Northeast cooking has been excluded from the “eight great traditions” of Chinese cuisine, but in Flushing, where at least five restaurants serve Dongbei food, it’s going strong. Some consider the cooking déclassé, but the Times begs to differ, offering highlights like lamb ribs crusted with cumin seeds and crushed chilies, salads of cilantro leaves and scallion, braised pork belly, carrot-lamb dumplings, a special version of sauerkraut, pumpkin fritters, corn on the cob and deep-fried sweet potatoes in hot caramelized sugar. (Mouth-watering gallery here.) The food’s birthplace extends up from Beijing towards Siberia—it’s what was once called Manchuria. For more, check Robert Sietsema's recent Organ Meat Society meeting in Flushing.