上期寫滿漢，今期就寫滿族老家，頗冷門的東北菜。
I last wrote about the Manchu and Han cuisine, and this time, I will write about Northeastern Cuisine, a rather obscure cuisine from the Manchu’s hometown.
東北，即東三省，包括黑龍江、吉林、遼寧。名曰三省，但生活文化等同一省，他們自我介紹，從來自稱東北人。
我有在港穗生活的東北朋友，分別來自俄羅斯邊界的牡丹江、吉林、大連……但跟他們吃飯，不論在中或港，從來沒挑東北菜。冰凍的東北，真沒啥好吃？
在香港找東北菜，OpenRice有數間餃子店，賣全國華北都有的餃子，欠特色。荃灣有自稱做大菜的酒樓，菜單是港人心中的外省菜。慶幸在深圳，有商場連鍞店「雪鄉情」，也有社區小店「雙福餃子營」，門口強調供應精緻東北菜。
吃東北菜，前菜可選朝鮮族酸泡菜，漢族的涼拌大拉皮、皮凍、大豐收，後者即生吃黃瓜、蘿蔔、生菜、腐皮沾麵醬，是東北版的意大利Crudite Bagna Cauda，被日本佔領14年，也吃大馬哈（三文魚遠親）刺身，俄國文化則帶來切片紅腸。黑龍江是中國最早養殖鱘魚之處，製魚子醬，現今全國跟風，遠銷海外。
湯品有長白山人蔘燉雞、飛龍（蘇格蘭著名野味松雞grouse）湯、雞茸哈士蟆（林蛙卵巢）羹。熱菜最出名是鍋包肉，乃酸甜汁炸豬肉片，盲品會誤為咕嚕肉。另外地三鮮（燒茄子土豆辣椒）、手抓醬骨架、紅燒鹿肉、白汁扒猴頭菇、炒鮮海蔘，渤海水冷海產特佳，我試過在大連叫各類香港有售的魚貝，港式煮法，直把大連當西貢!
東北冬季溫度負三十度，喜歡開鍋，清太祖努爾哈赤未入關時，宴請下屬，首選吃酸菜白肉鍋，但窮得連鹽也限量分發，有辦法的大臣赴宴時，把自己帶的小刀先沾滿醬汁，切肉時才略增風味。到慈禧年代，老佛爺懂養生，火鍋湯底改成菊花清湯，下火兼外觀漂亮，更挑食慾。
除了以上淥生肉的湯火鍋，也有燴鍋—燉大鵝、小雞燉蘑菇、豬肉燉粉條、得莫利燉魚，大鐵鍋直徑等於廣東酒樓的轉盤，內放耐煮的肉、豆腐、粉條、土豆等，鐵鍋邊現烙大餅，分量大到嚇怕南方人，一頓飯飽肚兼保暖。
東北五常米乃全國有名的高端米種，但東北人可能覺吃米飯不夠飽，不常吃。受蘇俄映響，也吃麵包，叫大列巴，出名硬啃。最常吃始終是各種餅，另外就是餃子，每人動輒吃一斤，餃子可蒸可煮，餡料多變，酸菜芹菜白菜、素料有香菇木耳豆腐、葷料包括豬牛雞肉，其他地方較罕見的是鮁魚餃，即馬交魚。
最後說說東北酒，有可售兒童的極低酒精，由麥包發酵的格瓦斯，有全國流行的哈爾濱啤酒及瀋陽雪花啤酒，葡萄酒有吉林通化的野山葡萄酒及威代Vidal甜酒，白酒有達60度的北大荒燒刀子。
總結來說，東北菜，性價比高，值得一試。
Northeastern refers to the three eastern provinces, Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning. Although they are called the three provinces, they share similar lifestyles and cultures. When locals introduce themselves, they always refer to themselves as Northeasterners.
