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Table of Contents Cooking in China is an art. Culinary secrets are handed down like family traditions. There is no such thing in China, the author was told, as a cook book. And though the American and the British who make their homes in the Land of the Lotus Flower have the Anglo Saxon urge for accuracy they make little progress with their native cooks. Recipes are still not written, they are remembered. Sweets have a definite place in the art of dining. There are many kinds of cakes. Some seem strangely flavored to the foreign palate. Some are a national institution like the Moon Cakes. Some are so much like the sweets of other lands that one wonders if Anglo Saxon accuracy has not made a little progress after all. Moon Cakes have been connected with the Festival of the Eighth Moon since ancient times. This festival is called the moon's birthday. It comes at the time of the Harvest Moon when the full moon rises soon after sunset. The moon is the object of worship, and during the three days marked by out-door holiday making, she is called the Queen of Heaven. Women, in their moon worship, offer Me on Cakes to the Queen of Heaven. These cakes are really little tarts very much like the English mince meat tarts. They are tiny, dainty cakes with a crescent cut into the top crust. 1 cup Chinese dates 1 cup brown sugar chopped 1/2 cup red wine 1 cup green dried plums 2 cups chopped boiled beef chopped 1/2 cup chopped suet 6 red fruit chopped 12 lotus seed 1/4 cup walnut meats 1 tsp. ginger chopped 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 cup preserved ginger 1/2 cup pine nuts Mix all the ingredients together and cook slowly for one hour. Cool before using. Line small tart pans with pie crust rolled very thin. Fill the pans three-fourths full, cover with a top crust in which a crescent has been cut and bake at 475° F. for twenty to thirty minutes. Sift together 1 cup rice flour 1/3 cup butter softened 1/2 cup brown sugar water if needed Mix with 2 cups almonds blanched and ground Blend the butter into the flour mixture. Add a few drops of water if needed to hold the dough together. Shape into small balls with the hands. Bake at 350° F. until light brown. (Sesame Cakes) Sift together 1/4 cup flour 1/2 cup milk 1/4 cup rice flour 2 tbsp. butter melted 1/4 cup sugar 1 egg slightly beaten 1 tsp. baking powder 2 tbsp. sesame seed Gradually add the milk, butter and egg to the flour and mix into a smooth batter. Spread thinly on a well-buttered pan, sprinkle with sesame seed and bake at 350° F. for fifteen to twenty minutes. Cut into small squares when cold. (Sponge Cake) Sift together five times 1 cup cake flour 5 eggs beaten thirty min- 1 cup sugar utes 1 tsp. lemon juice Gradually fold the flour and sugar into the eggs, mixing as little and as lightly as possible. Add the lemon juice. Turn into a buttered mould, cover tightly and steam in a steamer for forty-five minutes. Cool in the mould. lb. puffed rice 2 cups peanuts cups malt syrup 2 cups brown sugar 1/2 cup sesame seed Bake the sesame seed in a 350° F. oven for five minutes. Cook the sugar and syrup together until it makes a hard ball in cold water. Keep the syrup hot. Mix the rice, pea nuts and part of the sesame seed in the syrup. Pour into a buttered pan and press down evenly. Sprinkle the rest of the seed on top and set in a cool place for five minutes. Remove from the pan and cut in thin slices. Cook together until the syrup threads and keep hot 1 cup malt syrup whole kernels of water- 1 cup brown sugar melon seed noodles To make the noodles: 3 eggs slightly beaten 2 tbsp. water flour to make a stiff dough Gradually add flour to the eggs and water until the mixture is stiff. Knead for thirty minutes, roll very thin and cut into one-fourth inch strips. Allow to dry one day then cut into one-fourth inch squares. Fry the noodles to a golden brown in hot peanut oil. Pour the syrup over enough of the noodles to hold together in a firm mass. Stir lightly and press in a one-inch-deep pan. Sprinkle with whole kernels of watermelon seed. Cut in squares while still warm. |
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