The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1885-05-08
MASTERS OF THE MENUS.

How Hotel Stewards Prepare Their Many
Dishes.
'.Here, waiter, bring me some roast
beef rare. piece of partridge and tho
usual vegetables, and be lively about
it." was the order given by a belated
traveller at one of the hotels. Sunday.
Il say. Jack" subsequently re-
marked companion, "what a conun-
drum It must be for some one to guess
what you and l and several other hum
CRY transicnts are going to eat every
day."
..Yes. suppose So, was Jacks la
comic reply.
'.Wonder how they do itP" contin-
ued the other musingly. Now. yes
terday had mutton; the day before |
ordered roast beef and to-day have
eaten turkey and Gran berry sauce. 1t
the tastes of others have been equally
as whimsical, the patience as well as
the abilities of the cook or the steward
or some one else must have been Sc
verely tested"
but you don't alwats get what you
want" growled Jack, impatient for
| the walters return.
True, when you are late, respond
ed his companion. unmindful of Jack S
failing, or his feelings. .But l notice
| that the bill of fare at iirSt-elass hotels
is very seldom crossed. 1t is the
| smaller hotels where you and l meet
with our most frequent disappoint-
ments. One would naturally suppose
| that it would be just the reverse; that
| large hotels, favored with liberal but
necessarily uneven transient trade. and
furn shing their patrons with a great
| variety of dishes, would fall short more
| frequently than smaller hotels with
| limited and more regular patronage,
as well as a less number of d shes to
serve
There was no response from Jack.
and his companion having finished his
meal. sauntered into the Office and pro-
| ceeded to question the clerk as to who
was responsible for the meals served in
hotels.
| .It is different in different ties, re-
| piled the clerk. I'm New York, Chi
cago and some other large cite the
| bills of fare of the leading hotels are
| arranged by the head eoo6s. The best
hotels in Detroit, with but one exeep-
ton. assign that work to their stew
| aids. The table of the hotel excepted
is looked after by the proprietors, who
have made quite reputation in that
| line. The stewards, whose chief duties
| are usually to purchase the supplies
and attend to the carving. are second
] ed in their work by head cook. who
in turn depends on number of second
cooks and their helpers and vegetable
| and pastry cooks. This staff. which in
size Is regulated by the business of the
houses. is. with the except on of the
vegetable and pastry cooks, made up
are employed as pastry cooks.
'.But few women are engaged as
cooks except in very small hotels. They
are not competent. A woman cook
will scarcely make one thing twice
alike. They take too many chances;
trust to much to luck. and in conse-
quence fail repeatedly. They hardly
ever prepare their dishes according to
any fixed rule as to the weight or
measurement of the ingredients. On
the contrary, they are disposed to lump
things; about a teaspoonful of this,
about cupful of that, and when near
ly done stir in a little seasoning
They pay no attention to the size OF
she teaspoon or the cup and insert
the seasoning when and where it may
please their fancy to do so. Now, q
man cook works quite to the contrary,
continued the hotel man. Every in
gredient he uses is as accurately meas
ured and weighed as though part OF
a druggists prescription, and the mix
ing and cooking of the same are ealcu-
lated and t med as carefully as the hours
allotted by the doctor for she patient &
medicine. Even the purity and charac-
ter of the goods are inquired into.
Nothing is left to chance, and hence
there are no failures to be followed BY
that feminine excuse: i don't see why
it is / should have such luck; can
understand 1t. +"
"But how do the cooks know what
quantity to prepared"
EASY 'nough. About ten o'clock
every morning the office furnishes the
head cook with list of the probable
number of guests there will be at din.
ner. In case of an unexpected rush
subsequent to that hour. supplementary
lists are sent to the head cook, and il
he finds there is likel hood of any OF
the dishes running short, he will order
one or more of the second cooks to dis.
continue dishing and prepare a second
dinner. A first-class hotel prides itsel
in always having enough of everything
but occasionally houses that make 8
special effort to secure novelties as soor
as they appear in the market, are un
able to satisfy late corners, owing to the
limited quantity obtainable. Meats tina
are left over can be served cold at sub
segment meals; the pastry that remain.
generally goes to the help; otherwise
fear they would not get many fancy
dishes IN theirs.
wages? They take a vide range
In Detroit there is one cook. French
man. who receives $1,000 a year aut
his board. That is the highest pric,
pad in the city. Other first cooks il
the lead ng hotels receive from 5000 t.
i RQ0A o,I koo~xl IT, tDo.A Al