Grilled Taiwanese Sausage with Raw Garlic
Recipes with Taiwanese Sausage
The night market baseline: sweet pork sausages grilled over charcoal on a wire rack, pushed onto bamboo skewers, and handed over with a pile of raw garlic slices. No sauce, no bun. The sausage's sugar caramelises against the heat and produces a lacquered skin with small char marks. The garlic is the other half of the dish. This recipe reproduces that result at home using a charcoal grill or a cast-iron grill pan.
Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
12 min
Servings
2
Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients
- 4 Taiwanese sweet pork sausages (xiangchang)
- 1 head garlic, cloves peeled and sliced thin
- Bamboo skewers
- Charcoal or cast-iron grill pan
Steps
Light the charcoal and wait until the coals are grey with no open flame. For a grill pan, heat over medium-high for 3 minutes until a drop of water evaporates on contact.
Lay the sausages on the grate. Do not pierce them. Cook on one side for 3 minutes without moving, then turn with tongs.
Continue turning every 2–3 minutes for a total of 10–12 minutes. The casing should be evenly coloured amber-brown across most of the surface, with darker char marks at points of direct contact with the grate. The sugar content creates colour faster than with an unseasoned sausage — adjust heat if the exterior is darkening before the interior is cooked through.
Push each sausage onto a bamboo skewer. Arrange on a plate. Pile the raw garlic slices alongside. The sausages go into the mouth first, then a slice or two of garlic on the next bite.
Tips
The sweetness in the marinade means the sausage colours well before it is cooked through. Cut one open after 8 minutes to check: the interior should be opaque with no pink at the centre. If using a grill pan indoors, open a window — the caramelising sugar produces a lot of smoke. The garlic slices should be thin enough to be almost translucent; use a mandoline if cutting by hand is inconsistent.