Chinese Recipes: Preliminary Recipes
Since this is a foreign cook book, it is desirable to have the recipes for all the fundamentals, such as sauces, etc., at the beginning of the book. They not…
From: Unknown To: 1917 C.E.
Location: China
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
From The Chinese Cook Book by Shiu Wong Chan, 1917.
Since this is a foreign cook book, it is desirable to have the recipes for all the fundamentals, such as sauces, etc., at the beginning of the book. They not only are nutritious and healthful but are so delicious that they add much to the flavor and delicacy of the foods with which they are combined. As they are used in practically every dish, a thorough knowledge of how to make them is a necessity.
Primary Soup: Sung Tong
One may wonder why a dish cooked in a restaurant is better than one cooked at home. It is true that a better cook may have some effect on the dish, but the real secret is the primary soup which the cook uses for gravy and for the final cooking instead of using water.
This soup is always made of equal weights of chicken and lean pork: say 1/2 pound of each, for each pint of water. It is advisable to use not less than 6 pints of water, and meat in proportion.
The quality of a dish depends upon the nature of this primary soup.
(a) Chop the meat into small pieces.
(b) Cook slowly for 2 1/2 hours, or until about half of the liquid has evaporated.
In order to do away with any oil which may exist, put into the mixture a bowl of chicken blood.
(c) Strain through a thick cloth until the liquid is as clear as water. Should there be any oil remaining on top, skim it off.
Let the soup cool. Keep in the refrigerator to be used as needed.
Chinese Sauce: See Yout
Boil Chinese white beans slowly for 6 hours. Strain off the beans and expose the bean soup
in a big pot placed under the hot sun. The surface of the liquid turns brown and has a top layer. Remove this layer of brown. A little later take off the other layers, and so on until there is no brown layer. Add salt to this, and boil.
This is called See Yout, meaning sauce. It can be bought, ready prepared, in any Chinese grocery store.
Chinese Gravy: Hin Tout
1 cup primary soup
1 teaspoonful cornstarch
1/2 teaspoonful Chinese sauce
Salt, sugar, and a few drops of sesamum seed oil
Mix the cornstarch well in a little cold water; then stir into the boiling primary soup, and let boil until it thickens. Add the Chinese sauce, salt, sugar, and sesamum-seed oil, and stir well.
Sesamum-Seed Oil: Mar Yout
Sesamum-seed has the strongest and most delicious oil of any seed. A few drops of this oil will improve a dish greatly.
(a) Roast the seeds in a dry pan with a low fire till they turn brown.
(b) Grind them with a stone grinder, and collect in a pan.
(c) Take off the oil on top. This is sesamum-seed oil.
Peanut Oil: Sang Yout
Instead of using butter, the Chinese use peanut oil. Therefore in this book the word "oil" means peanut oil unless otherwise stated.
Peanut oil is made as follows:
(a) Skin the peanuts.
(b) Fry them. Turn frequently until they are yellow.
(c) Place them in a hollowed block of thick wood which has a hole in one end. There are smaller holes through which the oil comes when the peanuts are crushed by a stick of wood in the large hole.
Chicken Starch: Guy Young
2 breasts of chickens
1 cup primary soup
1 teaspoonful cornstarch
White of one egg
(a) Pound the chicken, without skin and bone, as fine as possible. It is best when pounded with a hammer on a chopping-board.
(b) Add the soup, cornstarch, and white of egg. Stir well.
In using chicken starch, never pour it into the substance without first removing the pan from the fire. Keep stirring. Take off the fire the minute it begins to boil. The taste is bad if it boils too long.
Chinese White Cheese: Too Yue
(a) Cut bean cake, made of Chinese white beans, into half-inch squares 1/4 inch thick.
(b) Put into a jar provided with an air-tight cover, the size of the jar depending upon the amount to be made.
(c) Fill the jar 1/4 full of Fun Wine.
(d) Salt to taste.
(e) Cover air-tight, and put away for not less than two weeks.
Chinese Red Cheese: Noum Yue
For this the bean cake is made of Chinese red beans.
(a) Wrap up the cakes in a piece of cloth in any desired size. Put pressure on top for 5 days.
(b) Take off the weight. Then the cloth. Scrape off the mold on top.
(c) Place in a jar. Fill the jar full of Fun Wine, and add plenty of salt.
(d) Cover air-tight, and set away for not less than two weeks; the longer, the better, provided the jar is kept air-tight.
How to Make Tea
Use 1 level teaspoonful of tea to 1 cup of water.
Heat the water until it just reaches the boiling-point, but no more. If you are scientific, insert a thermometer graduated with centigrade degrees. When it reaches 99° remove from the fire at once.
Pour immediately into a half-pint teapot which contains 1 teaspoonful of Chinese tea.
Keep covered for three minutes. Then serve.
Preparation of Secondary Vegetables
Before using any dry substance—such as dry mushrooms, dry chestnuts, etc.—always soak in cool water for 1/2 hour.
The making of such things as peanut oil, bean cake, Chinese sauce, etc., is practicable only for a factory. Anyone without conveniences for making them can readily obtain them from any Chinese grocery store.
The author tells how to make them merely so that you may know what is in them and how they are made. Then you will understand how simple they are, and how healthful and nutritious.
Chan, Shiu Wong. The Chinese Cook Book. Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1917.
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