Books:

Discovered! 505
Odd Enterprises

Hidden Dollars

How to Make
Money at Home

Small Business
of Your Own

You Can Own
a Business

From all this has developed a food service which has grown from my own kitchen to the kitchens of a number of other women who are fond of cooking, both American and Chinese—with plenty of work to keep us busy, especially week-ends. One American woman started out with the chop suey recipe, then two of the chicken recipes, and now she can cook any wanted dish. Anyone who is willing to learn a few foundation recipes, and willing to give the time and energy to it, is bound to make a satisfactory living of it—for any village or town would be glad to have a place with exotic atmosphere and satisfying food at a reasonable price.

With a flair for hospitality and the knowledge of how to prepare superior tasty food, one who is willing to work to save others time and trouble can become successful. Foods with eye-appeal, taste-appeal, the best and freshest of ingredients, and always of high quality will soon make a name for you and bring repeat customers and their friends to your door.

Those who live in the country and near a highway can draw many off the beaten path with superior food. They can even raise their own truck vegetables such as sugar pea pods, Chinese cabbage, celery cabbage, squabs, ducklings and broilers when the business expands, or persuade neighbors to raise and provide them. One family we know started a truck farm in Northern Florida and now supplies the whole Eastern seaboard with Chinese vegetables, making a comfortable living, and providing a needed service. One of the largest processors of Chinese food in America was started by two graduates of the University of Michigan, a Korean and an American—but the Korean left about twenty years ago and it is now a completely American company and is big business. And still another success along this line of Chinese food products was achieved by a young man of Italian descent who has made his fortune by capitalizing on the idea that there was a demand for tasty, low-cost, nutritious Chinese food—starting with the lowly bean sprout. He now cans millions of cans of Chinese food to reach those who do not have the knowledge to prepare it themselves and who want something tasty and different.

THERE ARE many other Americans who have gone into this business and made a good thing of it, for the Chinese way of cooking food appeals to many. From the time of Marco Polo who went back to Venice from Cathay with his many new-found methods and ideas which he introduced to the Western world to make life more pleasant and interesting, to the time of Columbus, who sailed west in order to reach the fabled land of spices, silks and good eating by a water-route, to the time of Charles Lamb whose Bobo discovered the secret of roasting a succulent piglet, there has always been an interest in the western world in finding new ways to make food more interesting and more appealing. Food will always be one of the main interests of a healthy human being—and if you combine knowledge with courage, initiative, and thought-through planning, you are bound to make a success of it—for man must eat to live, and he may as well enjoy it while he does.

With a little practice on your own family, friends and relatives, anyone who can read English can learn how to cook Chinese food successfully and profitably and become a superlative cook. Specialize with one thing first and learn to do it well, then add new dishes gradually. Our recipes, some of which follow later, can help to make you famous. Chinese cookery is no harder than any other kind of cookery—practice, good recipes, freshness of food and imagination bring success.

Most of the ingredients can be bought in your own meat and fish market and grocery store around the corner—and if you really want special ingredients at any time, we can help you get any goods you desire if you are not near any Chinese food shops. Among these foods will be dried mushrooms, dried shrimps, tinned bamboo shoots, tinned water chestnuts, really good Chinese tea (black or green, or Jasmine), ginger (root or candied), shark's fins, birds nests, spices, etc. The dried mushrooms go a long way, six to eight in an ordinary dish making all the difference in the world in the taste. Three very important ingredients for good taste are green ginger root, soy sauce, and sherry. We can always send you ginger root (ten cents' worth will flavor many dishes).

Soy sauce you can get for ninety cents per gallon from a Chinese grocery instead of fifteen cents for three ounces in the ordinary market. You can buy the little green mung bean for twenty-five cents per pound and grow your own bean sprouts for a negligible price. Rice and dried noodles you can buy at your grocery store.

