Jinan boasts a long history of culinary culture and is the birthplace of Lu cuisine, one of China's eight major culinary traditions. Jinan cuisine is characterized by its delicate flavors and distinct tastes, with each dish offering a unique character and avoiding repetition. It ranges from everyday dishes like braised pork belly and crispy stew to hearty and flavorful dishes such as four-happiness meatballs, five-spice boneless braised pork hock, Yellow River carp, braised pork intestines, Lao Yu Ji braised chicken, and five-spice mackerel. There are also delicate pastries like grape soft mooncakes, rose petal cakes, and sesame oil fried dough twists; meticulously crafted noodles like fried dough twists and clear oil pancakes; and hearty yet refined staple foods like Laiwu sesame cakes, oven-baked sesame cakes, and Zongji pot-baked cakes. The cuisine also features street food staples like braised chicken rice and five-spice peanuts, as well as dishes like Xueye fish head, Laiwu sausage, Changqing vegetarian buns, and Yuhuangmiao tofu skin.
Braised pork belly, a famous Han Chinese dish from Jinan, Shandong, belongs to the Lu cuisine. It features fatty pork that is not greasy, offering a rich and flavorful taste. Jinan braised pork belly requires a good balance of lean and fat, with each pound of pork cut into several pieces, tied together with hemp rope, and then soaked in soy sauce. It is then brought to a boil over high heat and simmered over low heat until it is neither too fatty nor too lean, leaving a mellow and lingering aroma. Braised pork belly is traditionally cooked with soy sauce, without added salt. Although it is simmered in a rich, dark soy sauce, it is not salty, making it perfect for eating with rice. Pour the hot pork and sauce over white rice, bringing out the aroma of both the rice and the meat.
Nine-Turned Intestines is a traditional famous dish from Jinan City, Shandong Province. It was created in the early years of the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty by Bai, the owner of the Jiuhualin Restaurant in Jinan, and initially called "Braised Intestines." Many famous people served this dish at their banquets at the restaurant. Some literati and scholars, after tasting it, felt that the dish was indeed unique. To please the restaurant owner's fondness for the number "nine," and praising the chef's meticulous preparation as if it were the Taoist "nine-times-refined elixir," they renamed it "Nine-Turned Intestines."