Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1855-12-20
Misfellan 20 II 6
A HOTEL KITCHEN.

A HOTEL KITCHEN.
| The following account of, the manner in which
the culinary department Of one Of the great
New York hotels is conducted, we think will
interest many of our readers-especially house,
keepers, We copy from the New York Life
Illustrated
! A thousand guests at the st. Nicholas A
thousand persons to be bountifnlly provided for
every day, that every individual shall have OF
his command every delicacy that appetite can
crave all the luxures of the season, and all the
varieties of deliciousness which the various
climes produce; and these in their utmost per-
fection, and served with the punctuality of the
City Hall clock. Perpetual breakfast from FIVE
O'Clock in the morning until noon; continuous
dinner from two until halfpast three q more
princely banquet at five; uninterrupted supper
from six in the evening until midnight. Besides
all these public efforts, numberless private de-
mands in private rooms, with an occasional
grand banquet in the evening, when the ancient
Order of St. Nicholas or some other association
dimes together in magnificent state, and the
hotel outdoes itself. And these vast and com
plicated operations to go on from day to day
without confusion or hurry without oyertask-
ing any of the three hundred I'D eighty itdi-s
vdnals who are employed in ,domsit; without
expressing tender-hearted guest with tho idea
thatany one is putting himself at all out Of the
way for his accommodation. 3ss
Positively no admittance,' - written over the
entrance to the underground departments Of the
St. Nicholas, notifies the passer-by that there is
something within that is interesting to see.
Complying with. the invitation, we descend a
few steps and find ourselves in the midst of a
warm and busy world. On the right hand, we
observe room resembling Wholesale grocery
store, filled with piles of soap, boxes Of tea,
barrels of sugar, and furnished with the various
dapparatusof weighing apd measuring. 1t is in
this apartment that the steward, Mr.. Pierce,
the monarch of these lower regions, holds his
court and issues his DEGREES. Having secured
his favor, all the interior mysteries of the hote
are politely laid open TO our inspection.
We are at first amused with some rather sur
prising statistics in explanation of the store.
room in which we are. Daily into this apart.
mcnt are brought, for the days consumption
about six hundred pounds Of beef, one hundred
pounds each Of mutton, veal, and pork, three
hundred pairs Of chickens, twenty-five hundred
eggs, four hundred quarts of milk, eighty quartz
of cream, five tons of ice, four barrels Of -four
four barrels of mush-melons, aad proportional
quantities of the numbsrless otheYae Scles whicl
enter into the composition of breakfasts 0ndadin
ners. Early in the morning, before the inmate
of the great house have begun to stir, the stew
ard is taking the cream off Washington Market
and dispatching wagon-oads of those commodi
ties which are generally described as Z the bes
: the market Affords In the store-room, an ag
) countant is waiting to receive these articles a
they arrive he weighs, measures. and examines
: compares quantity and quality with the state
ment of the same in the bill, and either stamr
that document with his appreciation, or sends
, away for ratification. On Saturdays, when pre-
3 vision for two days has to be made, thequantit
of marketing brought in is most prodigious
0 In the season, the hotel will consume ton
s poultry in two days. Below the store-room al
r series of provision vaults or refrigerator
t where on vast blocks Of ice, innumerable legs
f mutton, joints of beef pals of oysters, heal
o of chickens, and strings Of game, await Il
y warmer sphere.
u To that warmer sphere we are now goin
+ 1t is halEpast, eight o'clock in the mornin
Is when the business of breakfasting is at its hegt
Q and the kitchen is tasked to its uttermost.
% is an amazing small apartment for the amou
IA of cooking done in it, and it is SO filled wi
u contrivances, cooks, and walters that it is dill
10 cult to effect passage through it, At first
seems scene Of mere Confusion, but in {,
= moments we begin to understand something
u what is going on. The room is nearly surrour
10 ed with fires of different kinds, and for dffere
purposes. Here, on one side, are four or 1
~ broad broiling fires, each covered with gri
i, ron one yard square, and each presided over
III professional cook, dressed in the cook unifo
y of white trousers, white Jacket, and white d
One of these artists devotes himself exclusiv
to the broiling Of chickens, and his great gri
ron is spread all over with these hapless birds,
various stages Of browning: Next 70 him is
to individual who does nothing but broil NUT
d, chops, which he slaps on his gridiron with
hand with the dexterity acquired by practi
Next is the beefstaks artist xnext the brQilei
10. fish and. last Of all, comes the pisceIlane,
in gridiron, where numberless lkni5 knaoks so
II ter together under the teadsT And watchful 9
w Of fifth artist of the brol. On smother 8
TX of the room. tho operation Of frying goes on
at series of spacious frying pans, each under
1 charge of professor OF the art. On anot
re, side. observe new row Of boilers, sending
nd volumes of steam thisis the spotatoe depf
of ment, over which women are considered com
10 tent to preside. Near by is another row of b