I have friends from Northeast China who live in Hong Kong and Guangzhou. They come from Mudanjiang, near the Russian border, as well as from Jilin and Dalian. However, whenever I share meals with them, whether in the mainland or Hong Kong, we never choose Northeastern restaurants. Is frozen Northeastern food really not that good？
If you look for Northeastern food in Hong Kong on OpenRice, there are a few dumpling shops that sell dumplings commonly found throughout northern China, but they lack any special features. In Tsuen Wan, there is a restaurant that claims to serve main course dishes, but the menu reflects what Hong Kong people consider non-Cantonese provincial cuisine. Fortunately, in Shenzhen, there is a shopping mall with a restaurant called Xuexiangqing, as well as a small community restaurant called Shuangfu Dumpling Camp, which emphasizes serving exquisite Northeastern dishes right at the entrance.
When enjoying Northeastern cuisine, you can choose appetizers like Korean sour kimchi and Han Chinese cold dishes, including “large pulled surface” *（cassava sheets）, aspic, and “big harvest”. The latter features raw cucumber, radish, lettuce, and tofu skin dipped in bean paste sauce, resembling the Northeastern version of the Italian crudités, Bagna Cauda. The region was occupied by the Japanese for 14 years, during which sashimi made from chum salmon became popular, along with the introduction of slices of red sausage from Russian culture. The Black Dragon River was the first place in China to farm sturgeon and produce caviar, which is now popular across the country and exported overseas.
There are soup broths of stewed chicken with Changbaishan ginseng, grouse soup, and a toad soup that includes chicken and frog ovaries. The most famous main dish is guo bao rou, made from deep-fried pork slices in a sweet and sour sauce, which may be mistaken for Cantonese sweet and sour pork in a blind tasting. Additionally, Dalian is renowned for its disanxian, which is made of eggplants, potatoes, and sweet peppers, as well as spare ribs served with a dipping sauce, roasted venison, braised lion’s mane mushrooms in creamy sauce, stir-fried sea cucumber. Bohai Sea water is so cold that good for seafood. I once ordered various seafood in Dalian that were also sold in Hong Kong, cooked in Hong Kong style; it really felt like treating Dalian as Sai Kung.
Northeast winters can see temperatures drop to minus thirty degrees, making hot pot a popular choice. During the Qing dynasty, when Nurhaci had not yet entered the borders, he would host banquets for his subordinates, featuring pickled vegetables and white meat hot pot as the preferred dish. However, due to poverty, even the distribution of salt was limited. Some clever ministers would bring their own knives, dip them in sauce beforehand, and cut the meat to enhance the flavour slightly. In the era of Empress Dowager Cixi, she emphasized maintaining health, so the hot pot broth was changed to chrysanthemum broth, which not only helped to cool the body according to Chinese medical theory, but was also visually pleasing, making it more appetizing.
In addition to the hot pot with raw meat, there are also stewed pots – such as stewed goose, chicken with mushrooms, pork with vermicelli, and stewed fish. The large iron pots diameters are comparable in size to the lazy Susan used in Cantonese restaurants, filled with ingredients like meat, tofu, vermicelli, potatoes, etc. Around the edges of the pot, large pancakes are cooked, providing a substantial meal that may be overwhelming for Southerners but certainly keeps you warm.
Northeastern Wu Chang rice is a nationally renowned high-end rice, but locals often feel that rice alone is not filling enough, so they don’t eat it frequently. Influenced by the Soviet Union, they also enjoy bread known as хлеб, which is famous for being hard to chew. The most consumed foods are various types of pancakes and dumplings, with each person often consuming a kati (about half a kilogram) of them. Dumplings can be steamed or boiled, with fillings such as pickled vegetables, celery, and cabbage. Vegetarian options include mushrooms, fungi, and tofu, while meat fillings commonly consist of pork, beef, and chicken. A rarer option is “ba” fish dumplings, made with mackerel.
Finally let’s talk about Northeastern liquor. Квас is fermented from rye bread. The alcohol level is extremely low that it can be sold to children. The region is also home to the nationally popular Harbin Beer and Shenyang Snow Beer, as well as wild mountain grape wines from Tonghua in Jilin and Vidal sweet wine. Additionally, there is Beidahuang “burning knife”, a baijiu with an alcohol content of 60%, so it is called “burning knife”.
All in all, Northeastern cuisine is worth a try, and high value for its price.
