Best for: The shaokao stall’s seafood showpiece.
Youyu chuan is the dramatic one at a Chinese night market: a whole small squid threaded flat on two skewers so it cannot curl, blistered over fierce charcoal heat in about three minutes, then dusted with cumin-chile spice. It is a completely different treatment from a marinade or a wok sauce — dry spice, open flame, nothing else.
Grill: Direct high heat over charcoal; 500°F. Equipment: Charcoal grill, flat metal skewers (2 per squid), tongs, instant-read thermometer.
Ingredients
Rest: 2 minutes. Total: 23 minutes.
- 4 whole small squid (about 1 1/2 lb total), cleaned, tubes and tentacles separated
- 2 tablespoons neutral oil
- 1 tablespoon cumin seeds, coarsely crushed
- 2 teaspoons Chinese chile flakes (or crushed red pepper flakes)
- 1 teaspoon fine table salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground Sichuan pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 lemon, cut into wedges
- 8 flat metal skewers (or bamboo skewers soaked 30 minutes)
Directions
Pat the squid tubes and tentacles very dry. Thread each tube flat onto two parallel skewers so it lies flat and cannot curl; thread the tentacles onto the remaining skewers.
Stir the cumin, chile flakes, salt, Sichuan pepper, and sugar into the shaokao spice mix. Light a full chimney of charcoal and heat the grill to 500°F — squid wants the hottest fire of the night.
Brush the squid all over with the neutral oil.
Grill directly over the coals for 1–2 minutes per side, until the tubes blister, the edges char lightly, and the flesh turns opaque.
Dust generously with the spice mix in the last 30 seconds and cook until the squid registers 145°F — pull it the moment it is opaque, because squid toughens fast past that point.
Rest for 2 minutes and serve with the lemon wedges and the remaining spice mix.
Grilling tip: Two skewers per squid is the whole trick — a flat squid chars evenly instead of balling up on the grate.
