Dear Constant Reader,
The other day I indulged in some vintage Chinese food. That’s not “vintage” as in “hmm… how long as this white box been in the back of the fridge?”, but as from a vintage cookbook.
The Art of Chinese Cooking, The Benedictine Sisters of Peking (1956)
The backstory to this cookbook is as good as the recipes. It was written by two nuns who were in China when the Japanese invaded. After Pearl Harbor, they were sent to a civilian internment camp. When the War ended, they went back to being missionaries, but the Communists kept pushing them out of various cities until they ended up in Taiwan (then called Formosa). The American Consul thought they might be in danger there and sent them off to a safe place. Ironically, that was Tokyo. Needing an income, they opened a school where they taught Chinese cooking.
Their book is illustrated with the cutest line drawings of dancing dumplings and opium-smoking ducks. Yes, there are some utterly stereotypical “Oriental” caricatures, but do keep in mind when it was published. It’s also a product of its times in the use of canned foods which we can easily get fresh these days.
There are a whole lot of recipes I’m planning to try someday, quite a change from many of my midcentury cookbooks, where the recipes are more “interesting” than delicious. I’m really intrigued by Loquat Chicken and someday I’ll have to visit my parents when their loquat tree is fruiting and try it out.
I made Cashew Chicken, a favorite. I’ve modified the recipe a bit from the original, mostly in terms of proportions (i.e. heavier on the vegetables, lighter on the meat), but a little regarding the ingredients.
The ingredients: bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, raw cashews, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, salt, cornstarch, celery, chicken breast, sugar, chicken broth, onion. There was also oil, which I completely forgot to put in this still-life.
Combine soy sauce, salt, sugar, cornstarch, and vinegar* in a bowl. Chop the chicken into small cubes and add to the bowl. Set aside. Not the most attractive photo, but raw chicken isn’t exactly glamorous.
Chop up bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, celery, and onion. The most important thing when making Chinese food is to cut up everything first, because you won’t have time once you start cooking. Also, everything should be about the same size so it all cooks evenly.
Heat up some oil** and add the veggies. Stirfry them until they’re softened (not mushy — you’ll be cooking them more later) and the onion is just little bit brown. You want to use a big pan and high heat. Scoop the cooked veggies out of the pan.
In the oil remaining in the pan (add some if necessary), brown the cashews. This is why I specified raw ones. Keep an eye on them, so they don’t burn. Once they’re toasty, remove them from the pan. The original recipe is for walnut chicken (with a substitution of blanched almonds), but walnuts are my least favorite nut. The original also calls for deep frying the nuts. I though that was excessive. But feel free to make it that way if you like.
Add more oil to the pan and add the chicken. Be careful; it will spit! Cook the chicken until it’s browned. Then add some chicken broth or stock. When that heats up, add the vegetables and nuts and cook it all until it’s hot.
Serve with rice.
The recipe proper:
Mina’s Cashew Chicken, Benedictine-style
1 boneless skinless chicken breast (about 8 oz.)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
1 1/2 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 Tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 can (8 oz.) water chestnuts
1 can (8 oz.) bamboo shoots
3 ribs celery
1/2 large onion
Approx. 5 Tablepsoons oil
1 cup raw cashews
1/4 cup chicken broth
Combine salt, cornstarch, soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar in a medium bowl. Cut the chicken into 1 inch cubes. Add the chicken to the sauce. Set aside.
Chop water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, celery, and onion into small pieces.
Heat 2 Tablespoons oil in a large pan over high heat. When it’s hot, add the vegetable and stirfry until soft and slightly browned. Remove vegetables from pan and set aside.
If necessary, add 1 Tablespoon oil to pan. Heat and add cashews. Cook until browned. Remove and set aside.
Add 2 Tablespoons of oil to the pan and heat. Carefully add the chicken to the hot pan. The liquid will make it spit, so be careful. Brown the chicken. Lower the heat and add the chicken broth. Once the broth simmering, add the vegetables and nuts.
Cook all until it’s hot. Serve with rice. Makes about 4 servings.
You can easily double the amount of chicken, just remember to double the sauce ingredients too. Everything else stays about the same.
Tomorrow I’ll share the second dish I made, Asparagus Peking Style.
