Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-07-27


such dishes prepared time and again, for
they are very deceptive"
Glow do you go to work TO prepare
big dinners'' asked the reporter.
ssWe get word that there is to be
dinner for so many persons on such an
evening. I know that the dinner is to be
the best that can be prepared, and go to
work accordingly to procure the best, not
only that the Washington market affords,
but that can be secured in New York,
where / telegraph for the choicest game
and other things that can be obtained.
The President gives carte blanche
and never grumbles at expense, so we
are never hampered. The chef always
has an assistant on such occasions, and
they first go to work on the tallow orna-
ments, and Mr.. Pfister begins on the floral
ornaments. Great care must be taken in
ornamenting not to 0bstruct the view Of
any Of the guests, and, while h0ral de-
signs are intended to be characteristic of
the occasion, they are either suspended so
that the guests can see under them or else
raised on pillars far enough apart not to
obstruct the view. At the judicial dinner
Tasty ear the chief floral piece was a
temple OF Justice, with the book of laws in
the interior. 1t taxes the ingenuity of all
of us TO secure variety, and, at the same
time, maintain excellence in all branches.
The menus must be entirely different.
Not dish is brought on the table that APP
peared at the previous dinner, so you see
we have to keep scheming."
show many persons does it take to
serve a state dinnerY asked the reporter.
''If there are 90 persons at the table, or
a few more or less, it takes II servants"
"Why so many?
HWell, there are five services for every
course. By that | mean that five dishes
Of everything are served at once. If the
course is fish, five plates of fish are served
simultaneously, and so on through the
dinner. This is to prevent delay. So you
see there are five of the servants engaged
in serving the main dish Of the course,
each one helping about ten persons, and
five more follow with the vegetables or
the accompanying dish. Two more wait
ers are kept busy serving the wine which
belongs to the course"
"The whole dinner is prepared here in
the White House, is it nOt?"
Everything but the ice cream; that we
get outside. OF course we haven't large
enough force of servants regularly in the
house to serve the dinner, and so have to
get outside assistance, but the dinners are
truly White House dinners"
Outside the kitchen are two Tefrigera-
tors, big enough for a mammoth hotel, but
they do not suffice, and new one with
all the modern improvements is about to
be built. Mr.. Williams has a comfortable
office in the basement, from which opens
the Presidents wine cellar. The stock of
wines has not been replenished since the
seasons gayeties were over, but the
shelves are pretty well filled yet.
The attention of the Star reporter was
| attracted by letter which was tackled to
the shelf containing bottles of choice Ma
deira. He found that it was an auto
! graph letter from the lamented Sam Ward
to the President, giving the history of the
nelghboring Madeira, which he had sent
to the President in 1881. The letter was
written in the famous epicure's charac-
teristic style. He went on to say that
| during SheGnan's march to the sea the
! Charleston Jockey Club buried their old
and choice Madeira wine, and thus saved
| it. Some six years previous to the date
| of the letter the wine was eXhumed
and sold to a member of the house
of Barring 81 Co., of London, and was
! shipped to England. Through English
! ignorance of the proper treatment of such
wines 1t never recovered from the voyage.
| and It's owner grew sick of his purchase
1 Learning three years later that the whole
/ lot was for sale Mr.. Ward and Jim Keene
| purchased it, and by proper treatment
| restored the pristine glory of the wine
Mr.. Ward presented several domijohns oil
| II 10 the PRESIDENT. Owing 60 the loss oil
| the original catalogue, the exact age OF
the wine could not be ascertained, but
none of it was less than forty years old
and most of it over half century. Mr.
\ Ward gave direction how it should be
bottled and stored, and subscribed him
| self 'tYours, affectionateIy, Uncle Sam.'
One shelf was devoted to cigars, and al
the boxes of various brands bore the Gus
toms stamp. At the beginning of the
season enough cigars are purchased from
the New York importers to last for goOC
while. The President never offers any bu
imported cigars to his guests, and is al
hospitable with them as he is with his
wines.
Everything in the culinary department
is run upon a well arranged system, anC
any demands made upon it by the Presi
dent will be responded to promptly ant
satisfactorily. He never knows anythin.
about the details, but settles the bill
without a murmur, well satisfied, as h
cannot help being, with the way hi
guests are entertained.