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5 places in Shandong — touch one for what it's known for.
Shandong province, on China's east coast · its own page

Shandong

Also Lu, Lu cuisine, Lǔcài
One of Chinese cooking's regional kitchens · all 13 side by side

The oldest of China's great regional kitchens and the root of northern banquet cooking: clear and milky stocks, fierce quick frying, Yellow Sea seafood, and scallions by the armful.

Where it comes from

Shandong was the old states of Qi and Lu — Lu was Confucius's home — and it's usually named first among China's eight great cuisines. One of the oldest surviving Chinese books on food and farming, the sixth-century Qímín Yàoshù, was written by an official from here.

Under the Ming and Qing, Shandong cooks ran many of Beijing's kitchens, the palace's among them, so much of what's thought of as Beijing restaurant cooking is Lu at the root. At home it splits, broadly, into the inland Jinan school and the seafood cooking of Jiaodong, with the Kong family's banquet kitchen at Qufu as a world of its own.

Where in it

  1. JinanThe provincial capital, the 'city of springs', and home of the inland school: sweet-sour Yellow River carp, braised intestines, and clear-stock soups.Sweet and sour Yellow River carpNine-turn intestines
  2. DezhouAn old Grand Canal town on the way to Beijing, and later a railway junction, known across China for one thing: its braised chicken, once sold to passengers through train windows.Dezhou braised chicken
  3. QufuConfucius's hometown, where his descendants' mansion kept a banquet kitchen for centuries: Kǒngfǔ cài, formal and symbolic, its dishes often named for sayings and family stories.Poetry and Rites ginkgo
  4. QingdaoA port city, German-run from 1898 to 1914, which left it a brewery: summer here means beer by the bag and clams from the bay.Qingdao spicy stir-fried clams
  5. Yantai and JiaodongThe tip of the peninsula, the heart of the Jiaodong school: seafood cooked plainly to keep it fresh, spiky sea cucumbers, and Fushan, a district famous for sending out chefs.Scallion-braised sea cucumber

How it cooks

Bào
'Exploding': a few seconds over the fiercest heat, in very hot oil or stock — scallion-exploded lamb, oil-exploded kidney.
Pá
A slow braise with the pieces laid out neatly, then slid whole onto the plate and glossed with the thickened sauce.
Clear and milky stocks
Qīngtāng, clarified with minced chicken until it's like water, and nǎitāng, boiled hard until it turns white — the base of the finest dishes.
Scallion-braising (cōngshāo)
Spring onions fried slowly in oil until golden, and that scented oil used to braise — sea cucumber above all.

Always in the kitchen

spring onions (the tall Zhangqiu kind)garlicgingerlight soydark soyChinese rice wine (huangjiu)vinegarsweet bean sauceSichuan pepperstar aniseclear stock (qīngtāng)milky stock (nǎitāng)dried sea cucumber and other dried seafoodwheat flour and millet

Cook from it

Tonight, with what's good in October

Its classics

ShandongDezhou braised chickenA whole chicken, legs tucked in, glazed and fried golden, then braised for hours in a spiced soy stock until the meat falls from the bone.No one here has made it yetShandongSweet and sour Yellow River carpA whole carp, scored deep, fried crisp with its head and tail curled up, and doused at the table in a hot, glossy sweet-and-sour sauce.No one here has made it yetShandongNine-turn intestinesShort lengths of pork intestine, cleaned, blanched, fried and then braised down in sugar, vinegar and soy until glossy — sweet, sour, salty, peppery and faintly bitter at once.No one here has made it yetShandongShandong jianbingA paper-thin sheet of millet, corn or wheat batter, cooked dry and crisp on a wide iron griddle, and rolled around a whole spring onion and sweet bean sauce.No one here has made it yetShandongScallion-braised sea cucumberSoaked dried sea cucumber braised in stock and soy with spring onions fried slowly to gold, until it's soft, glossy and full of scallion.No one here has made it yetShandongQingdao spicy stir-fried clamsSmall 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.No one here has made it yetShandongPoetry and Rites ginkgoGinkgo nuts, shelled and blanched, simmered in syrup with honey and lard until they're glazed and tender — a sweet from the Kong family's banquet table.No one here has made it yet

Cooked here

No one here has cooked Shandong yet.