Fire up your own outdoor BBQ

Coming from the US to China, it becomes readily apparent that barbeque takes on a whole new identity, very different from kind of experience you would have in the states. Typical barbeques involve gathering with friends or family around a grill, serving up hot dogs, hamburgers, ribs, and vegetables. Not too many aspects of US eating and cooking habits are quite as communal and uniting as the barbeque can be. Given the communal aspect, barbeques tend to be the go-to activity for birthday parties, summer holidays, and family get-togethers. Nothing screams Fourth of July quite like a barbecue, apple pie, and beer. It’s an opportunity for family members and friends to pitch into a meal by bringing their own items or helping prepare the food that’s consumed by the group. While this tends to lead to an overabundance of family-sized chips and store bought cookies, the central meal is a well worthy pay off. Going to the park or someone’s backyard to share a meal can help bring families and communities together. Not to mention pyromaniacs get an opportunity to play with fire.

Unfortunately for Tianjin and most of urban China, barbecuing is not as simple as in other countries. Regulations restrict the areas in which public barbecuing may be permitted. Also, to move the goalposts, some authorities have blamed barbecuing for the notorious air pollution that plagues China. In China though, barbeque is not the same as what we are accustomed to in the States. Cook outs are done over the massive long and thin grills. There are no BBQ sauces, no hamburgers, no hotdogs. Barbecue in China typically comes as either shaokao (烧烤) or Korean BBQ. Shaokao in China is usually cooked outside of restaurants or on the street side on carts during the evening hours. While the staple of shaokao are the delicious cuts of lamb cooked on a skewer, there are a vast amount of skewered meats and vegetables worth trying. At a restaurant serving shaokao, you usually select from a menu of different skewers but if your Chinese isn’t up the par, the shaokao street carts allow you to load up a metal tray on your own. Cooked up over a slim barbeque burner, shaokao is usually topped with earthy spices and chili sauce at request. Korean BBQ restaurants allow visitors to buy plates of meat to cook on their own over a heater in the middle of the table. Smoke from cooking is sucked into a ventilation tube hovering over the table. Besides the meats that can be ordered, it is typical for these restaurants to give their visitors many small plates of Korean snacks to feast on while waiting for their other food. Korean BBQ, while being absolutely delicious is almost exclusively an indoor dining experience. It still maintains the communal aspect of cooking together with friends and they typically serve up some great Korean beers but if you are looking to eat outside you will want to partake in shaokao or cooking on your own.

MeiJiangGongYuan

When it comes to hosting your own barbecue, the situation can be a bit complicated. Without your own backyard, cooking barbecue will require going to a public space like a park to begin a cook out. The issue here is that many parks condemn barbecuing food and as such, do not host the proper cooking facilities. If you are to ignore the rules, you will still be required to bring your own equipment to cook. While buying a small stove, charcoal, and a bit of gasoline can be managed at many super markets, you will have to move all the cooking materials to a park outside of Tianjin proper.

Simply moving the gear outside of downtown to a small park usually does the trick but there are a few locations that do allow for outdoor barbecuing. YangliuQingZhuangYuan (杨柳青庄园) is one such location in XiQing district which is situated around a beautiful lake. For those north of the Hai River, this park may be your best bet but it can be quite inconvenient to travel to. Just south of Tianjin proper and just a short ride from Galaxy Mall is the MeiJiangGongYuan (梅江公园). This park, while being similar to the aforementioned YangliuQing Manor, has a much larger lakefront. Besides allowing for more room, MeiJiang Park is also much more convenient for those living in southern Tianjin. A taxi ride from AoCheng Plaza to MeiJiang is roughly 15 yuan.

Those living in WuQing district have an excellent location at their disposal. Just 10 kilometers away from the WuQing Train Station is the BeiYunHe JiaoYeGongYuan (北运河郊野公园). The BeiYunHe country park is situated on its own triangular island, cut off from the rest of the world by three canals. Offering not only firepits for potential cookers (grill tops or skewers will be required), there are also accommodations for camping. Not only being the perfect getaway for barbecuing, it may also make for a pleasant night of camping if you are into that sort of thing. While shops in the area will sell you the essentials like stoves, charcoal, snacks, and drinks; you may save a bit of cash by bringing a stove of your own. The furnaces in the area may become preoccupied if there are too many visitors. Besides these locations there are plenty of isolated pockets in Tianjin that would serve fine for a guerilla cook out. The many canals outside of the city like XinKaiHe are usually completely dead at night, making for the perfect spot to enjoy a barbecue without traveling too far. If you want to avoid being eaten alive by mosquitoes, the parks outside of the city may be your best bet but even those have bodies of water.

Bring your DIY skewers.

Sourcing meat for your events should not be entirely difficult. All markets sell beef, pork, and chicken that can all be prepared for an American-styled barbecue. Some import stores offer various hotdogs, sausages, and sometimes pre-marinated steaks for all your cooking needs. These import stores oftentimes sell marinades and sauces from outside of China which can bring familiar tastes to your barbecuing experience. Hosting a barbecuing event as summer begins to heat up is a foolproof way to bring together friends and colleagues. While a cookout on the Hai River with a few beers would make for a beautiful evening, keep in mind that you do so at the risk of having the authorities crash your party. While most Tianjin locals also enjoy the summer with activities along the riverside or in parks, those who cause trouble are bound to face some kind of wrath. Whether you are holding an event on the river, at a park outside of town, or right in the middle of BinJiangDao, be considerate of others and clean up after yourself. Even if you may not be hosting a barbecue in the proper area, authorities may be more understanding if you are not making a mess of a location.