Lu cuisine samplers

Beijing

Lu cai or Lu cuisine is the first formal cooking style recognized in China, and northern Chinese food is mainly inspired by it. Ye Jun introduces some of the best dishes, and points you to the best places to have a feast.

Don't be put off by the name Hai Shen Wang or Wang's Sea Cucumber. Even if you are not a particular fan of the sea slug, elegantly re-named beche de mer by the French, this restaurant is actually a good spot to try out classic Lu or Shandong cuisine.

Hai Shen Wang is named after Wang Yijun, known as Beijing's top Shandong cuisine master, who was executive chef at the famous Feng Ze Yuan, a traditional Lu-style restaurant founded in 1930.

Lu cuisine is one of the four major Chinese cooking styles, and certainly the oldest recognized. It originated from the kingdoms of Qi and Lu in the ages of Spring and Autumn and Warring States (770-221 BC), at what is now Shandong province.

It has become representative of North Chinese food since the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Both Ming and Qing dynasty (1368-1911) emperors had Lu chefs cooking for them, and the style has filtered down to the daily cooking of the people in Beijing and other parts of northern China.

Shandong cuisine emphasizes the purity of flavors, with several distinctive characteristics. Soup stocks are either clear and rich, or milky and mellow. Of the more than 30 cooking methods in Lu cuisine, the most commonly used are bao, quick-frying, and pa, which is pan-broiling before further simmering to extract the best flavors.

Seafood is a major ingredient.

When you order at a restaurant serving Lu cuisine, here are a few famous dishes you may want to try.

A popular appetizer is a chilled duck's web marinated with mustard. The texture of the duck's web is slippery and chewy, and the mustard comes as a shock to the palate but it really opens up the nasal passages.

Pork aspic is another typical starter, and the chilled crystal-like slices are full of meaty flavor despite their fragile appearance. In contrast, the mashed Chinese yam (huai shan) with blueberry sauce and diced fruits is an appetizer which refreshes the palate before you tackle more meat in the main courses.

Deep-fried pork balls served with a dry salt and pepper mix and a sweet and spicy sauce is a contrast in textures. They are fried to a delightful crisp outside but stay tender at the first bite.

Another typical Shandong dish is the fish slices in sweet wine sauce. A rice wine marinade makes the fish tender and smooth and scents it with a rich fragrance. The dry-braised fish fully absorbs the seasoning and is excellent company for rice.

For soup, do not miss the baby cuttlefish and egg drop soup. Heavily seasoned with black pepper, this is a hot, warming dish that also stimulates the taste buds with its tart sourness.

Of course, the sea cucumbers are a major highlight, and it is an ingredient which challenges the position of sharks fin in Southern cuisine, so you can expect to pay a little more. Lu master chef Wang's signature dish is a braised sea cucumber with shallots, and at Wang's Sea Cucumber, this dish can easily set you back 98 yuan ($14.5) per person.

If you skip the beche de mer, however, the average cost can be as low as 60 yuan per person.