Salted Fish with Grain Cakes 咸鱼饼子
Salted Fish with Grain Cakes is featured among the local specialties of Liaoning.
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Salted Fish with Grain Cakes (咸鱼饼子) pairs pan-fried salted sea fish with cornmeal cakes, and is one of the local foods of Dalian (大连) on the Liaoning coast. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism calls it a traditional dish of China's northern coast with the flavour of a fishing household.
How it is made
Fresh sea fish straight from the sea are salted and dried in the sun. The dried fish then go into an iron wok with oil and are fried until the outside is crisp and the flesh inside stays tender. The 'cakes' (饼子) of the name are cornmeal cakes.
How it is eaten
The fried salt fish is eaten together with the cornmeal cakes, and the ministry describes the combination as salty, savoury and full of flavour.
Where it comes from
In 2022 the Ministry of Culture and Tourism recommended the dish on its 'Mountain Trips and Seaside Stays' (山行海宿•浪漫丰景) rural tourism route through Dalian. In 2024 the Liaoning Provincial Department of Commerce named Dalian Salted Fish with Grain Cakes (大连咸鱼饼子) among Dalian's 27 entries in its list of 196 Liaoning landmark foods (辽宁地标美食).
Sources & reading
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-24. Recipes and servings vary between kitchens.