NOW FOR some menus, prices, recipes and ways to get business:

The best way to start is to have your own enthusiastic friends do it by word of mouth after they have tasted one of your excellent meals. At the opportune moment, when they are singing your praises, you can tell them casually that you are thinking of going into business from a certain date, and that you are taking orders to serve parties for special Chinese dinners. If you want more business you can put an advertisement in the newspaper to announce your new service—serving dinners in your own home, catering to parties, banquets, clubs, churches, and family dinners or in a food-to-take-out service which has recently become very popular. Or you can send out special announcements by card to a certain selected group of those whom you know entertain frequently.

I myself prefer cooking in my own kitchen and serving in my own dining room by appointment and reservation. My other friends in our service center (most of us refugees from Communism) do catering, go to cook and serve in the customer's homes and do food-to-take-out jobs as well as serve in their own homes.

TYPICAL PRICES of food to take out are as follows, although there will be some variations in accordance with fluctuations in the food market. A complete Chinese dinner for two, consisting of rice and three of the following dishes is $3. I have also listed the prices of rice and, other foods if ordered separately:

Plain Boiled Rice-one bowl (approximately 1 teacupful tightly packed), 10c; Fried Rice (a pint—one serving), 55c; Pork Chow Mein (a pint—one serving), 65c; Chop Suey (a pint—one serving), 65c; Egg Fou-Yoong—two large platters or four smaller, 85c; Sweet and Sour Spareribs—½ pint, 85c; Fried Prawns, $1; Barbecued Pork Spareribs, 75c; Soya Chicken, $1.25; Roast Duck (order one day ahead), $1.25.

We use pasteboard containers with wire handles for the food and put them in brown paper bags for the customers who come to the door; but in delivering, we place them in insulated containers which keep the food piping hot. Usually we deliver within a radius of ten blocks free and we pay a boy ten cents each delivery. Minimum order is $1.50.

I usually charge between $1.50-$2.50 per guest for a dinner, depending on the cost of the food served. The minimum is eight guests, and I usually serve dinner between 7 and 8 o'clock, depending on the wishes of the hostess. She usually goes over the menu with me but sometimes leaves the selection to me within a certain price limit. Of course it is always better to use as much as possible the foods in season to cut down on the cost and to balance up with some of the more expensive, out of season foods, but usually the profit runs to about thirty-five to fifty per cent, which fully pays for my time, effort and overhead charges.

Be sure to find out about any possible licensing and zoning laws and regulations of your city and state, as each locality is different. The Chamber of Commerce, if there is one in your town, is always willing to help and encourage new businesses.

The most popular and most-often-ordered dishes are the ones we make for food-to-take-out. We have recipes for several hundred dishes, but if you know the foundation dishes and methods and understand the subtle role played by spices and seasonings, you have arrived. Specialize in one or two dishes, learn to do them especially well, and build your other dishes around them.

THE RECIPE which started us in business is this one:

DE LUXE SPARERIBS
(Time: 2¾ hours slow cooking or 40 minutes pressure cooker, 15 lbs. pressure)

Three lbs. meaty spareribs; ½ cup cooking sherry; 1 onion, cut up; 3-4 slices ginger root (or ½ tsp. powdered ginger); 2 tablespoons brown sugar; 2 tablespoons vinegar; ¾ cup soy sauce; 1 clove garlic, crushed.

Have the butcher chop the spareribs twice across lengthwise (ie. in third lengthwise), then chop through thick backbone and in between ribs to separate completely.

Put together with all the other ingredients with 2 cups of water, stirring thoroughly. Cover tightly, bring to a full rolling boil, then turn heat down and simmer slowly for 2½ hours or till tender. Add water if it cooks dry.

This is very conveniently cooked in a pressure cooker—40 minutes at 15 lbs. pressure. Let pressure drop of its own accord. This may be prepared ahead of time and reheated. Serve with hot rice.

