On Food and Cooking

The Chinese are great admirers of
gelatinous textures, the semi-solid
stickiness of long-cooked gelatin-rich
connective tissue, and make soups from
several ingredients that in the West are
hardly considered to be edible. Beef
tendons are one example; they are
essentially pure connective tissue, and
when simmered for hours develop a texture
that is simultaneously gelatinous and
crunchy. Shark fins are a delicacy that are
dried after being taken from that
cartilaginous fish, then rehydrated,
simmered in several changes of water to
remove off-flavors, and then simmered in
broth.
Most unusual of all are the nests of
cave-dwelling birds in the swallow family,
swiftlets of the genus Collocalia, which are
found throughout Southeast and South
Asia. The males build their nests up from
strands of their saliva, which stick to the