BBQ!
In my very-worthy-but-never-taken-seriously opinion, Hong Kong style barbequing should be included in the local attraction promotion ad, along side with the images of the terribly managed Disneyland and the non-existent Chinese wooden junk that slowly sails through the Victoria Harbour with computer technology. One thing that I missed most about this city that I was born in was BBQ grill sausages, local style. In HK, we sit around the public round stone stoves in the mountains or on the beaches, and grill marshmallow, bread, fishball and all kinds of meat on long iron forks, looking barbarian. Since going out of the subway station area is such a "big deal" for us lazy couch potatoes, I did try other ways to re-live this sweet sensation at home. I bought my same old favorite brand of sausages and grilled on a pan. No, no, the magic was not there. They were just your plain, ordinary sausages.
One fine January evening, we drove to the beach, and I finally fed my long-time crave with 12 solid grilled and honeyed sausages.
So my slow brain finally realised the magic must have come from the method of cooking. Must grill directly on naked fire. Preferably from coal. So in absolute tastebud ecstasy, I declared that I would buy two barbeque forks and barbeque at home, on my kitchen stove.
My ambitious culinary experiment was fiercely ridiculed and rebutted.
¡§hey, stupid, food grilled from direct gas flame is TOXIC!¡¨
I didn¡¦t take that many science courses back in high school, so I really didn¡¦t know if that¡¦s true. So I came up with an alternative, ¡§oh! I can grill on a hotpot stove, that¡¦s patrol gas. Even better, we can all sit around the table and grill!¡¨
¡§That¡¦s toxic, too. Idiot.¡¨
The idiot wasn't discouraged. Over the past week, I¡¦ve asked around for opinions. I have received various feedback:
¡§Man, you can't do that! Everyone knows that¡¦s toxic. Why? I don¡¦t know. Wait. I know, my common sense says so. ¡¨
¡§My gut feeling is, no. Wouldn¡¦t the oil be dripping all over the place?¡¨
¡§I think you can do that, but probably the sausages are gonna look black. I mean, try grilling one with your lighter and you¡¦ll know what I mean.¡¨
¡§Hey why not? It¡¦s not gonna be more carcinogenic than smoking.¡¨
As you can see, my wise friends aren't giving me the most satisfying answer to this ¡§burning¡¨ question. And you can also see, how I always hang out with people with similar level of intelligence as mine.
Now, you smarter guys out there, what do you think? Enlighten the idiot.
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Edit Feb 10 -
phew i'm back to HK and thanks so much for all the insightful comments that came in while i was gone. i dont know why, you guys just made me feel incredibly warm! in summary, most believe it's the charred part that's toxic but not open flame. we get those carbonized part from any kind of BBQ anyway. but many friends (outside xanga) claimed open flame from gas is toxic itself, like noxologous said. they speak with such confidence and there are so many of them. thats what i'm most curious about (why is open flame toxic?). but looks like we still havent got a science guru here to clear up the mystery. meanwhile i'm seriously considering those grilling toys, but i dont want to have a smoked ceiling =P | 
