Delectably Disgusting: Why I Love 1900s Cuisine

RHYS BOWEN: Jennifer Kincheloe and I met for the first time when we were both nominees for the historical award at Left Coast Crime and I was delighted to meet her heroine, Anna Blanc, who is a West Coast version of my own Molly Murphy. I was happy to blurb her second book,, The Woman in the Camphor Trunk and equally pleased to host her here today.

JENNIFER KINCHELOE: Thank you, Rhys!

I adore putting historic, horrid-sounding food in my books and making my characters slurp it down. In THE SECRET LIFE OF ANNA BLANC, the characters enjoyed “pink soup with marrow balls,” “wine and tapioca soup,” and “pork cake.” It sounds weird, but this California cuisine is as LA as Anna Blanc. It came straight from the 1905 Los Angeles Times Cookbook, right next to the enchiladas.

Here’s a dinner menu I got from a California 1909 newspaper—something the Blanc’s cook would have prepared for Anna before her wealthy father disowned her:

Oysters on the Half Shell

(Nice)

Cream of Potato Soup

(Yum)

Cod Steaks with White Sauce

(Yes please)

Lamb Chops, Broiled

(I’m full now, but I’ll take a doggy bag)

Stewed Celery and Fried Potatoes

(Mixed together, or . . .?)

Mayonnaise of Lettuce and Grape Fruit

(WTF)

Wine Jelly with Whipped Cream

(Maybe, if it’s alcoholic)

Don’t ask me what “mayonnaise of lettuce” is. I think history has mercifully forgotten.

In my new novel, THE WOMAN IN THE CAMPHOR TRUNK, Anna Blanc returns to solve a murder in Chinatown while facing severe nutritional challenges. Her rich father has tossed her out on her ear, and the girl can’t boil water. Mind you, this was before YouTube videos and, back then, cookbooks were for people who could already cook.

No more mayonnaise of lettuce for Anna. She lives off canned kippers and Cracker Jacks. And while she’s fighting crime in Chinatown, she gazes longingly through the windows of the local chop suey joint.

Chop suey (pronounced "shap sui," in Cantonese) came to the US with Chinese immigrants seeking their fortune in gold country in the 1870s. It was a peasant stew made of chopped bean sprouts, cabbage, gizzards, liver, lungs, pig’s tripe, dragon fish, shrimp, pork, chicken, or whatever else they had on hand. Reportedly, it was good. By the 1900s non-Chinese customers were eating chop suey in Chinese restaurants, which adapted the dish to their new customers’ tastes. Chop suey made its way into the home kitchens of white America and morphed into something unrecognizable.

In celebration of the new book, I thought I’d share a 1909 recipe for chop suey from The San Francisco Call newspaper. It’s not exactly authentic, but it’s better than most I’ve encountered. My white great grandmother would have made “chop suey” from tomato sauce and pasta. (Don’t be smug. Yours probably would have too, unless you’re Chinese American)

The real recipe awaits you below. Note: Anna could not actually cook this.

Here’s more about THE WOMAN IN THE CAMPHOR TRUNK, coming to bookstores November 14^th:

Los Angeles, 1908. In Chinatown, the most dangerous beat in Los Angeles, police matron Anna Blanc and her former sweetheart, Detective Joe Singer, discover the body of a white missionary woman, stuffed in a trunk in the apartment of her Chinese lover. Her lover has fled. If news gets out that a white woman was murdered in Chinatown, there will be a violent backlash against the Chinese. Joe and Anna plan to solve the crime quietly and keep the death a secret. So does good-looking Mr. Jones, a prominent Chinese leader who has mixed feelings about helping the LAPD and about Anna. 
     
Meanwhile, the Hop Sing tong has kidnapped two slave girls from the Bing Kong tong, fueling existing tensions. They are poised on the verge of a bloody tong war that would put all Chinatown residents in danger. 
     
Joe orders Anna out of Chinatown to keep her safe, but to atone for her own family's sins, Anna must stay to solve the crime before news of the murder is leaked and Chinatown explodes.

White People Chop Suey Circa 1909

For guy chop suey to serve six persons, you will need one young chicken, cut in pieces utilizing all the giblets, a pound of water chestnuts, two pounds of bean sprouts (if you can't get these you may use French peas, tender string beans or, asparagus tips), a little sliced celery, sliced onions. The water chestnuts should be shaved thin. Have a kettle with olive oil or peanut oil; about six tablespoonfuls, and sauté in this the chicken, onion, celery, and chestnuts. When almost tender, add the bean sprouts, which, must not cook too long. If you use string beans instead, chop very fine and sauté with the other vegetables. Stir frequently to prevent burning, adding if necessary a half cup of boiling water. When tender I drain of any liquor remaining. Add a little flour to thicken and salt to taste. At the very last, add a teaspoonful of the Chinese condiment, brown and piquant, known as “see yu,” which corresponds to our Worcestershire sauce, and pour over the chop suey. Stir together and serve with rice.

Message me on Facebook and let me know me how yours turned out! If you’d like your very own copy of The 1905 Los Angeles Times Cookbook, just sign up for my mailing list at www.jenniferkincheloe.com.