The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-14 00:00:00

THE LARGEST KITCHEN IN THE
WORLD.

In former days the kitchen of the London Re-
form Club, where dinners are prepared in the sea-
son for some 400 or 500 gentlemen on an evening,
was considered a sort of sight, and the kitchen esta-
lishments of other first-class London clubs and
hotels may be equally worth looking. But every
kitchen in the world, existing now and having ex-
isted before, disappears in magnitude if compared to
Liebig's Extract of Meat Company's establishment
at Fray Bentos, on the River Uruguay, South
Amt rica. The Buenos Ayres Standard, of 3d Sep-
tember last, gives the following particulars :—The
new factory is a building that covers about 20,000
square feet, and is roofed iu iron and glass; we
first enter a largo hall flagged wish best Scotch flags,
kept dark, cool, extremely clean, where the meat
is weighed, passed through apertures to the meat-
cutting machines. We come to the beef-cutting
ball, paved also with Scotch flags, spacious, airy,
and well lighted. Here are four powerful meat-
cutters, specially designed by the company's gene-
ral manager, Mr. Giebert ; each machine can cut
the meat of 200 bullocks per hour. The meat being
cut is passed to "digerators" made of wrought iron,
each one holds about 12,000 lbs. beef ; there are
nine of these digerators, and three more yet to be
put up. Here the meat is digerated by high pres-
sure steam of 751bs. per square inch, from this the
liquid which contains the extract and the fat of the
meat proceeds in tubes to a range of "fat separa-
tors" of peculiar construction. Ilere the fat is
separated in the hot state from the extract, as no
time can be lost for cool operations, otherwise de-
composition would set in in a very short time. We
proceed downstairs to an immense hall, 60 feet high,
where the fat separators are working, below them
is a range of five cast•iron clarifiers, 1,000 gallons
each, worked by high prsssure steam through Hallett's
tube system. Each clarifier is provided by a very in-
genious steam tap ; in the monstrous clarifiers the
albumen and fibrine and phosphate magnesia are
separated. From hence the liquid extract is raised by
means of air-pumps, driven by two 30-horse power
engines up to two vessels about 20 feet above the
clarifiers ; from thence the liquid runs to the other
large evaporators. Now we ascend the staircase
reaching the hall, where two immense sets of four
vacuum apparati are at work, evaporating the ex-
tract by a very low temperature, here the liquid
passes several filtering processes before being evapo-
rated in vacuum. We now ascend some steps and
enter the ready making hall, separated by a wire
gauze wall, and all windows, doors, &c., guarded by
the same to exclude flies and dust. Here again we
notice the splendid Scotch flags. The ventilation is
maintained by patent fans, and the place extremely
clean. Here are placed five ready making pans,
constructed of steel plates, with a system of steel
discs, revolving in the liquid extract a cooling ac-
celerating evaporating process, invented by the com-
pany's general manager. These five pans, by me-
dium of discs, 100 in each pan, effect in one
minute more than two millions square feet eva-
porating surface. Here concludes the manu-
facturing process, the extract is now withdrawn
in large cans and deposited for the following
day. Ascending a few steps we enter the de-
crystalizing and packing hall, where too large cast
iron tanks are placed, provided with hot water
baths under their bottoms : in these tanks the ex-
tract is thrown in quantities of 10,000 lbs. at once,
and here is decrystalized and made a homogeneous
mass and of uniform quality. Now samples are
taken and carefully analysed by the chemist of the
establishment, Dr. Seekamp, the representative of
Baron Liebig, under whose charge the chemical
and technical operations are performed. We wit-
nessed in the afternoon the cleansing of the esta-
blishment, water cocks in all corners, torrents
pouring in from all sides—in an instant the whole
place was cleansed, the water washing down into
large drains built of brick and cement, which empty
into the river, cleanliness being one of the chief ob-
jects in every department of this splendid factory.
It should be mentioned that the company's butcher
kills at the rate of 80 oxen per luur, separating by
a small double edge knife the vertebi ea from the
cerebraa, the animal drops down instantaneously
on a waggon, and is conducted to a place where
150 men are occupied dressing the meat for the
factory, cutting each ox into six pieces ; 400 are
being worked per day.

The dockyard and naval establishments at Chat-
ham are to be closed on the 26th instant, the addi-
tional day's holiday thus granted by the Admiralty
being made up by the whole of the hands working
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