River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1892-08-04
WITH THE CHINESE.
tastes of the Inhabitants of the
Celestial Empire.
They Have Fondness for Dishes That
Seem Anything But Inviting
to an Amerlcan-Soine
Queer Dainties.

Seem Anything But Inviting
to an Amerlcan-soine
Queer Dainties.
In passing through Chinese towns the
astonishingly large number of cook
shops interest and attract the foreign
passer-by. Ones curiosity is often
aroused to know the ingredients of the
messes he sees being concocted, but in
vestigation We " often ends in some un-
pleasant disclosure and unless one is
possessed of a veritable cast-iron
stomach and a nose well hardened to
Chinese smells, he had better beware
of even a Chinese Delmonico's. These
places are unpleasantly pressed upon
the pedestrian, however, for the front
Is invariably open to the street. and in
order to tempt customers by the sight
and smell of viands the cook prepares
his dishes over charcoal fire IN full
view and sets samples of his materials
and his bill of fare out on show
board before him. Tables and
stools are placed il the rear,
and here the hungry wayfarer
may banquet off such delicacies
as particularly tickle the Chinese palate.
Among the common people an ordinary
meal consists of boiled rice, coarse
greens and little fat pork, goats flesh
or fish. At the public eating houses
dainties out of the ordinary line are 10
be had, and Chinese cookery is executed
with d flourish as it were. All sorts of
fish, flesh and fowl. beasts of the sea,
air and land are represented in Chi
nese menu. The freedman is not the
only one who has his froglegs and snail
soup, for the Celestial, too, revels in
these dainties, and many more even
more strange. Snakes and cells alike
know the fryingpan, and when skinned
and dressed appear very much alike.
Many varieties of non-poisonous snakes
are used for food. Sill<worm grubs are
regarded rs choice morsel and are
stewed in lard and eaten as relish,
and multitude of other insects are
deemed edible. One variety commonly
seen in the fish stalls looks like an
American locust before II has taken on
wings, and a large white grub that in
habits the bamboo sprouts is much
sought after in the south. Another va
riety of edible worm is found at the
root of the sugarcane. The cane Is gem
orally pulled up, the roots being used
! for fuel, and the harvesters as they go
along pick up these worms and drop
them into little basket which they
strap about the waist.
Many Chinese things taste very good,
but theE food is, on the whole, any
thing bat tempting Their cookery
abounds in made" dishes of eompli-
Iferl.l., AupntaI
with spices and herbs, and, on account
of the limited use to which the chop
sticks can be put, the ingredients are
cut up into small pieces. Boiling,
stewing and frying are popular meth
DDS of preparation, and the cook shops
show variety of nauseating-loolxing
messes whose odors are not to be met
| with outside of China. The worst have
| yet encountered come from the duck
/ eggs that have been kept in wet clay
until they are "high," and fermented
radishes which bear n strong family
resemblance to sauerkraut, and these
can best be described by the southern
xpression-'powerful bad" Although
we turn up our noses at John China
mans bill of fare, he in turn looks
askanee at ours and thinks we are dis
| gushing creatures to drink milk and
eat cheese, and he cannot be induced to
touch butter.
1t seems TO be the general impress
sion that dogs and cats form staple
articles of diet This Is not true. They
are eaten to a greater or less extent by
the poorer classes only, and vary in
popularity according to the district.
/ In the seaports. where animal food is
readily obtained, they are not con-
sumed, and in Canton there are only
three or four stalls where their flesh
! is sold, but in country districts
many people eat these animals,
| and rats, also. The Hakkas, wild
| hill tribe occupying the mountainous
| district west of Annoy, go in
for cat and dog more largely than any
| other people and their method of pre-
! pairing them for culinary purposes is
! horrible in the extreme. Dogs paws
are frequently seen among their meats
in the butchers stalls. Black cats are
universally deemed more desirable than
| white or spotted, and tortoise-shell cats
are seldom eaten. A well-known mis-
sionary to these people, in relating his
/ experience with these animals, says
! that his family can always Keep a tor
toise-shell, while a black cat invariably
! disappears. Horseflesh is extensively
consumed throughout the empire, but
/ is horribly tough, for only old beasts
unfit for use are killed for food. Both
| house rats and kind of wild rat that
| inhabits the rice fields are eaten and
are hawked about the streets strung up
! by the tails.
The famous bird's-n soup is very
rare delicacy and can be afforded only
| by the rich. 1t is served as first
course at grand dinners usually. The
nests are built by kind of swallow on
| high rocks by the seashore, and the ma
terial is secreted by glands inside the
| birds bill. i think it was Huxley who
! facetiously remarked that these birds
1 built their nests ''all out of their own
heads" A native recipe for making
| the soup reads with characteristic
| vagucness, like this: Take as many
nests as are necessary, clean and pick
out the feathers. and boil in sufficient
water to make thin jelly. Pour this
over hard-boiled pigeons eggs, and float
| on the top shreds of ham. Serve sweet
ened if desired"
The number OF edibles in China is
/ legion, and their combinations are sim
| ply distracting. The people have a
regular intuition for cooking, and every
man, woman and child can prepare a
| good meal out of the most meager sup
! ply of materials. Sweetmeats are eaten
| by young and old, and one can scarcely
| go anywhere without meeting a ven
| dor of confectionery Bright yellow
cakes of rice and sugar are sold TO chill
| dren at every street corner, and queer
tasting bonbons of bean -four. millet
seed or popped rice, cand;ed seaweed,
| melon rind and orange peel are eaten
in enormous quantities at New Years
time and other feasts. Every house
wife prepares once a year an enor-
nous sweet loaf of buckwheat flour and
keeps it ON hand to offer visitors with
tea. II is as heavy rs lead and a viii
famous compound, and, like the old
fashioned fruit cake of our grandmoth.
ers, lasts the year round, and its APP
pearance upon special occasions is in
evitablc.
Table etiquette such as would please
Chinese host would shock and dis
gust an American one. Men keep on
their hats when eating, and it is quite
the proper caper" to make as much