coal and cooled by a bowl of niangpi and a bottle of Yellow River beer, the smoky, noisy street life that is Lanzhou after dark at its most everyday.

The open-coal smoke, the cumin-and-chilli seasoning of the northwest, and the smoke-and-bustle of Zhengning Road night market are the marks of Lanzhou grilled lamb skewers.