French and Mexican foods, along with other foreign fare, first gained widespread popularity in the 1960s, but Americans were already quite familiar with two other foreign cuisines: Italian and Chinese, particularly the Cantonese style. Chinese immigrants in San Francisco and New York opened restaurants before the turn of the twentieth century. According to Andrew Coe, author of Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in America (Oxford, 2009), by mid century you could probably find such mainstays as chop suey, chow mein, egg rolls, and egg foo young at restaurants even in Omaha.
After World War II, Chinese restaurateurs followed their customers from the city to the suburbs and competed with fast-food restaurants and pizza joints to serve large meals at small prices. This wasn’t fine dining, but for those who grew up in the postwar period of the 1950s and ’60s it was exotic enough and easy to find. While the first Mexican restaurant didn’t open in New York City until 1959 (see Palm Springs Chile Rellenos), by 1958 there were 110 Chinese restaurants in Washington, D.C., and likely more in New York. Two successful American restaurateurs, Victor Bergeron of Trader Vic’s fame and Ernest Gantt, known as Don the Beachcomber, also popularized Chinese food, served with a Polynesian flair, at their national chains (see Trader Vic’s Mai Tai, and Betty’s Around the World Dinner: Gazpacho and Rumaki, page 93).
Chinese food had a practical appeal, too, because it could very conveniently be boxed up for consumption elsewhere. Save for the temperature, it looked and tasted the same, some would argue even better, after two hours in a little white box as it did when it was prepared. “Take-out” boxes with Chinese leftovers could be found in many an office refrigerator, including Sterling Cooper’s.
Which brings us to an American creation inspired by the lighter Asian spring roll: the humble, yet ever-satisfying, egg roll. In 1963, New York Times food writer Craig Claiborne described the egg roll as “coming into its own as a popular snack” all over New York City, though it is often served as an appetizer. Egg rolls are a mixture of cooked vegetables (typically bean sprouts, celery, and/or cabbage), meat (usually pork, shrimp, and/or chicken), and seasonings rolled in a dough and pan or deep-fried. Crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, eggs rolls are typically dipped in duck sauce or spicy mustard.
Egg rolls make several appearances in Mad Men, first when Rachel Menken and a friend discuss Rachel’s attraction to Don Draper over lunch at an upscale Chinese restaurant (season 1, episode 11; “Indian Summer”). Egg rolls are part of an office buffet at Sterling Cooper (season 2, episode 4; “Three Sundays”), and Joan Holloway and Greg Harris’ Chinese take-out (season 2, episode 8; “A Night to Remember”). A plate piled high with perfectly formed, crispy egg rolls is also part of the Christmas cheer when Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce throws a holiday party in honor of Lee Garner, Jr., of Lucky Strike (season 4, episode 2; “Christmas Comes But Once a Year”).
This egg roll recipe is adapted from How to Cook and Eat in Chinese by Buwei Yang Chao (1963). A Japanese-trained physician, Chao settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her Harvard professor husband and set out, according to Andrew Coe, “to do far more than publish recipes of her favorite dishes. Her goal was recreating the traditional Chinese way of eating on United States soil.” Famed author Pearl S. Buck wrote the preface to Chao’s cookbook and was extravagant in her praise. “I would like to nominate her for the Nobel Peace Prize,” wrote Buck of Chao. “For what better road to universal peace is there than to gather around the table where new and delicious dishes are set forth which, though untasted by us, we are destined to enjoy and love? What better road to friendship, upon which alone peace can stand? I consider this cookbook a contribution to international understanding.” We can’t make such lofty claims for the egg roll, but when we tasted these we wanted to throw a party for Lee Garner, Jr., ourselves.
ADAPTED FROM HOW TO COOK AND EAT IN CHINESE BY BUWEI YANG CHAO (RANDOM HOUSE, 1963)
NOTE: Shredded beef may be used in place of shredded pork.
Egg rolls can be cut into shorter sections before serving, if desired.
Assemble egg rolls just before cooking.
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sherry
11⁄2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 pound pork, shredded
1⁄2 pound fresh shrimp, chopped
1 medium carrot, shredded
1⁄4 pound mushrooms, diced
3 scallions, thinly sliced
1 pound bean sprouts, rinsed and dried
16 eggroll wrappers
Enough vegetable oil for deep-frying
Apricot Sauce (see recipe), for serving
YIELD: 16 SERVINGS
FROM PILLSBURY’S BEST OF THE BAKE-OFF COLLECTION (CONSOLIDATED BOOK PUBLISHERS, 1959), RECIPE SUBMITTED BY SENIOR WINNER, MRS. ROBERT BATCHELOR, DEFIANCE OHIO
2 cups apricot preserves
1⁄4 cup finely chopped pimiento
2 tablespoons vinegar
Place ingredients in a small saucepan, and bring to a boil. Simmer for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
YIELD: ABOUT 2 CUPS