During the 1860s to 1890s,
thousands of Chinese immigrants entered into the United States. Landing in San Francisco, they made their way
throughout the western states in search of work; focusing on mining and
railroad construction. Approximately 12,
000 Chinese workers traveled from Sacramento, California, to Promontory, Utah, in the late
1860s; working for the Central Pacific Railroad. The joining of the transcontinental rail
lines became known as “The Golden Spike” where East meets West. Over 1,000 workers died during construction,
their bones shipped back to China, and no credit was given for their labor at
the completion or grand celebration. Not
until May, 2019, at the 150th Year Celebration of Golden Spike were
the Chinese immigrants recognized for their hard work, dedication, and for
some, deaths.
As the immigrants traveled further south within Utah, many
found themselves in Carbon County working at the coal mines, and the railway
system. While the majority were driven
out by anti-Chinese sentiment, many managed to stay on, establish businesses
and made a good life for themselves. Oh
my, I am beginning to see a similarity here of the pioneers who traveled from
England to North America; their descendants traveling westward. Whether due to cultural or religious differences,
many a group were met with discrimination, driven away, sometimes killed for
simply being different than the established norm.
As with immigrants from many other countries, the Chinese
brought their recipes with them. From
the simplest sustenance of stir-fried vegetables in oil plus red chile flakes
over jasmine rice; to the more complex sweet and sour made with rice wine
vinegar. Unfortunately, the Chinese
cooks were not able to find all the seasonings, spices, what we see as
“unusual” foods, here in the USA. They
had to adapt to what was available, and with restaurants, to the tastes of the
American residents....and Americans love ketchup!
...and deep frying.
Whether chicken, pork or shrimp, the tender morsels were thickly coated
in a batter, deep fried and saturated with the ketchup-based, sweet and sour
sauce. It was tangy, tart, lip smacking,
face puckering delicious; the addition of sweet sugar keeping the eyeballs from
popping out of their sockets.
Here is a hint for next time a vacation takes place in New
York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, or any other city with an old, well
established Chinatown; do not go to the typical tourist geared restaurant where
the food is made for American tastes. Go
into a restaurant that you see the Chinese residents going into; tell them you
want to experience authentic food that they would eat in their homeland. Expect to have your mind, senses, and
especially taste buds, blown sky high!
You will be thanking me for this advice, and craving that type of
Chinese cuisine; trust me, would I lie to you?
Sweet and Sour Pork
(No deep frying of the
meat and the sauce is toned down with pineapple juice)
Ingredients:
4 cups cubed pork
(boneless loin pork chops)
½ cup flour
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. salt
2 cups onion; julienned
& cut into thirds
1 cups each of red &
green bell peppers; julienned & cut into thirds
1 (15.25 oz.) can
pineapple chunks; drain, but reserve liquid
1 cup Homemade Sweet and
Sour Sauce
Preparation:
Spray interior of 4-quart
crock pot with non-stick cooking spray.
Mix together flour with
spices and thoroughly coat pork cubes; place in bottom of crock pot.
Begin layering onions, bell peppers and pineapple.
Whisk together reserved
pineapple liquid with sweet and sour sauce; pour over all in crock pot.
Cover, set on low for 6
hours; half hour before, prepare white rice (4 cups fully cooked).
Makes 8 servings.
Homemade Sweet and Sour Sauce
Ingredients:
¼ cup white wine vinegar
½ cup ketchup
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
6 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
Preparation:
Stir together all
ingredients in medium saucepan; bring to boil. Remove from heat and serve.
Makes 1 cup.
Note: Want some
heat? Add 2 tsp. of Sriracha to the
mixture.
Mary Cokenour
