Cookbook:Liaoning cuisine

Cookbook | Ingredients | Cuisines

Northeastern cuisine is a local cuisine in the Northeast region. It is based on the cooking techniques of Han immigrants, combined with the rich products of the Northeast, and absorbs some dietary elements of ethnic groups such as Manchuria, Mongolia, and Korea and foreign countries, forming its own system. The characteristics of Northeastern cuisine are that one dish has multiple flavors, distinct salty and sweet, a wide range of ingredients, sufficient heat, rich flavor, fresh color and strong flavor, crispy and fragrant, and the cooking methods are good at stir-frying, sautéing, braising, steaming, stewing, frying, and braising. Northeastern cuisine pays attention to eating generously and enjoying it, with bright colors. It is good at using high-quality seasonal ingredients, using onions, ginger, garlic and other flavors, and using soy sauce and other colors. Common dishes of Northeastern cuisine include pot-fried pork, braised meat, sauced skeleton, three fresh ingredients, white meat blood sausage, snow-covered bean paste, pork stewed with vermicelli, chicken stewed with hazel mushrooms, sauerkraut and white meat, Northeastern stew, braised three whites, bear paws, pig-killing dishes, spicy peppers and dried tofu, etc. Northeastern sauerkraut and pickled vegetables are also a major feature that distinguishes Northeastern cuisine from other cuisines.

cultural background

The food culture circle in Northeast China is a sub-culture location type with strong style specificity in the food culture circle of the Chinese nation that has gradually formed in the long historical process. As an objective food culture location type in history, the food culture circle in Northeast China includes a wide range of types, including Shandong cuisine and Jiaodong cuisine represented by Dalian cuisine, Northeast cuisine (Liao cuisine, Jilin cuisine, Longjiang cuisine, Mengdong cuisine, etc.) in the coastal areas. Generally speaking, a certain style or type of food culture has corresponding cultural native regional attributes. The native or regional attachment of this culture is deeply rooted in the natural ecological soil and the cultural ecological system soil, and as spiritual food culture elements at the traditional, fashionable and psychological levels, they have obvious super-time and space attributes. This super-time and space attribute of food culture is often out of sync with changes in political factors such as administrative divisions. As an important component of regional food culture, the food element not only clearly reflects the specific content of food production and food life in the region in the spatial category, but also records the changes in people's food behavior and food culture style in time. Therefore, it is undoubtedly a meaningful work to examine the food culture in Northeast China from the perspective of historical and cultural evolution and development. Not only does a profound understanding of the Northeastern region's food culture itself require this kind of historical observation, but its significance can also be expanded to many other cultural fields that are much broader.

Dietary environment and cultural characteristics

China's Northeastern region, located between 42° and 53°34′ north latitude, is the coldest natural area, which is undoubtedly the basic characteristic of the natural ecology of the Northeastern region, and thus has become the primary environmental factor in the cultural history of the region. The Northeastern region is rich in surface water sources such as rivers, lakes and swamps, which not only ensures lush vegetation, but also creates excellent conditions for the growth and reproduction of terrestrial animals and plants. It also makes this the most superior forest-covered and grassland-covered area in Chinese history, and it is also the most ideal natural comprehensive economic zone for hunting, animal husbandry, fishing and planting. Food raw materials and natural resources should be the decisive environmental factors of food culture, especially the food culture in the stage when humans rely more on nature itself. After undergoing a long period of huge ecological changes, the vast forests in the Northeast still have 17 million hectares of natural forest areas, accounting for 60% of the country's total forest resources. Many species and numbers of animals live here, and they, together with the rich plant products, provide delicious delicacies for the people here. The abundant waters provide humans with a wide variety of fish in large quantities. The vast plain grassland is a unique animal husbandry paradise. According to the author's preliminary research on the food resources in the Northeast that were indeed used as food by people in the 14th to 19th centuries, the situation is roughly as follows: more than 70 species of birds, more than 50 species of animals, more than 100 species of fish, more than 60 species of fruits, more than 100 species of vegetables, and more than 40 species of grains. Until the middle of the 20th century, most areas of the Northeast were basically "beating deer roe with sticks and fishing with gourds, and pheasants flew into the rice pot." The vast land and sparse population should be another very important cultural feature of the Northeast food culture circle that cannot be underestimated. The sparse population and vast living space in the Northeast have determined the economic life of a simple "relying on the sky for food" model. The pressure of population on nature is so weak that it seems to be there and not there. The ecological environment is almost in its infancy. The consumption of the sparse population is only a very small part of the countless natural products such as birds, beasts, fish, fruits and vegetables. This has kept the life of the Northeast region in a basically balanced state for a long time. A reasonable coordination relationship has been formed between the abundant food resources and the relatively sparse population. Northeastern cuisine - pot-baked pork. From the late 19th century to the 1940s, in contrast to the "downward trend" of the mainland, the Northeast region showed a small area of ​​cultural activity and rise. A large number of Europeans, Russians and later Soviets, French, Greeks, Germans, Poles, Yugoslavs, Hungarians, Jews, Japanese, Koreans and other foreigners flocked to the Northeast. The influence of their dietary habits is still in effect. For example, the Jews once wanted to establish a country in Northeast China and jointly formulated a "Pigfish Plan" with the Japanese invading army. Many foreigners not only have their own unique nationalities, skin colors, clothing, languages, habits, livelihoods, and residences, but also their own food and eating habits, which have made the modern Northeast region, especially the cities, full of Western cultural colors and foreign flavors. According to a survey in 1937, there were more than 260 Western restaurants in Harbin alone, and a considerable number of them were run by foreigners.

