What Are the Top Ten Famous Dishes of Baotou?

In 1931, Liu Zihe founded Judecheng, Baotou’s largest restaurant serving Eastern Cuisine (Beijing and Tianjin style). Judecheng featured elegant decor adorned with rare potted flowers, paintings and calligraphy by renowned artists. All tables and chairs were finished to resemble nanmu wood, paired with exquisite tableware etched with pine and cypress patterns. Every dish was elaborately prepared, and banquet spreads were beautifully arranged, excelling in aroma, color, shape, taste, texture and tableware matching. Its most celebrated signature banquets were the Sea Cucumber Feast and Shark Fin Seafood Feast.

Several pages of Judecheng’s account books from the Japanese puppet occupation period were discovered tucked inside old wallpaper in the historic old town, recording menus from banquets hosted for the puppet municipal government, mayor, army corps headquarters and Japanese troops, among which the Sea Cucumber Feast was repeatedly featured. Even guests ordering casual meals would often sample classic dishes from the feast, such as braised sea cucumbers and three fresh stew.

The most distinctive specialty was braised cuttlefish roe, sourced from coastal Rizhao in Shandong Province. Huang Yongcheng, an apprentice of Judecheng’s master chef Zhang Zhongsan, perfected unique techniques for soaking and cooking cuttlefish roe, yielding tender yet intact roe that leaves a lingering delicate flavor on the palate long after tasting. In 1956, this dish claimed first prize at the Inner Mongolia Provincial Cooking Competition.

Colloquially nicknamed "Ribbons Pulling Stones", this dish uses pork or lamb dumpling fillings mixed with Chinese cabbage, radish and assorted seasonings wrapped in traditional dumpling wrappers. Plump mung beans are ground and pressed into elastic, translucent starch cakes that hold their shape without disintegrating after prolonged boiling.

To cook: Slice the starch cakes into strips and simmer in boiling broth, then add pre-boiled dumplings and vermicelli to the pot. Before serving, season with salt, fresh green onions, vinegar, chili flakes and monosodium glutamate. The tangy, spicy broth warms the body and dispels cold, making it a classic local staple ideal for frigid northern regions, and one of Alxa’s iconic traditional flavors.

Judecheng adapted the Cantonese paper-wrapped chicken method to create its signature Paper-Wrapped Lamb. The wrapping paper is specially selected for soft toughness, oil resistance and resistance to breaking during deep-frying. Unique proprietary techniques are applied for sauce blending, wrapping and frying. When the paper is opened at the table, an intense savory aroma bursts forth.

Baotou was first liberated in October 1943. On November 17 of the same year, He Long, Commander of the Joint Defense Military Region, and Yang Chengwu, Commander of the 3rd Corps of the North China Military Region, visited Baotou to comfort frontline troops. Zhao Guanying, Garrison Commander of Baotou, treated them to Paper-Wrapped Lamb at Judecheng. He Long and Yang Chengwu praised the dish effusively: “This paper-wrapped lamb is incredibly delicious; we have truly feasted our eyes and palates.” (Excerpted from Marshal He Long’s Inspection of Baotou and the All-Vegetarian Feast by Yang Chengwu.)

A renowned Inner Mongolian specialty. Milk curd is cut into strips, coated with flour, dipped in a light batter of egg white, starch and flour, then deep-fried until golden and crisp before being drained. Sugar is simmered in a separate wok to form sticky caramel syrup, into which the fried milk curd is tossed with white sesame seeds until fully coated, then plated. Golden-hued, sweet and fragrant, the dish stretches thin sugar threads when picked up with chopsticks, making it an indispensable banquet dessert.

Wang Guiyuan’s Bangfang Smoked Chicken is slow-smoked with aged proprietary brine and a secret spice formula. Meticulously crafted with premium ingredients, it boasts outstanding color, aroma and taste, well-balanced saltiness and a long shelf life, perfect for gatherings and gift-giving. Address: South Market, Donghe District, Baotou City

A time-honored Mongolian grand banquet dish reserved for distinguished guests and major ceremonies. Plump sheep weighing around 20 kilograms from local grasslands are slaughtered, dehaired with skin retained, stuffed with green onions, ginger, pepper and salt, then roasted whole. The finished lamb retains its complete form, kneeling on a square wooden platter with golden-red crispy skin and tender, fragrant meat inside.

This lavish Mongolian delicacy is only prepared for grand celebratory banquets. As Mongolian chefs explain, nearly all lamb meat (excluding legs) lies on the lamb’s back, making this an impressive centerpiece dish. Chefs select prime unmarbled lamb backs from grassland sheep, marinate them for 24 to 36 hours in a brine infused with over thirty Chinese medicinal herbs including Chinese angelica and natural spices. The marinated lamb back is slow-roasted for roughly two hours in a custom oven, exclusively over charcoal from wild apricot, peach, plum, birch and desert zaga shrubs. This fuel imparts a pure wild grassland herbal aroma, eliminating any mutton gaminess. The finished lamb features vibrant color, rich meat fragrance, crispy skin and tender juicy flesh that is crisp yet never greasy, living up to the old saying: “Even immortals crave a bite of fresh lamb in the sixth lunar month.”

Readers of Legend of the Condor Heroes will recognize Tolui, the fourth son of Genghis Khan. After Genghis Khan’s passing, Tolui assisted his third brother Ögedei in governing territories spanning modern Russia and the Middle East, after which Ögedei ascended the throne at Shangdu. To reward Tolui’s extraordinary military achievements, the new emperor enfeoffed the Khalkha region (present-day Inner Mongolia) to his fourth brother, granting him the imperial privilege of enjoying roast lamb back and bestowing a ceremonial golden knife reserved solely for emperors. Ever since, a ritual with the golden knife precedes serving roast lamb back.

Tearing into hearty lamb with large mouthfuls paired with fine wine stirs an unrestrained, heroic pride in every diner.

Mung bean noodles are a Wuhan staple made by grinding mung beans and rice into batter, spreading thin sheets in a wok, then slicing the cooled sheets into strips. They can be served in soup, dry-tossed or stir-fried. Laoqianji Restaurant specializes in stir-fried beef mung bean noodles, cooked either crisp or tender upon guest request, with distinct flavors determined solely by heat control. Core ingredients include premium yellow beef flank, fresh mung bean noodles, soaked shiitake mushrooms and magnolia flower slices, stir-fried in sesame oil with seasonings. The tender, silky beef pairs harmoniously with soft, moist bean noodles for an unforgettable layered flavor.

A popular street breakfast and supper snack in Wuhan. Soft tofu pudding is topped with fried thin dough twists, glutinous rice, dried shrimp, diced barbecued pork, preserved mustard tuber, sweet pickled melon, spiced greens, sesame seeds, white pepper and chopped green onions. The silky tofu, chewy rice, crispy fried dough and crisp pickled vegetables deliver a medley of rich, delightful flavors