The perennial favorite—chop suey—is easily put together as well as being very accommodating to whatever ingredients that may be on hand or available at the moment. On top of rice, it is known as chop suey—but the same dish when used to top off fried noodles is known as chow mein. Sometimes it is used with crisp fried noodles (deep fried), sometimes the soft, or pan fried.

CHOP SUEY (BASIC RECIPE)
(Time: Preparation—30 minutes. Cooking—30 minutes)

One lb. lean pork, cut very thin, then into strips; 2 tablespoons soy sauce; 1 tablespoon sherry; 3 tablespoons cooking oil (bacon drippings very tasty); 1 tsp. salt; 1 tsp. sugar; 1 large onion, cut in half then thinly sliced; 1 cup bean sprouts; 1 cup Chinese chard (bok choy), cut in 1-inch pieces; 2 stalks celery, de-veined, then cut into diagonal pieces; 8 large mushrooms, soaked an hour and shredded, or 1 small tin sliced mushrooms; 3 thin slices ginger root, or ¼ tsp. powdered ginger; 1 bamboo shoot (or a few slices fresh turnip, shredded); 1 cup sliced water chestnuts (or peeled and sliced radishes); ½ tsp. monosodium glutamate (sold under trade name of Accent).

Saute the meat in a large skillet with the oil over a hot fire. Add one tablespoon of the soy sauce and the sherry and cook for 15 minutes on a medium fire, adding a little soup stock or water, if necessary, to keep from drying. Add onion and cook till brown, add celery and mushroom and cook 3 more minutes. Then add the sugar, salt, ginger, rest of the soy sauce, the remaining ingredients, and cook for 5 minutes. Serve hot with rice. Serves 8-10.

Chicken, shrimp, tuna or any other meat may be used. Left-over meats and vegetables may also be utilized. This may be prepared ahead of time and put in the refrigerator for later use. If this is the case, the bean sprouts, chard, or radishes (if used) should not be added until actual time of use or else they will lose their crispness and color.

ANOTHER FAVORITE in the restaurants (and at home, too!) is egg fou-yoong. Here is a basic recipe. From it, you can prepare every imaginable kind of egg fou-yoong. The only limit is your imagination and your good judgment.

EGG FOU-YOONG (BEEF OR PORK)
(Time: 30 minutes)

Six eggs; ½ lb. pork or fillet beef cut very thin and again cut julienne; 2 stalks celery, de-veined and cut in ¾-inch cubes; 4 dry mushrooms, soaked and shredded or 1 drained 4-oz. tin mushroom pieces; 1 med. sized onion, shredded; ¼ tsp. monosodium glutamate; 1 cup bean sprouts, cleaned of long stringy roots; dash of pepper; 1 tsp. salt; 2 tablespoons soy sauce; 1½ tsps. sugar; 2 tablespoons vegetable oil or bacon fat; chopped chives or green onion.

Put one tablespoonful of the oil in a frying pan over a hot fire and when hot, add the onion. Fry till brown, then add the beef or pork shreds. Fry 2 minutes for the beef, but add a little water and cook 10 minutes for the pork. Then add the celery, mushroom, pepper, half of the salt, soy sauce, and sugar and cook 2 minutes longer. Let cool.

Beat the eggs well and stir in the chopped chives, bean sprouts, the salt, soy sauce, and the cooled meat and vegetables. Use the remaining oil to fry about 8 omelettes. Serve with or without gravy with rice. Serves 8. Halve recipe for 4 people.

GRAVY One cup chicken stock or 1 chicken bouillon cube dissolved in 1 cup water; ¼ tsp. monosodium glutamate; ½ tsp. salt; 2 tsps. soy sauce; dash of pepper; 3 level tablespoons corn starch mixed to a thin paste with 1 cup water.

Heat to boiling all ingredients except the starch paste. Then add the starch paste, boil 3 minutes and pour over the egg fou-yoong. Variations instead of the fresh pork or beef, any left-over cooked meat may be shredded and used. Chicken, roast pork, beef or lamb, shredded canned luncheon meat, canned drained shrimp, lobster or crab meat, or fresh shrimp or ½ lb. of chopped fresh fish may be used.

