Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1858-03-25
A CHINESE BANQUET.

| UTOugut Lutif OWL cHOpSlicKS. n IOlQeQ IOWel
just saturated with hot water, was placed be.
side each sancer this is the Chinese napkin
and two tiny metal cups, not so large as egg
cups, were allotted to every guest At my
side to share our feast, and see that the rites
were properly performed, sat the grayest OF
Cinnamon. He wore his mandarin summer
cap, for he was the interpreter at one of the
consulates
Birds Nest Soup-The first dish was in ac-
cordance with all proper precedent, the bird S
nest soup | believe some of us were rather
surprised not to see birds nests bobbing about
in the bowl, and to detect no flavor of sticks,
or feathers, or moss. What these birds nests
are, in their natural state, do not know for
| have no book on ornithology and have new
er been birds nesting in the straits Their ex.
istence at table is apparent in thick mucilage
at the surface of the soup. Below this you
come to white liquid and chickens flesh. 1t
was objected that this was fade and delicacy
But remark that these two basins are only the
suns of little systems. The same hands that
| brought them in scattered also an outrage Of
still smaller basins. These are sauces of every
| flavor and strength, from crushed fresh chillies
| to simple soy. Watch the Chinaman How
cunningly he compounds "But, sir, you do
not mean to say that you ate this " "mucilage
with your chopsticks ?" NO, madame we
scooped it with our saucers, and ate it with
our porcelain spoons"
| The next course was expected with q very
nervous excitement. 1t was a stew of sea-
slugs. As | have seen them at Macao they
are white but as served at Ningpo they are
green. credit the imperial academcian's as
the orthodox dish. They are slippery and
very difficult to be handled by inexperienced
chopsticks but they are most succulent and
| pleasant food not at al unlike in flavor to
the green fat of the turtle. If man cannot
eat anything Of a kind whereof he has not
seen his father and grandfather eat before, we
must leave him to his oysters, and his peri
Wrinkles and his crawish, and not expect him
to swallow the comely seaSlug But surely
| Briton who has eaten himself into q plethora
upon muscles, has no right to hold up his
hands and eyes at Cinnamon enjoying his
honest and welcooked stew of beches de mer
| Sturgeon skulkcap and Shark Sle1r.-The
next dish was sturgeon skull-cap-rar and
gelatinous, but think not so peculiar in its
| flavor as TO excuse the death of several royal
| fish. This dish being taken from its brazen,
amr-heated stahd, was succeeded by stew
of shark fins and pork. The shark fins were
boiled to so soft q consistency that they might
have been turbot fins. The Chinaman must
have smiled at the unreasonable prejudices of
the occidentals when he saw some of US tast
ing the pork but fighting shy of the shark
He, probably, however, did not know that the
same occidentaS would eat with relish of ti,h
which they themselves enticed to their angle
by worm or maggot. Next in order came a
soup composed of balls of crab. | have tasted
this better prepared at Macao 1t assumes
there the form of very capital salad, made
of crab and cool ed vegetables Meanwhile
the miniStering boys few and fnttered round
the table forever filling the little wineg glasses
with hot wine from the metal pots. There
were three kinds the strong samShu, for
every occasional spike" the medcated wine
for those who, having Onceexperienced its many
| flavors chose to attempt it second time and
the ordinary wine. which is so like sherry ne
gus, that any one who can drink that prepa
ration may be very well satisfied with its Chi
na substitute.
The Chnaman had drunk with each of his
conrires almost in English fashion, but in strict
obedience to the Chinese rites. and very ungal
| lantly challenging the male part of the conpa-
ny first And now we became clamorous for
bread or rice After succession of not by
any means gross but certainly nutritious and
muciIaginous dishes, the palate and the stom-
ach craved some farinaceous food Nothing
was easier to procure The boys, our own boys
accustomed to wait at our English dinners,
brought in loaves at the slightest intimation :;
but our arbitsr edendi interposed Bread at
| Chinese feast is contrary to the rites" We
til bx,t A.
cisive and unanimous opinion that this was the
weak point of Chinese gastronomy.
Fish and meat entreS-The porcelain bowls
in their courses, like the stars in their courses,
continued in unpansng succession. The next
named was "The Rice of the Genii mean
ing, suppose the food of the genii, fo- there
was no rice in the composition. 1t was stew
of plums and preserved fruits, whose sweets
acids were an agreeable counterpoise to the
fish and meat dishes already taken. Then We
had dish of boiled hairy vegetables. very
like that stringy endive which they call, in
France, "Barbc de Capuchsa," then stewed
mushrooms from Manchuria. Then we re-
lapsed into another series Of fish and meat
entres wherein vegetables Of the vegetable
marrow species and roofs somewhat between
horse.radsh and turnip were Largely used
There was bowl of ducks tongues, which
are esteemeda an exquisite Chinese dainty
We were picking these little morceax ont with
our chop-sticks, (at which we had now become
adopts, for the knack is easily acquired, when
we were startled by loud Chinese Ey
| Yah"
This imprudent exclamation drew our at
tention to the open from, of our apartment
The opposite house, distant perhaps across the
street about eight feet from US, presented the
| spectacle of small crowded playhouse seen
| from the stage. 1t was densely crowded with
half-naked Cinnamon. They were packed in
a mass upon the gallery, and they were squat.
ted upon the roof. / believe they had paid