New Ulm weekly review., 1882-04-05
. Queer Food.

Queer Food.
The Germans in New York have
stores in which specially Teutonic del
icacies are vended. Dried, or rather
smoked, goose is an odd feature of these.
Smoked geese come from Pomerania,
where their living originals are raised in
large tlocks. They are plucked for their
down, and then killed, cut in sections,
very slightly salted and smoked. Pom
eranian goose, however, costs 25 cents
a pound, and is esteemed a great dainty
among German epicures.
There are couple of stores here
where Spanish edibles are dealt in. These
consist chiefly of nuts and dried fruits.
Dried goatmeat forms a favorite feature.
It is prepared very much as our dried
beef is. The Spaniards seem to rely
more on their peculiar methods of cook
ing what they eat than on any popularity
of the food itself.
The peculiarities Of the French food
stores are beyond comparison. The
question with regard to them is not what
they do, but what they do not sell.
There is probably nothing from a sec
ton of boiler-iron or a cobble-stone down
to bent pin or broken horseshoe nail
that Frenchman cannot provide a
dressing for to make it appetizing. An
odd feature of the French shops to an
American is the horse-meat department
They all deal in horse-fesh, both fresh,
dried and salted. Horse-fesh sausages,
made or. supposed to be made, in Lyons
and called Lyons sausages, are very
popular. Sausages made of a compound
of asses flesh, pork and veal also have
an extensive sale.
Sharks fins, dried, are sold in every
Chinese shop in New York. They are
imported from China. There are three
kinds, of which the best are the fins of
the white shark. These are worth So. SO
a pound. The poorest kind, which is
known as black shark fins, is sold for
half as much, and even less. Shark s
fin is a popular dainty among Cinnamon.
1t is salted and dried for export, and
looks like section of whalebone, when
raw, but boiled in water gelatinous
substance is extracted which is esteemed
very savory. A species of stew made Of
sharks fin, dried oysters, rice and pep
pers is a champion Chinese dish. Dried
oysters are ordinary bivalves, extracted
from the shell, dipped in salt and strung
on strings to dry in the sun. They come
from China, and look for all the world
like figs. John Chinaman infinitely
prefers them to the freshest of fresh
oysters he can buy here. Mussels, conks
and CLANS are preserved by him in the
same way.
The famous birds nest is also fea-
ture of any respectable shop in Mott
street. 1t is queer stuff to look at, fol
it rather resembles gravel than anything
vegetable or animal, and tastes little
like gum arabic. The nests,Sit seems,
are dried and rubbed into these frag.
ments in the hand, when they are packed
for transportation. Birds nest is worth
from $40 for the commoner variety te
$25 a pound for the best. It is essen
TALLY luxury, for pound of it viii
only make soup for at most forty people
so that it rates higher than turtle soup
in the dearest season. Another dainty
which All Sin has to have imported al
the way from China, is dried cabbage.
| Some score or so of contributors to {
French sporting journal dined one day
upon the ham and heart of lion, killed
by Constant Cheret in Algeria. lht
flesh Of the lion was found to be partic
ularly firm and close grained, like tina
of a horse, but although pronounced
palatable, itonly achieved what is termed
a succes'd d. estiase, while the heart skill
fully prepared with truf1ies, was unani
mously voted tough and indigestible.
NeaO York NeWs.