*The original recipe calls for sherry. We have cream sherry (very sweet) and I’m sure back in China it was made with rice wine, which has a sharper flavor. So I used rice wine vinegar. The reason I forgot to put the oil in the picture was because I was furiously debating the virtues of sherry vs. vinegar, decided, grabbed the bottle from the pantry, and left the oil sitting forlornly there next to the abandoned sherry.
**This should be a neutral oil that can get quite hot, like vegetable oil. Peanut oil is good for cooking Chinese food. I used grapeseed oil. Which you’d know if I had remembered to put it in the picture.
The Teaseday Club opened again this past Tuesday, again not hosted by John J King (trust me, this gets funnier the more months you attend). Instead, it fell to our own Mr. Scratch to keep things moving along. Honestly, I think even if, by some miracle, John were available, Scratch would have taken this month as it marked Evie Sphinx’s last performance (only for a while, we hope) as she goes off to complete her degree.
Delilah Spring of The Tasty Pasties opened up the show with her fan dance to 
Anthony Scibelli provided us with a stand-up comedy set. He’s a very funny guy: just Google his name + “snozzberries”.
Devora Darling performed a number from A (Re)Movable Feast which we call “Cupcakes”. It has many of her favorite things: a pink frilly costume, dancing en pointe, and a bra covered with soft-sculpture petit-fours. I know, I know that gives away the punchline, but she’s so fond of it. I think she’d wear that bra all the time if she could get away with it.
Stella Diamond sang “Paper Moon”, as she does in The Fine Art of Burlesque (last performances this weekend in New Hampshire and Maine). The lovely vintage gloves were a find from our trip to Cleveland, purchased from 
Dagny Vanderlust of The Tasty Pasties performed “
Krupp and Bubbles began with a little slight of hand from Krupp and ended with a little demonstration of the art of misdirection from Bubbles.
Evie Sphinx danced to the song 
Stella Diamond looked like a good girl, but as the song “Whatever Lola Wants” began playing, she gradually shed her inhibitions along with her clothing. I’m not sure which Stella enjoys more, the silly hat she wears or that the naughty magazine that gets her going is gay porn bought at a discount (it was ladies’ day at the sex shop).
Amber BuTane of The Tasty Pasties teased all the “Momma’s Boys” in the audience with her amusing strip, which included twirling fake saggy boobs. And Amber’s actual mom was there to see her daughter in all her glory. Mother BuTane both did Amber’s hair *and* captured Mr. Scratch’s heart.
Krupp and Bubbles did a little mind reading. They had the audience toss a deck of cards randomly around and whoever caught it would flip through and pick a card, then toss it to someone else. Some of those tosses were more like pitches and many of the catches were fumbles. It was a little worrying… But there were no injuries, at least no major ones. Six people were brought up on stage and six cards were correctly named, although two of them required a little special attention.
Devora Darling, Evie Sphinx, and Stella Diamond in “A Harlequin Romance”. This act was created for Unlucky in Love (and was the only number in that show to use recorded music). They performed it again at The Expo 2012 to such acclaim that The Shanghai Pearl wanted to award them her trophy (but it has to go to one of the acts in competition). I was so happy to see it one more time. It’s a lovely blend of commedia dell’arte (from Scratch), ballet (from Evie and Devora), striptease, and classic comedy (a la Sid Ceasar and Nanette Fabray). They got a standing ovation.
When the show was over, and the stage was filled with energized performers having just taken their final curtain call, Scratch took the stage to announce our loss. 
This is going to be a long missive, as it was one long day… The drive from Rochester to Cleveland was easy, although there was a *spectacular* thunderstorm as we passed through Buffalo. We got to the hotel with enough time to rest up before we had to be at the Beachland Ballroom. We were at the venue promptly and had time to run our number twice on stage, figuring out the proper blocking. I’ll get back to this later.
Since we were in the headliner block at the end of the show, we could relax and enjoy the whole first half of the show. Scratch was one of the MCs and really kept things moving along, as is necessary with a festival show. There were about 25 acts, plus handing out half a dozen 
We saw stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, and the rare stalag-mouse (supposedly the calcified corpse of a pet mouse). After walking through the caves for a while, following the icy River Styx, we arrived at the Lake of Venus and got into boats. Our boat pilot was a gal whose name I never got, but gave us some fun insider dope about being a cave guide. She and her identical twin sister would sometimes switch groups if they didn’t think anyone was paying enough attention. The picture shows Stella and D.D. gawking at the rock formations. And yes, we were all bundled up in sweatshirts. It’s 52 degrees in the cave.
