The Food of Northern China

The cuisines of the North might be different from what you expect from Chinese food. There’s no rice here, no spice either. The subtly of Southern cooking seems dainty and fussy compared to the big chunks of fatty pork, sausages and bacons of the North-East (dongbei) and racks of lamb ribs smoking over the fires from Inner Mongolia. Then there’s the thick wheat noodles of Xi’an and Lanzhou proudly served alongside meat-stuffed Chinese hamburgers (roujiamo). Xinjiang food is different again, relying on cumin-spiked lamb dishes and oven-roasted naan breads.

This is food with a backbone, made for winter, but eaten throughout the year.

If you want to get a more rounded understanding of Chinese cooking, I’d recommend a few places to start. First, any cookbook by Fuchsia Dunlop. Online, try Omnivore’s Cookbook, Woks of Life and Red House Spice.