WITH CHICKENS so very reasonable in price in this country and so easily available, there are dozens of delicious ways of preparing it, each one delightful and different in taste, as soya chicken, almond chicken, paper-wrapped chicken, curried chicken, chickens young or ancient, fresh killed or frozen—and all of them good.

SOYA CHICKEN
(Time: 2-2½ hours)

One fricassee chicken, 3½-4 lbs.; 1 onion, cut fine; 2 tablespoons sherry; 2 cups water; ¾ cup soy sauce; 3-4 slices ginger root, or ¼ tsp. powdered ginger; 1 tablespoon sugar.

Have the butcher clean and wash the chicken well and cut into pieces about 2 inches square. If the chicken is very fat, take out the fat parts before chopping up. Use some of the fat to fry the chicken (keep the rest for cooking vegetables, etc.). When all sides of the meat are brown, add the soy sauce, sugar, ginger, water, sherry, and onion and cook over a hot fire till boiling hard, then cover tightly and simmer over a gentle fire for 2-2½ hours till tender. Serve with rice. Serves 8 with 2 other dishes and dessert.

ALMOND DICED CHICKEN
(Time: Preparation—30 minutes. Cooking—12 minutes)

One-half cup blanched almonds; 8 dried mushrooms, soaked and shredded; 1 cup of water in which mushrooms were soaked or 1 small tin mushrooms and liquid; 2 cups diced young chicken meat (about ½-inch cubes); 2 stalks celery, de-veined and diced; 1 med. size bamboo shoot, diced; 1 cup frozen peas; 2 slices ginger root, finely chopped or 1 slice candied ginger, finely chopped; ¼ tsp. monosodium glutamate; 1 tsp. sugar; 1 tsp. salt; 3 tablespoons soy sauce; 1 tablespoon corn starch; 1 tablespoon sherry; 2 tablespoons cooking oil.

Fry the almonds in deep fat till brown, then drain on a paper towel. Marinate the chicken in the sherry, salt, sauce, sugar, corn starch, monosodium glutamate, and ginger. In the meantime, prepare the vegetables.

Heat the oil in a large size skillet over a hot fire. Fry the onion till brown, then add the drained chicken and stir, cooking for 5 minutes over a brisk fire, adding the mushroom liquid. Then add celery, bamboo shoots, the marinade, and peas. Cover and cook for 6 minutes more, adding a little more liquid if necessary. Stir in the almonds at the last moment. Serve with hot rice or noodles. Serves 8.

SWEET AND sour pork is a very popular dish. Many people like the sweet and pungent taste, and it is not at all difficult to produce.

SWEET AND SOUR PORK
(Time: 20 minutes)

One and one-half lbs. lean pork cut into 1-inch squares; 2 cups boiling water; 2 tablespoons corn starch; 1 tablespoon soy sauce; 2 cups peanut or other liquid oil for frying; 2 tablespoons cooking oil; 2 slices ginger root or ¼ tsp. powdered ginger; 4 dried mushrooms, soaked and shredded or 1¾-oz. tin sliced, or fresh mushrooms; ¼ cup vinegar; ¼ cup sugar; 1 green pepper, cut in 1-inch squares; 1 tablespoon sherry; 1 tablespoon soy sauce; 2 tablespoons corn starch; 1 No. 2 can pineapple chunks and juice.

Put the cubed raw pork into the 2 cups of boiling water and boil hard for 4 minutes. Drain well (save water to put in soup stock pot). Mix the 2 tablespoons corn starch with the 1 tablespoon soy sauce and stir the drained cubed pork in this. Boil the 2 cups of oil and fry the pork cubes until brown. Drain on paper towels.

