The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1898-12-09
THE HAVANA MARKETS.
They Are ThFonged "a Daybreak with
Cooks Of All NATIONAL
ittes.

The Havana market il crowded at
daybreak by Spanish, French, Chinese
and colored cooks OF both sexes. Some
chefs, who affect the dignity of a coat,
are accompanied by their apprentices
o. solutions, who carry baskets. Span
ish cooks, who usually are employed in
xecOnd-class restaurants, wear fat, red
wooden caps, and shuttle along slipshod
with their baskets slung over their
shoulders. while oblique-eyed Chinese
wear all sorts of queer headgear. loose
trousers and blouses. Colored women
don bandanas, which lend a dash of
cclor to the scene, as they waddle
along through the market, their fat
sides shaking with laughter. while they
bOisterously greet their friends as
they go from stall to stall. haggling
with the market men. Marketing ia
always done by cooks in Havana. be-
cause employers are aware that they
can drive better bargain, even taking
into account the perquisites allowed
them by tradespeople.
Golden, juicy oranges are symmetri-
cally piled on the stalls, fanked by
punches of luscious yellow and red
bananas and nutbrown zapotoes which
outwardly resemble on Irish potato,
but contain a luscious pulp inside that
atones for their ugly exterior. Mann
eyes are a rich. dark red fruit, incased
in a rind resembling bark. Besides
! these fruits there are. roseapples with
the perfume of the rose, fragrant pine
apples, pomegranates. fresh figs, red
or white guavas, star apples, almonds.
tamarinds, anocs, mamoncillos, alli-
gator pears and glanabanas. The last
have a prickly green rind and white
pulp like cotton wool, with black
seeds, a most juicy and refreshing
fruit, often used as a refreshing drink.
Cubans are fond of cooling drinks,
made of almonds. guanabanas. or tam
arinds. and rarely take any other oev-
erage for their luncheon.
Green cocoaruts contain a sweet
liquid like water as well as soft white
pulp. Other tropical fruits which
abound in Cuba are mangoes, chiri-
moyas and ciruelas, which are juicy
and sweet. Fish caught in Cuban
waters are especially nice, and the par
60, species of red snapper, is very
I .,thsome, as is the cherna. which
tastes like salmon. No Havana cook
will buy fish unless they are alive, and
the fish market with big tanks full of
fresh fish, with white marble slabs and
scales, is very picturesque. The other
sea food is also excellent. although the
shrimps, Holsters and mussels are
somewhat small. The oysters grow on
the submerged branches of shrubs and
trees on the coast. These branches are
broken off and sold in the market, but
the Cuban oysters are small and in
ferior to the American. Terrapin and
turtles are very fine, and tortoises have
handsome shells, which bring good
price in the market. Sea crabs and
land crabs are also good. The latter
grow to a large size, and their bodies
stand high from the ground on their
enormous claws. Land crabs burrow
in holes. and their locomotion is clnm
sy, sounding like that of a drunken
man. Cooks feed these crabs on corn
meal for several days before they cook
them. as this makes them more palat.
able. .
A favorite way of fattening poultry
in Cuba is to put them in barrels and
ST uff them with walnuts and corn meal
for several days before they are killed.
Just before Christmas turkeys are
driven through the streets in droves of
from 40 to 100, from door to door, for
people to make their own selection.
This custom furnished the Spanish
pc ct, Salvador Rulda. with theme for
a Christmas song. Guinea hens, noun.
tain rats and a variety of small birds
afford plenty of game for sportsmen in
Cuba.
. Beef is killed the day before it is
used. for it cannot be kept fresh longer
than one day on account of the excess
sise heat. =
When the cook returns from the mar
ket his presence is made known to the
household by squacking ducks, cack-
ling hens or squealing pigs. for all such
live stock are brought from the mar
ket. and they eXpostulafe angrily Oh
being carried around in such close
quarters. And pigeons and doves. with
SIT eyes, utter a cooling. plaintive
note, as though with sad fore bodiny
of the tragic fate in store for them.
American cookery is almost un-
knownin Cuba, and the favorite cuisine
is French. Spanish or Cuban. Good
cooks command high wages. Fam
lilies require two or more servants, ac-
cording to their means. because every
branch of domestic service is separate.
a cook only attends 10 his kitchen. a
waitress to her table and Iaundres5