The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1895-05-15
TO BE CONTINUED.
COOKS FROM FAR cATaAY.

Men of Yeast and OF Resources That Afs
superior TO Recipes
I had been expecting my Chinese
cook for some time; his roll of bedding
and clothes had been dumped at our
door by the freighter three days be-
fore. Finally, just ct dusk, spied him
as he came leisurely jogging along
over the Divide. carving a tin pail
carefully in his hand-that was his
only luggage. My curiosity was ex-
cited. What could that tin pail hold
so precious that it must be personally
conducted fifty miles by stage and
eight miles on foot? 1t proved to be
yeast!
Since then I have had half q dozen
Cinnamon in ny kitchen at various
times. and each D came to me in this
same way, equipped with his little pail
of yeast. But as their bread is sweet
and good whether made q loaf at a
time or by the troughful, sixty loaves
in a batch, you do not feel like quar-
reling with them if they prefer their
WI private brand of yeast to yours.
How they make it is an enigma. A
Chinaman is never out of yeast, yet
never caught one preparing it. He
bafhed me every time, just as he would
foil ny every effort to watch him mix
pie crust. There is either some super
stition or a secret rite connected with
Yeast and pie crust that admits of no
lockers IN.
Before ! attempted to teach a China
man anything new, | left him to his
own devices for a week or so and
watched results. Generally l found
that in housekeeping the Chinaman al
ways has an eye for appearances. This
showed itself in many ways, best per-
haps in setting the table. With cary
ing knives like razors, they sliced
meats. bread, and fruit so that they
looked most appetizing: their fritters
never were in tatter>. their goldfish
balls did not ooze at the edges, the
pies never disgraced themselves by
overhowing their banks. each maca:
roni potato strip. which they were
fond Of cooking, was an exact geonet-
rical parallelopipedon done to a crisp.
AS a rule, Cinnamon are good bakers,
managing an oven admirably; the
bread V a neither over norunder done;
meats were never dried up: they excel
in cooking rabbit. chicken. and roast
pig. The latter may not be as perfect
as the pink %perfumed pig" sometimes
served in New York restaurants, but
the H~ualapais Indians of Arizona pass
no criticism upon the Chinese cuisine.
They follow d%evoutly the trail Of the
Chinese roast pig professions to the
burvine-ground, and offer whole vol
umes of Thanksgiving when the rell-
gious Chinese leave the pi" to darkness
and to them. These Chinese cooks. as
far as came in contact with them,
also understand how to fry N boiling
lard-nothinc was sent to the table
charred or greasv. and this was to me
a novel surprise. Possibly they found
it the quickest method OF preparing
food. However. that may be. they
were never known to resort to Il FRYING
pan if hot fat would answer as well.
But the Chinese love Of appearances
had another side to it. To be sure. the
~croquettes never lost caste by falling
asunder: we wished they had; they
held together as compactly as though
they had been glued. We longed for q
juicy cherry pie that could not help
but run over; even a bowlful of jelly
never ouivered or shook. 1t couldn't,