Made with fresh meat from mackerel, hairtail, and plaice, mixed with an appropriate amount of fatty pork, minced into fish paste, and seasoned with broth, chives, and sesame oil to make the filling. The dumplings are wrapped with thin wrappers and white filling, offering a smooth, tender, and delicious taste. …
In the past, most floral cold dishes were mostly two-dimensional. In contrast, Wenzhou's registered three-dimensional floral cold dishes (hot dishes) are divided into three categories: landscape miniature scenes, animals, and human figures. They incorporate modern life themes, feature novel concepts, and showcase ingenious arrangements. For example, using ham, chicken breast, and cake, they are stacked and carved into cold dishes such as "Eagle Soaring in the Sky" and "Rooster Announcing Dawn." Dishes made with fish…
The sea cucumber (prickly type) is the finest among China’s over 20 edible sea cucumber species and also one of the most important marine delicacies in Penglai. Belonging to the class Holothuroidea under the phylum Echinodermata, it has a cylindrical body with a raised back, featuring 4–6 rows of cone-shaped flesh tubercles of varying sizes arranged irregularly. Its ventral side is flat, densely covered with tube feet arranged in three irregular longitudinal...
The geological strata of Laizhou in Shandong, China, contain some white and black talc as well as a type of green, translucent frozen stone. These stones serve as excellent raw materials for the development of Laizhou jade carving. According to unearthed cultural relics, Laizhou jade carving has a history of 500 years. After the founding of New China, the state invested in mining in Laizhou...
Red snapper, also known as "Jiaji fish" or "Copper basin fish," has the scientific name "Pagrus major." It belongs to the order Perciformes and the family Sparidae. The fish has a high, laterally compressed body, measuring over fifty centimeters in length. Its body is silver-red with light blue spots, and its caudal fin is greenish-black at the rear. It has a large head and a small mouth, with conical teeth in the front of both jaws and molar-like teeth at the back. The body is covered with ctenoid scales. The dorsal and anal fins...
As early as before the Qing Dynasty, Penglai’s hand-weaving was renowned worldwide for its fine craftsmanship and superior quality. After the Opium War in 1840, to meet the demands of foreign trade, a new craft—shuttle lace—was created based on traditional hand-weaving techniques. Around 1890, local lace merchants began exporting this product through Australian missionaries…
Penglai Noodles are a traditional and renowned local dish in Penglai with a long history. The noodles are hand-pulled, locally referred to as “slapped noodles,” and are fine yet chewy. The broth is made by simmering red snapper (commonly known as Japanese sea bream), mixed with an appropriate amount of mung bean starch, and seasoned with soy sauce, wood ear fungus, sesame oil, star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, and other ingredients. Each bowl contains one liang (50 grams) of noodles and boasts a unique seafood flavor. During the Republican era…
Laiyang Pears are produced in Laiyang and are renowned worldwide for their unique fragrance, sweetness, and crisp texture. Since ancient times, Laiyang Pears have been a tribute to the imperial court. Their color is slightly dark green with brown spots, and they are oval in shape. Only a few acres on both sides of the Wulong River in Laiyang produce authentic Laiyang Pears, also known as Fragrant Pears. They are crisp and juicy — if accidentally dropped, they may burst upon hitting the ground like water splashing. When eaten, they...
Penglai is known for the legend of the "Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea." Based on this, in 1989, chefs at Penglai Hotel created the "Eight Immortals Feast," which primarily uses premium seafood such as prawns, sea cucumbers, scallops, crabs, red snails, and red snapper. The feast consists of 8 cold platters, 8 hot dishes, and 1 hot soup. The cold platters are crafted to resemble the magical treasures used by the Eight Immortals when crossing the sea…
First created in 1857 (the seventh year of the Xianfeng reign in the Qing Dynasty) outside the southern gate of Penglai City by Huang Kaiji. The recipe was exclusively refined through three generations. Shops were established in Shanghai, Yingkou, Yantai, and other places, gaining considerable fame and earning the reputation of “Braised Donkey Meat of Penglai, Unrivaled in the World.” Method of preparation: Add salted water to the pot, and when the water temperature reaches 60–70°C, put in large chunks of donkey meat. Cook until nine...
