Frontier Feasts: Cuisines of China’s Wide-open Country

We Beijingers are proud, rugged northerners, and our cuisine reflects that. But climatic conditions are much harsher for much of China than they are in Beijing – just ask people from Dongbei, Inner Mogolia, Xinjiang and Tibet, who bring their hearty ways and cooking to the capital.

Dongbei
Northeastern China (Dongbei), formerly known as Manchuria, comprises the three provinces – Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang – with similar ethnography, dialects and food. Dongbei cuisine is strongly influenced by the culinary heritage of the pastoral Manchu and Mongolian peoples that historically occupied the region.

Compared to the agricultural bounty of southern China, relatively few crops grow well in the Northeast, but these include potatoes, Chinese cabbage, eggplant and peas. These foods remain staples of the region. People in the countryside prepare these vegetables in various ways to last through the winter – often by pickling vegetables with salt water, soy sauce or garlic. Special rules apply – for example, cabbage is pickled in fresh water, eggs in salty water. In addition to the pickles, some foods – such as sweet potato and eggplant – are dried, while others – like tofu and peas – are frozen. Saltiness is the predominant flavor characteristic in Dongbei cuisine, although some dishes are sweet.

To bring out the essential flavors of each ingredient and harmonize the flavor combinations, Northeasterners like to stew their food. One of the most representative Dongbei dishes is luan dun (乱炖 – “random stew”), which is what it sounds like – a hodgepodge of fat and lean meat, ribs, tomato, green peppers, peas, eggplant, potato and glass noodles. This dish varies depending on the house recipe, the whims of the cook and ingredients available on a given day. The region is also known for immense portion sizes, even for simple cold dishes.

Beyond their stews, Dongbei styles itself the hometown of Chinese dumplings, and to prove their claim Northeasterners consume more dumplings than anyone else in China.

Da Dong Bei. Daily 10-10pm. Northeast corner of Heping Dongqiao, 14 Yinghuayuan Dongjie, Chaoyang District. (6427 4064) 大东北, 朝阳区樱花园东街14号(和平东桥东北角)

Inner Mongolia
Mogolian people tend to divide their food into two kinds: white and red. White is dairy products and red is meat. White food is frequently proffered as tribute for guests, as it connotes holiness and purity. These specialties include milk skin (奶皮子: a cooked down milk biscuit), milk tea, “milk tofu” (奶豆腐) and even milk liquor. Some typical red foods are roasted whole sheep and lamb leg, and shou zhua yang rou (手抓羊肉) – boiled mutton eaten with bare hands.

This autonomous region was historically populated by pastoral peoples, and is still known for its expansive grasslands. While some pastoral population remains, highly-populated urban centers have boomed, and thus much of the region’s population, especially near Dongbei, is thoroughly adapted to the sedentary modern living style.

The traditional cuisine of Inner Mongolia prominently features mutton and dairy products, with relatively few vegetables. This high-protein diet powers the region’s people through cold weather, harsh conditions and hard work. Favored cooking methods are roasts, stews and boils. If not roasting meat directly over a fire, Mongolians traditionally cook their food in a pot over fire fueled by wood or dried animal dung.

While Northwestern Muslims, who eat a similar hearty diet, flavor their mutton with spices, peppers and tomatoes, Mongolian people like to cook their meat without any seasonings, sometimes not even salt.
Air dried meats are a winter staple.

Dahr Khan. Daily 10.30am-2pm, 4-2am. Daily Mogolian song and dance performance at 8pm. 11-2A, Jianguomenwai Dajie, Chaoyang District. (6501 7740) 达尔汗蒙古文化餐吧, 朝阳区建国门外大街甲11-2号

Xinjiang
Xinjiang’s chuan’r (roast mutton skewers) have been an essential part of Beijing’s snack scene for a while now. Chuan’r are popular year-round, and pair well with beer. The flavor and texture of a mouthful of alternately lean and fat lamb morsels is a meat-eater’s bliss.

Look for a young Uygur fellow armed with salt, pepper powder, cumin and other seasonings flipping skewers of meat over a coal fire – the emblem of chuan’r deliciousness.

Mutton – most commonly boiled, roasted or fried – is the most popular meat in Xinjiang cuisine. Muslims do not eat pork, but although pork in Xinjiang is very cheap (RMB 4-5 for a good kilogram), the region’s ethnic Han people don’t like pork either, citing inferior flavor and nutritional value. Nourished by fine grasslands and natural springs, Xinjiang’s sheep and goats grow and mature throughout the year, ensuring a supply of fresh, nutritious meat to eat all year long.

A range of hearty staples – like naan flatbread, shouzhuafan (手抓饭 “hand-pulled rice”) and doughy noodles – round out Xinjiang’s culinary specialties. One of the most common Xinjiang dishes is braised mutton wrapped in naan (囊包肉, nangbaorou) – sort of a mutton stew on a bed of thick pizza dough. Uygurs are also known to make a fine yogurt.

Xinjiang Islam Restaurant. Daily 11am-10.30pm. Xinjiang Provincial Government Office, 7 Sanlihe Lu, Xicheng District. (6830 1820) 新疆伊斯兰饭庄, 西城区三里河路7号

Tibet
As its altitude and otherworldly geography suggest, Tibetan cuisine is distinctive, and at times, divine. Occupying the opposite culinary pole from Guangdong (where people eat anything and everything), Tibetans refuse to eat more kinds of meat than anyone else – including animals with non-cloven hooves or wings (including poultry), fish and pork. Some of these animals are spared death and human consumption for religious reasons, some for hard-to-pin-down custom.
This limited carnivorousness, combined with the fact that not many vegetables and crops are able to grow on the tundra-like plateau, mean that Tibetan cuisine occupies a select range. Tibetan carrots, onions and potatoes account for the majority of the region’s vegetable selection, while high calorific yak meat and mutton are the dominantly consumed meats.

These meats, usually eaten in raw, fried, air-dried or boiled, provide warming sustenance through the long Himalayan winters. Air-dried meats are hung up in pieces from the end of the year until February or March, when they are ready to eat. These air-cured meats keep well and are convenient for nomads or for carrying on long journeys.
Aside from meat, the three other culinary cornerstones of the Tibetan diet are tsampa (dough balls of barley flour and yak butter), yak or sheep butter and tea. Tsampa, Tibet’s daily staple, is another food that travels well. Yak or sheep butter is another necessity – sold out of hand on the street, sold in every grocery store, stored on every family’s shelf. These butters are an integral component of tsampa and of yak butter tea, and also perform all the buttery functions prized by the West.

Chang (a barely wine) and yak butter tea are Tibet’s two most important traditional beverages. Yak butter tea is served with tsampa or alone every day, and always offered to guests, while the low alcohol chang is drunk at every festival – whether traditional or non-traditional, religious or non-religious.

Qomolangma. Daily 11am-2pm, 5-8pm. 149 Gulou Xidajie (inside the Tibet Autonomous Region government office), Xicheng District. (6401 8822 ext 2828) 珠穆郎玛, 西城区鼓楼西大街149号西藏驻京办事处