Almond Float

The almond float recipe begins with an interesting blurb about the history behind the original recipe and how this more modernized version uses ingredients that are more common in North America. For example, it mentions how the ancient Chinese would use real almonds that had been crushed and soaked to provide flavor, but the owner of the cookbook can simply use an almond extract for similar results. This recipe serves 6 to 8 people and all the actual cooking aspects occur in the preparation steps; the rest is simply just assembling the drink. The ingredients required for this recipe are standard, apart from the main two fruits which are mandarin orange sections and litchi nuts. For the average American household, these would not be common ingredients found in their kitchens. This recipe would be an easy recipe to introduce American families to the slightly more exotic Chinese dishes, as it involves mostly common ingredients and no special techniques or utensils. Being a dessert, this type of dish could easily be served to families looking to broaden their food horizons.

Velvet Corn Soup

Like the almond float recipe, this too begins with a small section discussing how this recipe has been modernized and tells a little of the history of how corn came to China. This recipe is made to serve 4 people and all the ingredients required could be found in any average American grocery store. One ingredient of note is Smithfield ham, which is still a brand that can be found today. The corn in this recipe could be either fresh of the cob or creamed corn from the can, with the creamed corn making the preparation a bit simpler since you wouldn’t need to cut it off the cob. The cooking of the soup itself is very simple, with the main steps being heating the chicken stock, adding the ingredients, and constantly stirring. A variation of the recipe can be seen at the end, where crab meat is used instead of ham and the stock is increased by one quart (4 cups). For the time period that this cookbook came out, this recipe would be easy for a family to make since all the ingredients are common; like the almond float it’s a great starter recipe to introduce the family to Chinese cooking.