In a separate skillet, put the 2 tablespoons cooking oil over a hot fire, add the onions and brown, then the ginger root, salt and soy sauce. Add the vinegar, sugar, pepper, and enough pineapple juice to keep from drying. Cook for 3 minutes, then add pineapple and mushrooms and cook for 3 minutes more. Add the 2 tablespoons corn starch mixed to a smooth paste with pineapple juice, stir in thoroughly and cook 3 minutes more. (In place of the cubed pork, 2 cups of any cut-up cold meat, poultry or fish may be added at this point instead of the cubed, cooked pork.) Stir in cooked pork cubes, cook another few minutes till thoroughly heated. Serve with hot rice to 8.

THERE ARE many ways of cooking fried rice, but two of the easiest and quickest ways we shall give here. The first method will give you a hot meal in a few minutes from cold pre-cooked rice and with a bowl of hot soup makes a satisfying meal. (Egg rice charge per individual serving approximately one bowl rice, thirty cents; one bowl soup, ten cents.) For the beef fried rice, sixty-five cents per individual.

QUICK 'N EASY EGG FRIED RICE
(Time: 15 minutes)

Put into a large pan about 2 tablespoons cooking oil or bacon drippings. Add as many cups of cold rice as you have people (or as many extra servings as desired). Allow about ½ tsp. of salt and one egg for each cup of rice. Put 1 half of the salt into the rice and stir around to mix well. Add a cup of broth of any kind and cook over a medium fire. When hot, add the eggs well beaten with chopped chives or green onions and the rest of the salt. Keep stirring till the eggs are cooked. Serve piping hot with individual bowls of soup.

QUICK 'N EASY BEEF FRIED RICE
(Time: 20 minutes)

One lb. flank steak or any tender cut of beef; 8 cups cold rice; 2½ tablespoons cooking oil or bacon drippings; 1 tsp. salt; 1 cup bouillon, made from bouillon cube; 2 tablespoons soy sauce; 1 tablespoon sherry; 1 tsp. sugar; 2 slices ginger root, finely chopped or ¹/8 tsp. powdered ginger; 1 lb. spinach, washed and cut into 2-inch lengths; dash of garlic salt.

Trim off any membrane from flank steak and cut into very thin cross-wise slices. Marinate in the soy sauce, sherry, sugar, ginger root, one tablespoon of the cooking oil, ½ tsp. of the salt, add the dash of garlic salt and let stand for at least 15 minutes. This can be done while you are washing the spinach and setting the table and making the soup—egg flower consomme, and warming the rice.

Put the remaining tablespoon of cooking oil into a large chicken fryer over a medium flame and when hot, add the rice and the other ½ tsp. of salt. Stir well, add the bouillon, cover tightly and cook till hot—about 5 minutes—turning several times.

In a separate skillet, put a ½ tablespoon cooking oil, use a hot fire, add the marinated meat and juices and stir quickly. Cook one minute. Add spinach, cook 3 minutes, stir all together. Put the rice on 8 separate plates, or one large platter and pour the meat and vegetable mixture on top. Serves 8.

EGG FLOWER CONSOMME Two tins condensed consomme or bouillon, diluted as per directions on the can.

Beat up 1 or 2 eggs and when the bouillon boils, turn off the flame and pour the beaten egg in slowly, stirring constantly and gently. Serve hot in individual bowls to 8, with the fried rice.

TO MAKE a well-balanced, satisfying meal, there must be enough green vegetables. Many times we cook our vegetables with meat or other proteins, but other times, we like to cook them alone-to make a "clean" taste. Here are two ways with two favorite vegetables, spinach and cabbage.

CHINESE-COOKED SPINACH
(Time: 5 minutes)

One lb. spinach; ½ teaspoon salt; 1 clove garlic, crushed; ¾ teaspoon cooking fat.

Wash spinach thoroughly and cut into 3-4 inch lengths.

Heat the fat over a hot fire, add the garlic, the spinach and then the salt. Do not add water.

Stir and turn quickly and often to cook thoroughly. Cover tightly. Cook 5 minutes and serve.