Sautéed Fresh Scallops in Oil is a traditional coastal delicacy. Dishes cooked using the "sauté" method are typically crisp and tender, such as chicken gizzard, pork stomach, and kidney. However, when scallops are prepared with this technique, they truly shine. This dish is especially prized for its tenderness and freshness. Made primarily with fresh scallops and enhanced with clear broth and other seasonings through sautéing, the scallops are coated in batter, retaining their nutrients. The thin, glossy sauce clings to the scallops, giving them a rich, shiny appearance. They are fragrant, soft, tender, and delicious, often served at high-end banquets. In line with the current dietary trend favoring low fat, low salt, and low sugar, this dish has gained widespread popularity among all kinds of people.
Yantai is an area where folk paper-cutting is extremely common, with a rich variety of styles and designs. Cut-paper artworks such as painted and dyed cuttings, window borders, and couplet cuttings all showcase distinct charm. Overall, Yantai paper-cutting is characterized by compact compositions and bold, smooth lines. In regions like Penglai, Longkou, and Fushan, paper-cutting often employs a combination of positive and negative space techniques…
【Whole Shrimp in Three Ways】A signature dish from Yantai. The dish separates a large prawn into three parts—head, middle section, and tail—and prepares each using a different cooking technique: braised prawn head, deep-fried prawn middle, and white sauce prawn tail fan. After seasoning and cooking, these three parts offer distinct flavors, then arranged beautifully on one plate. With an elegant presentation and varied tastes, you can enjoy three different prawn flavors in a single dish…
The black sea cucumber belongs to the phylum Echinodermata, class Holothuroidea, and family Stichopodidae. It mostly grows in seabed rocky reefs and gravel areas, and is rich in protein. It is an important medicinal and tonic product, and one of the precious seafood products along the coast of Muping. It has a delicious taste and is highly nutritious. It is produced both in Yangma Island and the offshore area of Mashanzui, with the back sea of Yangma Island being particularly abundant and of higher quality. In the back sea of Yangma Island...
【Stir-fried Shrimp】A traditional dish from Shandong. Made with fresh shrimp that are stir-fried, this dish has been widely enjoyed for a long time and is commonly served at banquets in both urban and rural areas. Shrimp can be stir-fried, deep-fried, used as filling, or cooked in soups. Stir-frying refers to coating the main ingredient in batter, lightly frying it, then cooking it without adding any other ingredients. The method involves marinating fresh shrimp in egg white and starch...
【A Swarm of Butterflies Playing with Peonies】A cold floral platter from Yantai. The “swarm of butterflies” is made by artfully slicing the large prawns abundant in Yantai into butterfly shapes, steaming them, and arranging them around the edge of the plate; the “peonies” are created by slicing large pieces of sea whelk, curling them with hot oil to resemble peony petals, then stir-frying them into a dish and placing it in the center of the plate, which is then carefully arranged into the shape of a blooming peony. This dish...
Gangzitou Fire Food According to historical records, in the late Qing Dynasty, a type of fire food became popular in the rural areas around Liufuqiao, west of Weixian County in Shandong Province. When making the dough for this food, very little water was added, making it impossible to knead into a dough ball by hand. As a result, it had to be pressed on a kneading board using a wooden lever. Locals thus gave it the elegant name “Gangzitou Fire Food.” Later, the method for making this food…
The Laizhou Bay is abundant in three-spotted swimming crabs, which have two main fishing seasons a year: "wheat-yellow crab" and "bean-yellow crab." In autumn, the brine used for marinating the crabs is first boiled, then cooled and poured into a jar. Live crabs are then placed into the brine to soak up the liquid. The jar is sealed for 20 days, after which the crabs are ready to eat. …
Yantai cuisine belongs to the Jiaodong flavor style and excels in cooking seafood. Even poisonous scorpions have become part of the Shandong people's diet. Deep-fried mountain scorpions are a famous local delicacy in Shandong, and Yantai’s “Scorpion Rolling in Glutinous Rice Balls” is another creative way of enjoying them.…
Huangxian Meat Pies, which first appeared in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, have a history of over 300 years. They are well known across Shandong for their generous meat filling, minimal vegetables, golden color, juicy and flavorful stuffing, and crispy, fragrant yet non-sticky crust. The dough is made by mixing flour with lard to form a flaky layer, using 80°C hot water to scald part of the flour into a hot-water dough, and mixing the rest with cold water to create a cold-water dough. The hot-water dough and...