The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1877-09-27
COOKING IN COMMON.
Preparing Dinners in BakeOven for CON-
nlunitieS.

There is class of people in this city,
says the Philadelphia Times, between
whom and the professors of the culinary
art there exists anything but warm afec-
ton. That class is composed of persons
who, not content with adhering solely to
the occupation indicated by the repre-
sentation of twist of bread painted on
the tin sign that swings in front of their
shop door, go far toward monopolizing
all the meat-roasting, pudding baking,
and other cookery necessary for the ta-
bles of their respective customers and
neighbors. yaa.I ua.
There are comparatively few bakers
in the city who are not also what may
be called wholesale cooks, and who do
not assist in heavily discounting the or
dinary professional. 1t is only during
the down.stove season, however, that
these remarks hold strictly true In
warm weather it pays poor people better
to get their dinners cooked in bakers
oven than in their own stoves or ranges,
and they seize upon the advantage.
People Of less limited means do as the
poorer classes do, partly to economic.
but mainly to avoid adding artificial to
the already intolerable natural heat.
Such bakers are probably more numer>
Gus in Kensington and Richmond than
in any other quarter of the city In
those places there are abour 200 bakers,
upon whom fully 1900 families depend
for considerable portion of their cook,
The writer visited bakery on 4th street,
below Girard avenue, at II o'clock yes
terday morning, and found Is pans of
beef, mutton, lamb and other meats
roasting in the oven.
We charge cents pan for roasting,
said the baker. All these pans are Of
nearly the same size (about one and
half feet long and one foot wide, but
while this one contains only three
pounds, there are seven pounds in that
one. But one occupying as much space
in the oven as the other, we charge the
same price for both. Yesterday we
baked three dozen pies for cents
apiece; two dozen loaves of bread, each
weighing one and a quarter pounds, for
a cents pan, there being four loaves
in a pan one dozen rice and other
pudding, each about ten inches in di-
ameter and FIVE or six inches deep, for
5 cents apiece, and two dozen sponge
cakes, each about as large as one of the
puddings, at the rate of two for 5 cents.
All this food was prepared for to-day.
We have about fifty customers who get
such work done regularly. They are
principally people Of moderate means.
The richer and poorer persons for
whom welcook are about equal in num-
Der. We do about half as much cook
ing on each of the other days Of the
week as we did to-day. 1t is not alto
gether because they can avoid heat and
90 to late church service with unburden-
ed minds that they thus employ the
bakers, but also because our charge is
less than what the work would cost if
done in their own houses. This oven
was hot this morning after last nights
baking, and it required only half a
bushel of coal to cook these IS pans of
meat If they were separately cooked
in as many stoves on ranges each
would require the consumption Of about
one.third as much coal as we have used
in cooking them all. The halfsbushel
costs about IS cents, and we get SI,25
for the work, netting enough to pay for
our time and trouble. In winter com.
paratively little of this kind Of work is
done, because the people must have fire
to keep themselves warm and they
would be improyident not to use tt in
cooking, IN -,..
'As a rule the larger the lump Of meat
the poorer the family that sends it,
partly because the poor generally have
larger families and better appetites than
the rich, and partly because the rich are
frequently more close.fsted about such
matters than the poor. The meat sent
here by the poor is Of as good quality,
too, as that coming from the more fa-
vored Of fortune. % '1' At7' "
We make no mistakes, such as giving
AS pan to B, or vice versa, because
when A. brings his pan in=we thrust
into its contents piece Of tin bearing a
number and give him a card with the
same number. He goes away, comes
back when his dish is cooked, presents
his card and gets his article. The
bakers in West Philadelphia do very
little ofIthis work, owing to the great
number Of wealthy people residing
there, who have furnaces in the rear Of
their houses. v,aasp
About noon women and young girls
began coming in for their pans, and
threw the baker into business too alb.
sorbing to permito more talk, except
to his customers, before they were all
served.