CHINESE-COOKED CABBAGE
(Time: 15 minutes)

One cabbage, 1½-2 lbs.; 1 teaspoon sugar; 2 tablespoons cooking oil; 1 cup water; 1½ teaspoons salt.

Wash the cabbage and shave off all leaves from the center and cut into pieces about 1½ inches square. Peel off the thick skin around the center and slice into rounds about ½-inch thick.

Put the oil into a skillet, heat over a hot fire, add the cabbage and turn and stir until the cabbage is evenly coated with the oil. Add the salt, sugar, water, turn and stir again to mix evenly. Cover tightly, turn fire low and cook 12 minutes more. Serve hot.

FOR A dinner to serve eight (not a formal dinner), one usually has individual bowls of rice with a soup, a chicken dish, a shrimp dish (for those who like sea food) or an alternate of minced pigeon, a dish like spareribs, an egg dish, like egg fou-yoong or eggs and peas, a fish dish, like red-cooked fish fillets or steamed whole fish, and one or two vegetables and meat, or plain vegetable dishes at $2.50 per person. Fresh or pickled radishes, celery sticks and dishes of soy sauce and mustard are on the table.

Plain rice is served, and for dessert, tea and almond cakes or some other light dessert as fresh fruit.

For a $1.25-$1.50 per person dinner for eight persons you might serve individual bowls of rice, a soup (in the center of the table, to be served by the hostess to each guest from small soup bowls), Chestnut chicken, Shanghai beef, fish balls and pepper, or a curried dish, a vegetable and meat dish, radishes and celery strips and sauce dishes of soy, a mustard and tomato sauce. Then almond cakes and hot tea.

Almond cakes are really not hard to make, and are good keepers, so you can make up a batch of several times the recipe to last for a while.

ALMOND CAKES
(Time: 25 minutes)

Two and one-half cups sifted flour; ¼ tsp. salt; ¾ cup granulated sugar; 1 tsp. baking powder; ¾ cup lard or any soft shortening; 1 whole egg; 1 tsp. almond extract; 2 tablespoons water; ¼ cup almonds; 1 egg yolk; 1 tablespoon water.

Sift the first four ingredients together. Cream well the lard and whole egg, then add the almond extract and 2 tablespoons water and mix thoroughly. Add the sifted flour mixture gradually and knead as in bread-making to blend thoroughly. Chill for at least an hour, then roll into one-inch roll. For small cakes, pinch into one-inch balls; for large cakes, take 3 times the quantity. Use the palm of the hand to flatten and make about ¼ inch in thickness. Place on a greased cookie sheet, about ½ inch apart, press an almond on each, and brush with the egg yolk beaten with the remaining one tablespoon of water. Bake 12 to 15 minutes in a preheated moderate (350° F.) oven till golden (not brown). Small size makes about 36—large size a dozen. Delicious and good keepers.

WHEN THE weather is cooler, if you want to serve specialties and have the equipment, the two following recipes can bring many customers.

Two or three other dishes and rice are served, but the batter-fried prawns are cooked and eaten by each guest on the spot. Or, if the customer does not want a do-it-yourself party for her guests, you can cook it in the kitchen and serve piping hot to them.

BATTER-FRIED PRAWNS
(Time: About 30 minutes.)

One lb. fresh or frozen prawns; oil for deep-frying; 1 cup flour; 1 cup water; 1 egg; ½ tsp. salt.

Take off the head and shell of the prawns after thawing but leave the tail on. Slit the back of each and remove the black, gritty vein. Slit far enough down so that it will be thin enough to cook quickly and evenly, but not all the way through to spoil the shape. Wash and let dry.

Mix the flour, water, egg and salt together lightly. Heat the oil to 300-325. Dip each prawn quickly in the batter, up to the tail, and put into the heated oil. When it is light brown, take out with a pair of bamboo chopsticks or cooking tongs and dip into a favorite sauce-mustard, ketchup, or mayonnaise mixed with sherry, sugar, and finely chopped ginger.

