Food · Cuisines
Northern Chinese cooking (Beijing / Shandong fusion)
What it is
'Northern Chinese cuisine' is not one of the eight canonical regional cuisines, but it's a useful umbrella for the cooking of the wheat-belt north — Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Hebei, Shanxi, parts of Henan. Strong overlap with Lu (Shandong) cuisine, with Manchurian and Mongolian influences in Beijing's imperial-era kitchens.
Pillars: - **Wheat staples** — noodles, dumplings, mantou (steamed bread), pancakes. - **Lamb and beef** more than pork. - **Salt and clear broths** rather than chilli or fermented sauces. - **Vinegar** (Shanxi vinegar in particular) as a condiment.
Canonical dishes
- Peking duck (北京烤鸭) — the iconic dish; air-dried roast duck with thin pancakes, scallions, cucumber, sweet bean sauce.
- Beef noodle soup, northern style — clear broth, hand-pulled noodles, braised beef.
- Lamb hot pot, Beijing-Mongolian style — clear broth, thinly sliced lamb, sesame dipping sauce.
- Boiled dumplings (水饺) — pork-and-cabbage, lamb-and-leek, vegetable.
- Zhajiangmian (炸酱面) — wheat noodles with fermented soybean paste and pork.
- Jianbing (煎饼) — savoury crepe; Tianjin and Shandong claim the original.
- Sliced/scissor-cut/cat's-ear noodles (Shanxi).
Where to eat
Beijing institutions: Quanjude (Peking duck), Bianyifang (older Peking duck house), Donglaishun (lamb hot pot). Outside Beijing, the northern style is most fully expressed in Tianjin, Jinan and Taiyuan.
Style notes
Less spicy and less sweet than southern cuisines. Pair with Yanjing or Tsingtao beer, Beijing erguotou (the local strong baijiu), or chrysanthemum tea.