The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1885-02-05
MOY JIM KEGS NEW VENTURE IN
THE HOTEL LINE.
Numerous Odd ana Unfamiliar Dishes
Greet the Reporters Eye-Nove!-
ties in Celestial Cookery-"Lap
Chong," or Chinese Sausage.
Newark N Ii Calll

POSITIONS Among the esteemed choic-
est OF Iaxuriss We're "inlants'
eyes" called in Chinese "Ha Pan
Lam declared 10y the partakers To make a
most delicious stew. They are obtained
from a species of fish found in Chinese
waters, which, though small of body, have
extraordinarily large eyes They are dried
like Goldfish, and brought eastward to the
Chinese merchants of New York as great
luXure2 The repaSt included also the
"Maaguea," a dried and sailed fish with
white meat, something like the founder i'll
size and shape, but having four or five
tlukes On either side.
Another Strengthening dried fish was
the "LowWee' The lower extremity of
the booty IS diamond shared, and from the
upper portion, looking like a squatty spear
head, project numbers Of feelei,s a foot long,
on the extremity Of one Of which is the YER
tebTates head, a rather diminutiye sort Of
arrangement for comparatively So vast a
body Another singular-lOokng article of
Chinese food shown was the "Haer- mai,
which looked ike 3 handful of desiccated
naggots or meal-WoFms It is, however,
nothing so narrowing, but is quite palatable,
being the meat If a small shell-iish some
thing like the American shrimp and when
dried is Of Il sort of Hghtish red color, half
an inch long, but little larger around than
the point of q lead pencil. 1t is esteemed
one of the delicacies by the Chinese.
"Thoy are stewed in milk" exclaimed Mr.
kee, and make a beautiful soup" Then
there Were disclosed various qualities of
"Tong- Ken'-preseryed ginger; Sane Tsuo"
very fine vermicelh made Of rice; Foo
Sok'-something of the nature Of maccaroni;
"Bols-Mai," or rice; "CrUu- Quot, o. small
green berries, candieI, ard "Tu Pocuee. a
little fish smelling ike sardines and put up
similarly il oil. The Clap Ch0ng." Or Chi
| ne-e sausage, is very much in demand by
the Celestials everywhere They ARE about
six inches in length, trtie larger than a
mans thumb, AMI are made Of some sort Of
| dark meat, with thin pieces of pork fat
running through, At first Mr. kae objected
to telling what the meat was composed OF,
but after lie had concluded TO impart the in
formation lie prefaced the statement 10y IA
aroIogetjc explanation as follows:
"Nou Americans who call yourselves civ.
il,zeJ are the most foolishly rrejuliced Of
| beings on earth. You won't let even reason
| counreract your set notions Suppose / tell
| you that it is the meat of a horse You
would turn away disguised Why should
! You do So. The horse Is one OF the cleanest
animals existing. Did you ever see horse
eat anything dirty. He won't even eat
musty grain. You cannot make him drink
| dirty water 4 cow swallows swill and all
the scrapings Of your table, YET cows meat
-hetf-is the staple food with you Amel'-
! cans. The horse, having no equal in its
! purity of feel and habits is rejected as food.
| Why. Because of established habit which
| becomes a prejudice against reason and COM
! mon sense. Bat perhaps horse meat is not
| palatahla You won't taste it TO find out
| Well, now, having said so much, suppose
| you think that our "Lap-Chong' is mainly
| horse meat 1t contains not one particle of
| it. That is a luxury that costs too much in
| this country. The meat is much sweeter, if
not more nutritious; it is fine grained, deli
icate, palatable and tender. Taste it! No2
Well, I'll tell you; it tastes like the delicious
meat Of the rabbit; and l suppose you'll
think ton the same principle that you'd
de5pise horse-meat-n fit to be eaten.
i won't keep You in suspense That's
mainly cat-mcst. Now, have you ever
noticed that you cannot find Z cat around q
Chinese laundry, except perhaps for breed
| ing purposes. People don't know what 3c-
! Icious food is left Undiscovered when cata are
| permitted to die Of old age All! you viii
| persist in your foolish prejudices! l can cook
| YOU q six-months cat so that YOU cannot
| distinguish it from a rabbit, and yet you
| would eat the latter and turn away from the
other Why Is that rabbit cleaner! Not
at all; not so clean. A cat will rarely eat
anything impure. Unlike dog, it turns
away from spoiled or decaying food. All
its habits are clean also, and what beautiful
| robes are made from catskins! One of these
days tie light OF Chinese civilization viii
! strike YOU and you'll appropriate good food
| whenever you find it, especially when its
nutrition as we'll Do you refuse to eat cats
because they're domestic animals! SO are
birds and pigeons domestic. Yet you'il eat
them. 1t is possible, quite possible con
tinuei Mr. kee, with a twinkle in his al
mond-shaped eye, that the Lap Chong' of
some Cinnamon in CatlesS localities may be
composed of rat and even mouse-meat !
say its possible. But not here, Mr. Re-
porter, not here We've arranged for other
supplies"
In the larder there was also seen the LA
Chez, sjugularIy formed and really deli,
caus tasting nut, the meat Of which is some
thing iibe the rai7in to the taste, though Of
more delicate flavor Tho outer shell, which
is rough and very thin, is about the size Of
an ordinary Line, and the meat inside in
ciO-cs hard stone Ike the tamarind pit
Another alleged great delicacy found II
hIoy jim KEGS establishment was YIN Wa
Of birds nests a kind of gelatinous sub.
stanca, gathered from nests in which a
brood OF swallows has been reared These
are only obtained in tie spring of the yeaI
after the young birds have quit the nest. A
strange looking Substance is "Suee-C hee g
which Mr.. keo declares makes prime soup
It is the inside Of the fins of big fish ike
tie sea bass, and when cooked becomes Of Il
muciaginous nature. In one OF the gia5s
cases are various kinds Of herbs root ant
seeds that are used as condiments. like sage
in turkey dressing.
In the rear Of the first floor several berth!
are constructed for the use Of dodgers, ant
Mr.. kee is now bu5ily engaged in fitting VI
the rest of his home for the accommodates
of Chinese guests. Bunks or EeTths will b'
built around the rooms, SO that each apart
J ment viii be able to accommodate eight OF
, ten persons. The hunks are of pine and ar
ranged in tiers around the apartments from
r floor to ceiling. Ii will be peculiarly Chi
ncse hotel and restaurant.
Uncle Esck: Familiarity is not friendship
puppies end all their frolcs in a quarrel
| have given TOngaline a fair trial i