This may be done at the table if you have an electric table stove or charcoal stove, and is half the fun of eating it—to cook and eat on the spot, but it may also be done in the kitchen and served to the guests immediately. Serve with two or three other prepared dishes and rice for eight.

THE "BUBBLING pot" is a novel and pleasant way to entertain, and your hostess—customer—will be grateful to you for preparing everything in advance, which though not difficult, takes a little time to cut up and get into shape and in place, but when you have done it once or twice, you will know how easy it can be.

THE BUBBLING POT
(Time: Preparation—1 hour. Cooking—3 minutes)

A table stove, electric or charcoal, is necessary (be sure to have plenty of insulation underneath!); two large soup ladles; large quantity of soup stock (at least 1½ gals. for 8); 1 lb. chicken fillets; ½ lb. chicken or pork liver; 1 lb. prawns, de-veined and shelled; 1 lb. flank steak; 1 lb. boned pike or sea bass; 3 tablespoons sherry; 1 tablespoon corn starch; ½ lb. mung bean vermicelli; 1 (or more) whole egg for each person (at least 12 eggs); 1 lb. spinach, cleaned and cut into 3-4-inch lengths; 1 tsp. chives, finely cut; 1 tsp. monosodium glutamate; 2 tsps. salt; dishes of soy sauce for dipping and seasoning.

Make the soup stock of chicken backs and pork neck bones and a ham hock and when ready, take out all the bones and add the salt and monosodium glutamate.

Cut the chicken, liver, prawns, flank steak, and fish into very thin slices, then into pieces about 1¾ inches square. Divide each kind and put in neat layers and rows on saucers or small flat plates, 2 dishes of each kind. Mix the sherry and corn starch together and put some on each of the 10 saucers. Put the chopped chives on the shrimp and fish saucers. Let marinate a bit while preparing the table.

Cook the vermicelli in boiling water (Chinese variety 20 minutes, Japanese variety 10 minutes). Leave in water till needed.

Put the eggs, about 6 whole eggs to each side of the table, into each of 2 large bowls, one to each end of the table. Also divide the spinach into 2 large bowls and place, washed and cut, at each end.

Place one each of the 5 saucers of meat, etc. around the table stove, which is placed in the center of the table with the pot of soup and the vermicelli, which has been brought to a boil first in the kitchen.

Set each place with a serving saucer, a bowl for the soup, a spoon, and a pair of bamboo chopsticks or a small strainer or a pair of cooking tongs to each guest. Also provide each guest with a spoon. Put dishes of soy sauce, prepared mustard or tomato sauce at 4 places around the table for dipping and seasoning the food when cooked.

After the guests are seated, each one helps to put in the food that he wants to cook for himself, and after it boils and turns color, it is ready to take out to eat with some of the soup. Each breaks an egg into his own bowl and puts it into the bubbling pot to poach. Keep adding soup from the kitchen as it is used up. Hot rice may be served and eaten at the same time.

ONE MENU serving sixty people very generously costs $34.65 for ingredients and you can easily charge $1 per person, or more, depending on the extras you may want to add. So you can see the profit possibilities in Chinese cooking.

The main things to remember are: Have all meats, fish, vegetables and, other ingredients as fresh as possible, as the taste and nourishment decreases on standing. If it is not possible to use your foods as soon as they come from market, use small amounts of monosodium glutamate to help bring back the fresh taste. Use very sparingly and taste carefully for just the right amount. Use when making soup or large quantities of food.

Of course, if you possibly can, get dried mushrooms for that gourmet taste, and bamboo shoots and water chestnuts, too, for your special dishes. They give that indefinable "something" which lifts your food to the heights.

Don't forget to use ginger root (or if you just can't possibly get it, powdered ginger. A tiny bit goes a long way; add it with a light touch). Sherry too. Use either a hot, high fire for quick cooking, or a low, slow simmering fire for tougher meats and old fowl.