Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1896-01-10
YAP'S DUCK DINNER.
HOW A HOSPITABLE CHlNAMAN En-
TERTAlNED FRIENDS.


Walls-A Host Who Condemns His Own
Table-The Chinese Method of Cooking
a Duck Explained.
did you ever eat boiled duck cooked a
In ChinOis with noodles and string beansY"
asked Mr.. B. p Tasker, the rectifler, of q
seeker for information. ~ have been in
vited by my friend, zap Wing, at 2f7
South Eighth street, to go there and par
take, and you ought to try il" Colonel
Wings restaurant is inside dingy brick
sarcophagus that reminds one Of those
brick graves they build for aristocrats at
the cemeteries for $50 each. One reaches
it up palsy stricken stairway, and as one
ed with number Of plaCards with Chinese
characters in black on red ground
Translated they run as follows:
1.-THE house Of the eight henevolences
will tonight provide inferior duck badly
boiled and seasoned with unworthy curry,
together with such wilted and cheap
bought vegetables as may be required by
those who honor its unworthiness with
their presence. The extrayagant price Of
this inferior repast will be % cents in
American money"
Beside 1t was another:
1.-The negro woman Malta in the alley
behind the singing place is n thief Now
she has stolen SO from Fong Plung The
sagaCiOus will avoid this black woman"
Some of the plaCards were wholly un.
printable and deadly libelous. Some were
of light and frivolous character. Some
were advertisements, pure and simple.
Some were poems written in spare mo-
ments and exposed that all might see.
There are also some CALLING illusions to
the police and Celestial critiques on the
municipal government, but before the in
terpreter could work through the lot zap
Wing had tie, little party under his hos
pitable wing and was marshaling it into
the restaurant.
"No gooda renda Chinaman write" he
said. "Chinaman write when he get mad
You come eat duck. IT'S vera bad duck
tonight but how can helpP SIS vera bad
curry. SIS evlything rotten, but you try
him, and then you dam zap Wing, and
you solly you ever see him-hein?"
This MEANS, Mr. Tasker whispered,
THAT zap has an especially good duck for
us and that all other things are out of
sight. 1t is the Chinese way. 1t is po-
likeness"
The eating room is little below the
level Of Hop alley. 1t is scrupulously
clean and scrupulously bare. At the tablt
where the present party was to sit were
grouped q number of chairs A spotless
linen cloth covered it, and quaint china
dishes were all about. Others in the re-
fectory were eating off delft and tin, and
they sat on benches. The "high place in
the synagogue" had two lamps; the other
tables shared one.
When the guests were seated, cody
came in with n large tray that he sat be-
fore zap Wing and uncovered. 1t had the
duck on it, and to Caucasian eyes that
duck did not look like it had ever been
cooked at all. The skin had the fresh APP
pearance Of the market place. The other
dishes camo on quickly. There was some
kind of n ragout. There were string
beans, tomatoes and what one would take
to be salad, although it was really
cabbage omel@S
The host stuck his fork into the breast
Of the duck and then, instead of carving
as we do, he began slicing right through
the fowl, turning off flake after flake as
though it had been so much sausage
Say what kind Of duck is thatH''
qucricd startled guest, who had never
seen bird cut crossways before.
Him vera bad duck" Wing stated.
"You try him." And n portion that
looked like q chicken croquctte bound in
skin was put on theplate, with q spoonful
of noodles and "a lot of sauce Tho other
vegetables were added, and the guest,
adjusting his chopsticks, began
to work. The beauty about chopsticks Is
that you can use them rs fork once you
get piece of meat cornered where it call
not elude you. Until then you have exer-
else and all the pleasures of the chase
But the duck once won was worth win
ming. 1t was heavy with curry and red
peppers, so that it was shade too hot for
an uneducated palate, but it melted in the
mouth, luckily, and the rice and the
noodles seemed TO fit it exactly.
Explain the way you do it, Mr.. Wing"
one asked. what has become of the
bones?"
isis yer poor duck" said Mr.. Wing
but l tell you. When
Chinaman buy duck, he buy him alive, so
he can kill right. He hang duck in cellar
and cut he throat, so he bleed plenty.
Then he scald duck so him fleathels come
Off. Then he skin duck and save skin, so
he one piece. Then he take duck and cut
him into little bits Of pieces and he no cut
bones, but put them in pot for boil When
he choppee, choppee duck so he small little
bits OF meat, Chinaman take rice and take
curry and take noodle and put 'em all in
pot for boil-other pot. Then he take duck
skin and piece of ducks gut and needle
and he sew up that skin where he have