Mountain Home bulletin. (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1888-1889, 1888-12-01
CHINESE COOKE Try.
KITCHEN SUPPLIES OF A ResTAu-
RANT ON MOTT STREET.

A Great Variety of Spices md Condi-
mcnts-A Stock OF Stands ri Foods,
Many of Which Are Not Familiar to
Americans--Sauces
Lon. before Luculus immortalizcd him
self by regalng the jeunesse ddrce of Rome
with his hundred thousand dollar dinners his
prototypes were indulging in thh same pleas
ures on a similar scale in Pekn and Fook.
Chow, for gastronomy has beet among the
fine arts i'm China almost from the beginning |
of Chinese history The Chinese chef has an |
official status of at least forty centuries du. |
ration. Two thousand years before the Chris
tian era he was esteemed as highly and paid |
as literally as he is today, and how he is ex.
ceedingly well paid
+ For example, the chef in restaurant in
Mott street came to New York from San
Francisco under contract by which he re-
ceives 500 a month, besides his board and
lodging, for his services All things consid
cred, this salary is fully equ valcnt to the
SC, 900 year paid to such chefs us preside in
the kitchens Of the Hoffman ho use, Delnoni.
cos, the Union League club an d the Wander.
blt mansion The Monaghan chef, to Judge
by Lee All, who IS the distins; uished individual
mentioned, is curiously like his Caucasian
colleague in that he is dignifidd, cgotistical,
petulant and thoroughly independent I'm
like the Caucasian, however, the great man
Of the Chinese kitchen believes in working
himself at the simplest tasks IN order to keep
himself in practice.
| In taking charge of the kitchen of great
restaurant his first work is to supply himself
with a great variety of spices and condi.
nents, and in this particular he is fully
qualified to give points to the faded sybarites
of the Occident In his stores win he black,
white and red pepper, as we'll rs tho pmento
of the tropics; curry, chuthey, mustard,
ginger the favoritc spice OF the cast green,
dried, picked, sweetened and pulverized; !;
sec-yu, which is the father OF soy and the
grandfather of Worcestershire sauce; olive
oil, peanut oil, cotton seed Oil, clarified butter
tthc ghec Of lndia); onions, shallots, chives
locks, garlic, fu-qua and suit ua (highly cul
tivated bitter cucumbors); I..s-tai, for which
there is no English name; orahge and lemon
peel, vinegar, lemon juice, powdered crab
and lobster shells, Il curious pr PREPARATION con.
tanning iron, half u dozen forms Of dried
mushrooms, and not less than fifty powerful
condiments and spices unknow n to Americans
and having no English names.
In every kitchen is u stock of standard
foods, but few Of which are familiar to the
American eye. Among the riore interesting
arc smoked chicken, duck ailtl pigeon, which,
unlike our smoked meats, retain tho natural
color and appearances; shfimps, prawns,
oysters and clans which have been dried by
some mysterious process, unknown to us,
until they are rs hard and durable as wood
q fish that suggests sardines ih oil, but which
is foot in length, from two to three pounds
in weight, packed in sardinc box cubic
foot in size; dried fishes which range from Il
tiny sprat smaller than but similar to the
English whitcbait, to monster eight feet
long, two feet wide, and TWO inches thick
preserved cabbage, which is rolled up SO as tc
, suggest n ball of yarn: bean, pea and wheat
{ gluten in long candy like sticks, which ere
S made by crushing the ccrea and removing
the starch by often repeated washin9s; ode
sausages, of which each one is suspended by
G brilliant colored cords, and is stuffed, moi
0 with an indistinguishable hash or paste
a but with alternating die e of fat ant
r can meat; huge cans filed with tht
a famous edible bamboo tips which looi
, and smell like huge aspa tagus, but tast,
unlike anything in Christian markets
water lily leaves which arp used both as
food and us coloring material, imparting
beautiful green to any white food with whicl
they may he cooked; preserved eggs, @
which each one is embalmed in q rough mas
O of quick lime, charcoal and fish glue; Sc,
+. sprouts, which resemble string bean tw,
q feet in length.
Occasionally in the wealthiest establish
r ments may be seen the celebrated birds
!, nests, which look for all the world like irreg
y ular masses Of coopers glue; sharks fins
i which are greenish white pieces of desiccatet
soft cartilage; beche-de-la- -mer, mollusk o
high order, which is first cousin Of Victo
Hugo's devil fish; and dried sea anemones
which bear the Same culinary resemblance t.
; birds nests that swapping turtles do to tn
II diamond back terrapn Some idea Of tn
), luxuriousness of the Mongol is afforded b,
s tho prices he charges for these delicacies
Il Dried CLAIMS cost s. u pound; dried oysters
! Sl.5O; sharks fins, So to S3, according {,
, quality; beche-dela- mer, from 40 cents to So
o and birds nests, from $50 tp $50 Dozen
v In Chinese cooking sauces play as import
!. ant part as in the cuisine at Les Frere
Provenceau. For the prep hration of these
as well as for the thckeninG of soups and tn
concoction Of "made dsheb." there will b.
:. bowlfuls of the finest wheat flour ant
:. starch, and Of that finest OF all amylaceou
70 foods rice -four. In this and in other re
II spectS the stores OF the kltfneu contain th'
Q same articles Us first class American restau
e rant Kitchens. Whatever il to be found il
Il our larders finds place there, and tn,
/. numerous articles mentioned add the variety
which is the main distinguishing feature o
the Chinese cuisine.
The furniture of the Kitchen presents I
o curious instance of the invasion OF the eas
e by the west, for the cast iron stove or rang
d is found beside the brleA bench used Ii
g China, which greatly resembles the one rec
d commended by Count Run1ord in his famous
o studies at the beginning OF the century. Ihi
u bench Is about four feet high, four feet wid'
and from ten TO twenty feet III length. A
one end OF it is a large FIREPLACE cylindrical
in shape, two or three feet in diameter anS
!. three feet deep. This is used i'll roasting
- The remainder of the top 4f the bench ha
several circular openings 4f different sizes
In the sides and ends there arc smaller fire
Is places, seldom more than eight inches square
The fuel used in cooking is kiln dried wood
hickory or some similar v hriety being Ire
terred. -Harpel''s Bazr
Rutter IuSpeCtiOp In France.