The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-07-07

Chinese cookery is becoming a decided
fad in Greater New York There used to
be few, if any, Chinese restaurants out
side New York S Chinatown: now there
are hundreds of them scattered all over
town, according to the Brooklyn Eagle
Indeed it is unusual to find a square
half mile of the crowded parts of town
in which there is not at least one of these
places.
At first the Chinese restaurants in
Chinatown catered exclusively to Chinese
guests. Nowadays they have more white
visitors than yellow in the evenings The
uptown restaurants minister exclusively
to white people.
The dish usually favored by the white
patrons Of these Restaurants is chop
suey. Some months later they may dare
to make further eXper ment as far "a
Ho-She- k-ang>-sOu made from dried
oysters-bCt they are apt TO be decidedly
doubtful about the origin of the things
they find in that. ChOp-suey tne visit
or's faVorite, is d very Wei cooked hasa
of pork slnCthered in tasty brown
gravy and seasoned with the little inch
long sprouts Of beans (Which the chi
neSe break off and eat as as soon as
they begin TO shoot, with drCd mush-
rooms cooked III such a way that they
cannot be told from fresh on 5, chopped
celery ana On.Cns.
A neapins bowl of this stew is sold in
the regular Chinese restaurants for Is
cents 1t is a very pleasant dish, indeed
but at the same time one full of sur
prises. The Chinese are an economical
people and when they X a pig they
expect to put to culinary uses every part
Of that pig but the bristles and tne
squcal. In chop-suey you will be likely
TO find bits of pig that you don't quit
recognize, but ii you dip it in the gravy
two or three times and take it on trust
you will find it quite palatabIe.
Everything that the Chinese use IN
cooking, except the fresh pork and fresh
vegetables. has been imported from
China. Ali The things come in a dlisd
shape, but the Chinese are such skn!tul
cooks that they can deceive even the
most knowing into believing that they
are eating fresh duck, mushrooms, oys-
ters and so on. Even dried pork is Ire
quently imported from China, for the
Chinaman has an ineradicable prejudice
in favor of the products Of his own couu-
Try.
People who go to & Chinese restaurant
for the first time are usually in great
fear that they viii be surrepttiOusly
served with rat stew, fried cat, fricasseed
dog, or some other delicacy of g kind
supposed to be peculiarly Chinese. Ibey
need not worry The difficulty Of obtain
ing either money or food in China com
pels the Chinese to eat everything that
has flesh upon it's bones. Dogs and rats
are easily attainable, with d trap and a
little agility, and they go very far toward
keeping the native family alive
When the Chinese come TO this country
they find conditions entirely different.
Work, of the kind they affect, is Obtalnl-
hle either from their own people or from
Americans. They can readily go into
business for themselves and make money.
Provisions of all kinds are cheap. The
much priced pork, q dish of which costs
weeks work in China. is to be obtained
so it seems to the 5st
for the asking. There are tastier things
than dogs, rats and snakes to be obtained
here, and the newly arrived Chinaman
turns to them with aVidity.
1t is very seldom, indeed, that a China
man in this country eats any other ami
nal than those found in American butch
er shops. He never thinks Of serving
such things TO restaurant visitors. If he
ever, in this country, eats strange food
himself, it is because he has been forced
to it by starvation.
Many OF the ways of the Chinese cooks
are strange to American eyes, but the
results appeal to the taste with a force
that cannot be gainsaid For Instance
no butter at all IS used by Chinese cooks
either in the making OF past.y or FOR
any other purposes. Its place is taken
by peanut oil, a most valuable product
which the Chinaman imports from his
own country.
About peanut oil there fingers the faint
odor of the peanut, but this IS not 1T
all apparent to the taste. 1t is a rich
yellow in color, and seems to readily
answer every purpose to which butter
can be put. The Chinaman, however,
uses 1t for many more purposes. 1t fur
nishes him with light, for it will bum