Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-10-12
CHINESE BILLS OF FARE.
Epicurean Dishes of the Celestial King

dom.
The epicure flourishes in the Orient as
well as in the Occident, says Wing Chin
Foo in the Brooklyn Eagle. In Europe he
bows down before the genius of France;
in Asia, before that of the iowery king
dom. The renown of Chinese food and
cooking is more than deserved. The
French cook uses as condiments salt,
white, black and red pepper, mustard,
saffron, cloves, cinnamon, mace, allspice,
lemon peel, horse-radish, and few
others. His Canton brother employs all
these, and, besides, uses ginger, tonka
bean, rose leaves, violet leaves, lily
leaves and flowers, sassafras, winter
green, birch, bamboo, peppergrass, cOrrel,
hOTsesOrrel, asafetida, cOloquintida, bay
leaves, verbena, lemon, geranium, lily of
the valley, Chinese lily, Anam rose, salt
wort, sea moss, raisin jam, dried ounce,
peach, pear, banana, pineapple, and a
score of fruits, flowers and plants for
which there are no names in English.
The solicitude displayed for the kitchen
is we'll borne out by their proverbs "TO
1--we is to eat;" 'Who eats well, thinks
we'll, sleeps well, is well;' ''The seat of
the soul is the pit of the stomach" 1.-The
happy man, if born in SOO-Chow, lives in
Kwong-Chow and dies in Lee-chow'
(Soo-Chow being renowned for handsome
ladies, Kwong-Chow for great cooks and
Lee-ChOw for artistic undertakers;) GA
good cook is the father of happy dreams,
but nightmares sit on a slOYingly table;''
''The first cook was the father Of ciYiliza-
ton"
Chinese gastronomy is different from
American, in some respects Numerically
opposed. They begin a meal with the
heaviest foods and end with soups; they
use wines and liquors sparingly and
chiefly as aids to digestion. One dinner
at DelmOnicO's contains more alcohol
than a dozen at Pekin. Among other
points of difference are these: Where the
Americans use ice-water they use hot
tea; where we sweeten tea and coffee
they drink these beverages plain; where
we salt fish they dress it with sugar; with
them the dessert comes in the first stages
of a meal; everything in their menu is
cooked so thoroughly as to lose entirely
its original character; while with us rare |
meats, raw vegetables, Russian salad, |
simple fruits, oysters and clans are |
served almost in their natural condition. |
Another difference between the cuisines |
OF the two civilizations is that in the main |
what is regarded as choice by the one is |
considered common or extraordinary by |
the other. The European gourmet orders |
turkey, duck, lamb or beef and selects his |
IdfOIlGS Gut VI pOIIlOu3 Tue wealthy Lldu- !
DARN is served with sharks fms, birds |
nests. sea worms, devil fish, bamboo |
shoots and the like. A good illustration |
Of the fact is afforded by the bill of fare in |
an American-Chinese restaurant. What |
may be called American dishes cost as
follows: Rice, cents; chicken, turkey
or duck, 30 cents; beet, veal, mutton, |
lamb or pork, Is cents; potatoes, yam,
peas, beans, corn, onions, 8 and 10 cents.
The Chinese dishes cost much higher:
birds nest soup, 81; sharks fins, 80 cents;
ducks feet and bamboo shoots, 70 cents;
sea worm, 81 25; gai-ben, 81 %; edible
lizard, 81 so.
The feet of ducks, chickens, turkeys,
geese, peacock and Guinea hen are treated
exactly as calves feet and pigs feet in
our own kitchens. The Chinese invalid
sips her ducks foot jelly with the same
Calls foot article.
Sharks fins, and fins in general are
treated in various ways. The large ones
are washed with the bony part removed
with the knife, the softer tissue and carl
Iage remaining intact. AS to the medium
sized and small ones they are either
smoked, picked or digested for a long
time in warm water acidulated with
vinegar or lemon Juice. This dissOlVes
)ut all the lime and leaves the fin in
about the same condition as picked
herring or shad as eaten on our own
,ables.
AS to rats, mice, cats and dogs, the
stories are all fictitious. Poor people in
china, at times, will eat these, just as the
starving do in every land, but they are
lot regular articles of diet in great res
any more than at Delmonico's
" tLe Brunswick