Soups

In China, no meal is served without a soup. Not only are the soups full of good things, but a soup acts as the beverage during the meal. Contrary to the custom of Chinese restaurants in this country, water or tea is never served with a meal in China. Presiding over the surrounding dishes, a large bowl or tureen is invariably placed in the center of the table and diners spoon a little soup into their soup or rice bowls from time to time throughout the meal.

The ingredients for soups range widely, from commonplace ones such as bean curd and cabbage to exotic and intricate ones such as mountain creek turtle, shark’s fin, and bird’s nest. I have included swift’s nest soup in this book, since the ingredients are easy to obtain and the soup is quite simple to make, but other delicacies, such as the turtle soup and shark’s fin soup, I have excluded, since the proper ingredients are impossible to obtain in the United States and their preparation is extremely tedious.