Northeastern Chinese cuisine

Northeastern Chinese cuisine is a style of Chinese cuisine in Northeastern China. Many dishes originated from Manchu cuisine. It relies heavily on preserved foods and hearty fare due to the harsh winters and relatively short growing seasons. Pickling, such as is a very common form of food preservation and pickled cabbage is traditionally made by most households in giant clay pickling vats. Unlike southern China, the staple crop in northern China is wheat and it supplies the majority of the starch found in a northern Chinese diet where it is found in the form of noodles and steamed bun. Popular dishes include pork and chive dumplings, suan cai hot pot, cumin & caraway lamb, congee, tealeaf stewed hardboiled eggs, ''nian doubao'' , congee with several types of pickles , and cornmeal congee. Perhaps the most important characteristic of Northeastern Chinese cuisine is its utilization of ''suan cai''. Another distinct feature that separates Northeastern cuisine from other Chinese cuisines is to serve more raw vegetables and raw seafood in the coastal areas.

Due to its riverine environment, the Heilongjiang style of the Northeastern cuisine is famed for its fish banquet, specializing in anadromous fish such as the trout banquet and the sturgeon banquet, and similarly, due to its mountainous environment, the Jilin style of the Northeastern cuisine is famed for its dishes that utilize game animals. Although by law, only farm raised animals are allowed for culinary use and such use of wild animals is strictly forbidden, this practice is still being criticized because critics argue that such use of farmed animals, despite the fact that they are farm raised, would encourage the consumption of wild animals.

Liaoning cuisine is a new rising star among Chinese cuisines and has become increasing popular recently. Furthermore, Liaoning cuisine chefs have continuously won awards in recent culinary arts competitions in China.