Northeastern Chinese cuisine  Northeastern Chinese cuisine is a style of Chinese cuisine in Northeast China. While many dishes originated from Manchu cuisine, it is also heavily influenced by the cuisines of Russia, Beijing, Mongolia, and Shandong. It partially relies on preserved foods and large portions due to the region's harsh winters and relatively short growing seasons. Pickling is a very common form of food preservation, and pickled cabbage is traditionally made by most households in giant clay pickling vats. Perhaps the most important characteristic of Northeastern Chinese cuisine is its use of "suan cai", a traditional pickled Chinese cabbage. Another distinct feature that distinguishes Northeastern cuisine from other Chinese cuisines is the serving of more raw vegetables and raw seafood in the coastal areas. Simmering, braising and sautéing are ubiquitous cooking techniques used in the Northeast, producing many of the region's signatures dishes. Northeast Chinese include a large component of wheat and maize in their daily diet in the form of noodles, steamed bun and cornbread. Popular dishes include pork and chive dumplings, suan cai hot pot, cumin and caraway lamb, congee, tea eggs, "nian doubao" (sticky rice buns with sweet red bean paste filling, and unsweetened version with other beans also), congee with several types of pickles (mustard root is highly popular), sachima (traditional Manchu sweet) and cornmeal congee. Due to its riverine environment, the Heilongjiang style of Northeastern Chinese cuisine is famed for its fish banquet, specialising in anadromous fish such as the trout banquet and the sturgeon banquet, and similarly, due to its mountainous environment, the Jilin style of Northeastern Chinese cuisine is famed for its dishes that use game animals even though only farm-raised animals are allowed for culinary use under the law. Liaoning cuisine is a new rising star among Chinese cuisines and has become increasing popular recently. Furthermore, Liaoning chefs have continuously won awards in recent culinary arts competitions in China. The climate of Northern China is too cold and dry to support rice cultivation. The main staple crop of these regions are wheat. The Uyghur use wheat flour in bread recipes, but other ethnic groups use it for noodles or steamed dumplings. Other important grains include sorghum, maize and millet. Sorghum and millet are used to make an alcoholic beverage called "maotai".