Small clams thrown into a hot wok with dried chillies, garlic and ginger, splashed with soy and wine, and eaten the moment they open — with a glass of beer.
What makes it qingdao spicy stir-fried clams
Small live clams, cooked just until the shells open.
Dried chillies, garlic and ginger in hot oil, with a splash of soy and wine.
Eaten straight away, with beer.
Where it comes from
Qingdao was a German concession from 1898, and the brewery founded there in 1903 became Tsingtao. The city kept the beer: in summer it's sold draught by the bag from street kegs, and its easiest partner is a plate of clams — gālā, in the local dialect — from the shallows of the bay.
Spicy stir-fried clams are the everyday version, cooked in minutes at seafood stalls and beer halls. The saying goes that in Qingdao you drink beer and eat clams, and the city's beer festival, held every summer since 1991, keeps it true.
How it varies
Beer clams (píjiǔ gélí)
Clams steamed open in Tsingtao beer instead.
Clams with leeks or eggs
Plainer home versions, the clam meat picked out first.