New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-08-25
FEEDING A HOST.
THEsTORY OF A DINNER.

SARATOGA. Aug. 21.-The preparing and thu
! serving Of dinner ut one of the great hotels OF
/ Saratoga at the height of the season is a grand
| achievement. Whether one has in mind Congress
Hal with its eight nine hundred diners the
/ Grand Union with It's thousand, or the United
| States with hundred two more, the work which
any one Of them performs probably is not equalled
/ outside Of Saratoga. The serving Of breakfast in
these hotels is easy enough. for it is comparatively
SIMPLE meal, the preparation of which is extended
along from daylight almost to MONDAY. supper.
too, Is easily managed. for il Is ordinarily only
matter of little tea and toast and few slices Of
/ cold meat. But dinner is elaborate meal, for
which the thousand guests wait expectantly,
! and which is disposed of to a very large extent
| within an hour and half Of the time when the
| grand parsonage, known the head waiter, orders
the dining hall doors opened. 1t must also be taken
into account that the diners ut Saratoga hotel are
/ not hungry men and women such as one would see
/ hanging about the pit at a barbecue wait
/ ing impatiently for the roasting Of the
OK. The Saratogans do not look forward
/ 10 dinner because they have aching yolds
in their stomachs but because they expect that it
will afford pleasure 20 their eiiete palates In
other words, they are in measure eDcures and the
dinner that viii satisfy them must be an eplcuIean
banquet. 1t is NOT strange that people are curious
| to know what are the facilities and methods Of the
great hotel kitchens, that they turn out every day
| in the week, exactly on time, these enormous din
ners. Your correspondent was one Of a small party
| of gentlemen which a few days ago permitted
| to rummage about in the kitchen and pantries and
storerooms of what is supposed to be the largest
hotel at Saratoga. The proprietor claims that it is
the largest hotel in the world We witnessed the
preparation of the dinner from the beginning to the
end. Mr.. Antoine Ennes6e, the head cook of the
Il of. AT
gentleman clad after the latest fashion plates Of his
guild, and looking every inch Of him French
cook. II he had been encased IN a clergyman's
habit he would not have passed for a clergyman,
but Their for French cook in disguise.
80 YOU have come to help me get dinner, have
You, gentlemen r. SAID he. Well, l need all the
help l can get. for have to feed LOO to-day, and
my bill Of fare is generous one' One OF the gen
temen inquired who made up the bill Of fare ."
make it up replied the cook. &" The steward buys
whatever he likes, and MAKE my dinner out OF
what there is in the house. For example, step this
way, gentlemen" :; aud the cook led TO one Of num-
Der Of large blue chests which were ranged about
the sides of large In the middle OF the room
was a butchers block and table. Opening
the chest the cook showed us a hundred
or so beautiful fish stretched upon the
ice side by side. There were salmon,
Each fish thoroughly cleaned and ready for
cooking i have two kinds of fish on the bill to-
day' said the cook, " ana may as well lay them
asider Thereupou Ire selected ten OF the largest
salmon the average weight Of which was about
thirty pounds, and fifteen bIueish, which together
would weigh about hundred weight. =" One OF my
assistants will come for them when he wants them"
said the cook. &" It might interest YOU he added
10 know that have eighteen assistants, besides the
two bakers the FIVE pastry and ice cream cooks ana
the sixteen women who prepare and cook the Vege-
tables. This is the meat-rOOm, gentlemen. In TINS
next chest are the steaks and chops, all ready cut
for the yridiron. We have two butchers who cut
and dress the meat. There must be 200 or 1900
steaks small and large, IN this chest In TINS next
chest are the lamb and mutton We use about 10
racks a day. Let's see what there is to come out Oh
here for dinner Leg of mutton, caper sauce
That will take six of these fellows. Then L want
ten HEADQUARTERS for the Spring lamb, mint sauce,
and SIX saddles of mutton 20 roast. There VIII be
some of this lamb or mutton left over
and we viii use 1t tomorrow under the head
Of cold meats In this chest is the beef. We use
great deal of beef. To-day shall roast fifteen
ribs OF beef that average forty-ye pounds, and M
teen tenderloins. There will be one rib left for sup
per Here. now, the little Spring chlckens, anu
we use between 800 and 600 day. Don't they
their backs For dinner alone We shall want about
$40 of the little chaps. We shall boil 40 roast 20,
and use IS more in the Spring saute, la Ma
renpo, The other chests are for cold meats and the
salads We boil about eight hams and twelve
tongues every day, and they answer for cold meat
the next day. The salad dressing we make as often
rs necessary. To-day have good supply. WINE
we are here I'll show you where we put the SOUP
bones You know make the stock for our soups
h, boiling the bones from the JOINTS after we have
carved all the good slices Of meat OH them We Doll
the bones in great kettles By steam The stock for
to-davs soups was boiled yesterday. IL takes about
125 gallons Of SOUPS for dinner. To-day we have
green-turtle SOUP"
One of the gentlemen interrupted the COOK IN MS
story TO ask him if he really used turtles IN the
making of green-turtle soup. The cook looked at
the base insinuation IN silence TOR a moment
and then said {: Yes, sir, we use turtles
To-day we use two turtles, eighty pounds
weight each. We were just about to leave the
meat room when glancng at the bill OF fare the
cook SAID Excuse me- gentlemen, overlooked
the HarcOt OF lamb, La prlhtahleT. use
sixty pounds of lamb for that" lie selected the
lamb and then proceeded 10 the pastry room' Where
the cooks were already at WorK gSttins Ieauy to
dinner. The first item on the Oil OF lare unueI
"pastTv" was cabinet pudding" one Oh tue
coaks was mixing up the dough for IT. lie salu the
result would be 2JO small puddlngs. Ihree KINDS OF
me were making rhubarb, pumpkin and black
berry One of the party expressed surprise t9 tb
only nine dozen pies would be needed Tor the
Jn1er m y said Mr. Ennesee, '.Our guests dOi.t
come much from Massachusetts, They are mostly
rom New-York. They don't care much Tor pres.
Here is what they like" and he pointed TO where
people were working on what he sad wouid turn
out TO be 500 Charlotte Russes; " We MAKE soodd
deal Of cake. too, TO eat Wild the ce-cIea a ~
Eater-Iees and all of IL is made IN this room vi
eourse we always have some on hand ana ohy
have to make Single kind or two kinds ID r nay.
We bake the pastry in these tile ovens. these
Two men are the bakers, They do nothing except
make bread They use four barrels ana 81 nan oT u
hour day. Thus afternoon they vii DC % 900 "a