Taiwanese Grilled Corn (Kao Yu Mi)

At Raohe Street Night Market in Tai Pei, you’ll find a spicy, umami-bomb take on grilled street corn called kao yu mi. To make it, vendors slather whole ears of corn with fat, usually lard or butter, then baste them with several layers of shacha. This Taiwanese condiment contains chilies, two kinds of dried seafood (shrimp and Chinese brill), garlic, shallots, and oil; although it’s often sold as “Chinese barbeque sauce,” its closest analogue is probably XO sauce. As the corn cooks over hot coals, the shacha caramelizes and turns into a lacquer reminiscent of candy apple coating.

Some vendors cook their corn on a full rotisserie setup, while others use individual corncob-sized ovens similar to tandoors. To replicate this recipe at home, we used a backyard charcoal grill, which imparted plenty of smoke and char. As for the shacha, we swapped the dried seafood for oyster sauce and added gochujang to achieve the spicy, funky flavor and bright red color we were after.