Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-05-01
MASTERS OF THE MENUS.
how Hotel Steward Prepare Their Many
Dishes. |

Dishes.
"Here, waiter, bring me some roa
beef rare, a piece of partridge and the
usual vegetables, and be lively about,
it," was the order given by a beIated
traveller at one of the hotels. Sunday.
II say, jack" subsequently 70
marked a companion, "what a conun.
drum it must be for some n to guess
what you and [ and several other hun
gry transients are going to eat every
day"
Eyes, 1 suppose So" was jacks la
comic reply.
"Wonder how they do it?' contin-
ued the other musingly. "Now, yes
terday I had mutton; the day before l
ordered roast beef and to-day 1 have
eaten turkey and berry sauce. Ii
the tastes of others have been equally
as whimsical, the patience as we'll as
the abilities of the cook or the steward
or some one else must have been sc.
verely tested"
..But YOU don't always get what you
want" growled Jack, impatient fol
the walters return.
.sTrue, when you are late" respond
ed his companion. unmindful OF Jacks
failing, or his feelings. ''But l notice
that the bill of fare at tirst-class hotels
is very seldom crossed. 1t is the
smaller hotels where you and ] meet
with our most frequent disappoint.
ments. One would naturally suppose
that it would be just the reverse; thai
large hotels, favored with a liberal but
necessarily Uneven transient trade, and
furnishing their patrons with a grea!
variety OF dishes, would fall short more
frequently than smaller hotels with
limited and more regular patronage.
as we'll as a less number of dishes t.
serve"
There was no response from Jack.
and his companion having finished hi
meal, sauntered into the Office and pro
ceeded to question the clerk as to who
was responsible for the meals served il
hotels.
''It is different in different Cities" re-
piled the clera. lin New York, Chi.
cago and some other large cites the
bills of fare of the leading hotels are
arranged by the head COOKS. The best
hotels in Detroit, with but one excep-
ton, assign that work to their stew
ards. The table of the hotel excepted
is looked after by the proprietors, who
have made quite a 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 a head cook, who
in turn depends on a 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 exception of the
vegetable and pastry cooks, made up
OF male help. In a few hotels women
are employed as pastry cooks.
"But few women are engaged as
cooks exceptin 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-
4uence 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 a cupful of that, and when near
ly done stir in a little seasoning
They pay no attention to the size of
the teaspoon or the cup and insert
the seasoning when and where it may
please their fancy to do so. Now, a
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 a part of
druggists prescription, and the mix
ing and cooking OF the same are calcu-
lated and timed as carefully as the hours
allotted by the doctor for the patients
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 excuses: 1 don't see why
it is l should have such luck; I can't
understand it,"
'But how do the cooks know what
quantity to prepare?"
''Easy 'nough. About ten o'clock
every morning the otticc furnishes the
head cook with a 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 if
he finds there is a likelihood of anv of
the dishes running short, he will order
n or more of the second cooks to dis
continue dishing and prepare a second
dinner. A tirst-class hotel prides itself
in always having enough of everything,
but occasionally houses that make a
special effort to secure novelties as soon
as they appear in the market, are UNI
able to satisfy late corners, owing to the
limited quantity o%btainable. Meats that
are left over can be served cold at sub
sequent meals; the pastry that remains
generally goes to the help; otherwise 1
fear they would not get many fancy
dishes III theirs.
Wages? They take a vide range.
In Detroit there is one cook, a French
man. who receives 1000 a year and
his board. That is the highest price
paid in the city. Other first cooks in
the leading hotels receive nom 5000 to
$500 and board. The best Of them are
foreigners. Second cooks, or broilers,
as they are sometimes called, are paid
Tror, GQ0 tn CEl =, ~,o,Al. lo.