Historical features of food culture

The Northeast region has had grain planting for a long time. Since the "Book of the Later Han" left a record of "the soil is suitable for five grains" in the Northeast region, there have been countless official and private historical records about the agricultural history of this place. However, the records that are earlier and richer than the written records are the large number of unearthed prehistoric cultural relics. Among the prehistoric cultural sites that have been excavated and discovered in 2013, the Xinle site in Shenyang, Liaoning Province is a representative one. This Neolithic early clan commune settlement site, which is more than 7,200 years old, reproduces the development of primitive agriculture with its grain processing plant of about 100 square meters. The characteristics of a large proportion of beans and a large number of bean products are another food culture feature that cannot be ignored in the Northeast cultural area. Bean plants, such as soybeans, red beans, mung beans, peas, broad beans, cowpeas, lentils, kidney beans, sword beans, kidney beans and more than 20 varieties, can be used as staple food for cooking rice, porridge, steaming, and can also be used as side dishes. At the same time, soybeans can also be made into various finished products such as sauce, soy sauce, tofu, bean sprouts, and soy milk. Rich winter storage is a clever creation of the food culture of people in the Northeast. Due to the short frost-free period, people only eat local vegetables for about 6 months (the north-south span is large, so the difference is also great). In order to meet the need for vegetables during the long winter, the people of Northeast China, especially the lower class, have to dry a large number of vegetables (up to more than 10 varieties) in the summer when there are many varieties of vegetables, large quantities and low prices. In autumn, they have to store a large number of winter vegetables such as cabbage, radish, and potatoes in kilns. At the same time, they have to pickle a large number of sauerkraut and pickle a variety of pickles. This is a historical tradition and a custom that is still preserved in rural areas. Frozen food is one of the typical food customs of the people in Northeast China. The long and cold winter has brought many difficulties to people's diet and life, but it has also determined the unique cultural style. The severe winter is a unique cold storage given by nature. It can store various foods and raw materials in unlimited quantities and at no cost, sterilize and preserve them, and have a unique flavor. Meat can be buried under the snow or sprinkled with water and covered with ice to keep it fresh for a long time, and vegetables can also be buried under the snow to keep them fresh and color. Tofu, frozen milk, frozen dry food (steamed buns, bean buns, dumplings, rice cakes), and frozen fruits can be frozen. As for the magical food "Tanghulu" made of red fruits dipped in rock sugar, it is a customary delicacy in the northeast in winter. Frozen meat can be easily cut into very thin slices and very fine threads. Frozen fish tastes better and is easier to process and cook. Of course, not to mention the various ice fruits and ice points that people love in 2013. Not afraid of ice and snow, but love ice and snow. Not only do they like to eat frozen foods in summer to cool down and prevent heatstroke, but they also like frozen foods in winter to be refreshing and appetizing. This is indeed a unique taste of the northeastern people that makes the southern residents both envious and timid. Since the 1980s, a series of new policies of the country have had a significant positive impact on the social economy and the national diet. Farmers' production enthusiasm and living standards are significantly higher than before. But their diet has not deviated from the long-established pattern. The staple food is still corn, sorghum, millet, wheat, rice, and millet. But the proportion of "fine grains" such as wheat and rice has increased significantly. However, only when the natural and reasonable food structure in history is reproduced - of course, it is reproduced at a higher historical and cultural level, can the regional revolution of Northeastern people's diet be completed. To this end, Northeastern people may have to work hard for at least half a century.

Food Features

Not sticking to details, it has the temperament of Northeastern people. Using Northeastern specialty ingredients and pure green food ingredients, many dishes show the characteristics of tender but not raw, transparent but not old, rotten but not melted, or crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, crispy on the outside and rotten on the inside, with mellow and fragrant taste, rich and affordable dishes.