Daily Yellowstone journal., 1885-08-01
A CHINESE KITCHEN IN NEW YORK.

condiment-Case and Culinary Ctensils-'
Roasting and smoking Cleanliness
Wong Chin Foo in Chicago News
The kitchen is not only visible to the
guest, but Is In reality a portion Of tho
dining hall All the utensils and para.
phernala are before your eyes, even the
meats. vegetables and the cooks them.
selves are Practically on exhibition To
those who have believed that the Celestial
cooked In some primitive way visit TO
and inspection Of his culinary arrange
ments is a re, elatiOn
The hnese kitchen greatly resembles
the American, A sink with an unlimited
supply of fresh water. q stove, and
table, are articles common to both. Be
sides these il has. what every civilized
kitchen should have, a butcher chop
ping. block, n pastry'table, and condi'
ment case. The pastry. table differs from
the ordinary kind in having hard wood
top of extra thickness The rolling pins
that accompany il are three in number, of
hard wood, three inches in diameter and
about five feet long. The condmcnt case
is fat box about three by two feet. and
usually contains the following: salt,
black, white, and red pepper. mus
tard. dried lemon and orange peel,
ginger, both plain and picked, sal.
iron, soy. vinegar, lemon uiCe,
garlic onion. Cassia buds. tamarind eX
tract, sweet oil. walnut catchup, tarrgon,
sayory. thyme mint. and dried celery.
These make up the condiments used in
ordinary earking. On great occasions
other and more eNl ensiye articles are EN-
ployed
Culinary utensils have one popularity.
Almost all are globular and made in one
piece. The Chinese cook dislikes the
angles, corners, and edges Uf American
pans aud pots. as these involve much
more trouble in cleaning and are liable to
hold dirt or decaying organic matter be-
yond the reach of dish cloth or u dish.
brush. Most pans and pots are segments
of gloEe two or three feet in diameter.
Kitchen spoons strainers, cake turner's.
stirrers, and scoops are made with about
the same curvature so that the cook has
no difficulty in managing any article he
may DC cooking.
Fires are made Of both coal and wood.
though the latter are universally pre-.
ferred They are built generally inside,
but at times out ,ide the Stove In roast
ing, smoking or drying any food the ar
ticle Is suspended by wire in the cen
ter of the fire pit and the fire is built on
a pile Of bricks ust outside the ash pit
door. The draught carries the anne aud
heated air through the pit to the
chimney, and so accomplshes the work
20 be done. Where slow roasting would
dry the Juices OF the food the article is
first suspended over very hot, sharp fire
until the skin is Drowned, and is then
treated in the way just described
Chinese cooks vary from their Amer
lean colleagues In other ways. The keep
ing of raw meats is not tolerated in
first.cla Celestial kitchen. ice, box or no
ice.box. A chicken or duck is carefully
kept alive In little pen until an holr be-
fore dinner, and is then killed. Pork.
beef and mutton are cooked as soon as
delivered by the butcher The reason
Is that In warm climates raw
meats turn bad and decay In few hours,
while, when cooked. especially roasted,
they would keep rs many days The EN-.
pneumatic oils Of the smoke In roasting
act as a preventative, and will keep duck
and pork sweet and wholesome for more
than fortnight In fact, prominent
Chinese exports are smoked duck and
pork, which are sent and sold all over the
world
Nearly all Chinese kitchen utensils are
provided with a hook, ring. and eye In
order to hang up over the stoves is an
iron bar or heavy wire to which spoon.
stirrer and cake-turner are alike attached
Even knives aud cleavers, forks and
prongs, are treated in this way. In a
good Chinese kitchen every article is re.
quired to be spotless, ready for use, and
visible to the guest.
Business begins about o'clock and
continues till midnight Despite the
small prices charged It pays fairly from
an American and very well from Chinese
standpoint The proprietor of good
restaurant seldom clears less than 81 900
year. In five years he can return TO his
native village and there be social mug.
wump for the rest Of his life Many OF
them become Americanized and endeavor
TO live accordingly.