CHINESE COOKERY

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 August 1932, Page 3

CHINESE COOKERY

TYPICAL DINNER IN SHANGHAI.

Walking in the streets of Shanghai, one is tempted not to experiment with Chinese cookery for most of the foodstuffs are unrecognisable and not at ail attractive. Gradually it dawns upon ono that these flat, varnished objects, shaped like tennis racquets, are duck, and othei’ familiar friends reveal themselves, but for the most part there is nothing but unappetising mystery. But when these strange things come to table the mystery is no longer unattractive, for the Chinese sharo with the. French the honour of being the finest cooks in the world, and although Chinese dinners may be as exotic and expensive as French dinners (and, in fact, far more so) the basis of the cookery in both countries is the same, a peasantry hard put to it to live, thrifty, painstaking, and ingenious. Both are experts at making a little go a long way, at producing appetising dishes from.the most meagre materials, and it must be admitted, at disguising the fact occasionally that some of them are none too fresh.

My first Chinese dinner was typical enough (writes a contributor to a London journal). The restaurant, one of the best in Shanghai, was a dingy establishment, divided into private rooms and alcoves to suit all sizes of party. The atmosphere, in fact, was not unlike that of an old English tavern, both in its privacy and contempt of external show. The meal started with a profusion of little cold dishes, pork, chicken, raw crabs, shrimps, and othei’ delicacies. Then a bowl of rice was set before each person and three little plates of sauce, ono of them soy, the other two nameless but intriguing; then hot dishes appeared and the meal began in. earnest.

COURSES NOT DIVIDED,

Courses in China are not sharply divided as in Europe. Dishes are coming and going tho whole time, there never being less than eight to ten on the table at once. In the. whole dinner there were perhaps forty. Th other day I came across an English book of cookery and household management published about 1720 and was at once struck by the resemblance of eighteenth-century English custom to present-day Chinese in this respect. In England 200 years ago each course consisted of twenty dishes or so, and the change from one course to another, the system of “removes” being rigid and elaborate, as it is in China now. Guests helped themselves and each other with their spoons or fingers as tho Chinese do with chop-sticks. The eight-bcnth-century Mrs. Beeton laments the new craze for simplicity: “Lady X has now never more than 14 dishes to her second course,” a piece of social slackness which seems to . have caused quite a scandal. c It would be impossible to describe the dinner in detail. Buck and pork are both done in a variety '-f ways with . bamboo shoots and • fascinating sauces; fish with a sweet sauce which has yet a “tang” to it and so not sickly; strange green vegetables, a sort of spaghetti and a delicious almond soup with young, green almonds floating in it. . Black eggs and shark’s fin soup, both famous and both in a sense complimentary dishes, were included in the menu. The former are rather insipid to Europeans, th elatter very' palatable. Fish plays an important part in Chinese dinners. So necessary is it to provide fish when entertaining friends that in the inland provinces, where it is almost unobtainable, a plaster or cardboard model is served instead. Honour is thus completely satisfied, as the Chinese have a unique capacity for accepting the intention for the deed. The drink was neat brandy, which seems almost to have replaced rice wine as ..th© national drink. It does, however, go well with the rather rich and greasy food in the same way that whisky goes with hag gis. But a Chinese dinner is no place for the weak-he.aded. In this respect, again, celestial hospitality is very much on a par with those of our eight-eenth-century ancestors.

HOT, DAMP TOWELS. As the meal progressed, hot, damp towels were distributed, which- were frequently renewed during the remainder of the dinner and at the theatre afterwards, Where they are hurled about the auditorium in a perfect snowstorpi, but with astonishing accuracy, the ‘‘usher” seldom missing his man across 15-rows of stalls. Pressed against the face these are marvellously refreshing, and together with tea, which now made its appearance, enabled us to enjoy th(i final stages of the meal. Europeans invariably eat too much at a Chinese meal, in spite of the handicap (much exaggerated) of chop-sticks. Politeness, greed, and inquisitiveness all conspire to over-feed the most wary, 'and even parties exclusively of Europeans who dine at a Chinese, restaurant ar© not exempt. It is amusing to observe the way in which Europeans drop their fastidiousness in these circumstances. The host would regard a clean table as a sign that the meal had been a failure, and men and women who would be revolted by a dirty tablecloth at a European meal, will splash about with their chop sticks with the utmost abandon, no? will they fe.el a qualm at being helped to titbits in the chop-sticks of ihoir Chinese host. A certain amount of guzzling is polite on these occasions. The guest should endeavour to give the. impression that only the greatest sell-control and good breeding restrain him from complete hoggishness, so exquisite is the food provided. Chinese history and literature abound in allusions to cookery. To write a iioem, to order a good dinner, to paint a picture, to have beautiful handwriting, all these are equally good to the Chinese connoisseur. Among so many things from the West, good and bad, with which the New China is experimenting, is European cookery. The European and the Chinese are so far apart that one can hardly enrich the other. Let us hope that both are not ruined in the attempt.