The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-02-26
STORED AWAY.
THE MYSTERIES OF A CATERERS
PRIVATE CHAMBER.
How Some of the DeIfcacies of the Table
Are Prepared for the Palate and
Preserved for Future Special
Occasions.
[St. Paul Pioneer Press.

lSt. Paul Pioneer Press
you've never seen my ice box, have
your" said the popular steward of
city hotel, as he led the way
past rooms filed with clanking laundry
machinery and neatly dressed laundry
maids; through the great central room in
the basement, with its multitude of pipes,
and wealth of machinery, and smell and
sound of escaping steam. The air was hot
and fetid as the steward opened the outer
door of the darkened refrigerator room
into the passage way between the
scores Of ice boxes; it was like a
sudden transition from summer heat to
winters cold. The door closed punctili-
ously after the custodian of the edibles of
the hotel and the reporter. \ half dozen
different doors were unlocked, each apart
ment containing its complement of pro-
visions of a particular kind. There was
the milk and butterrOOm, the large rooms
in which were hung whole carcasses of
sheep lambs, and quarters of nice looking
beef. In still another were stored grapes
and fruit and the assurance was given
that long after grapes shall have disap-
peared from the market the guests at the
hotel will find them on the bill of fare.
The steward picked from a clump Of
green, dimly discernible in the imperfect
light, bunch of lettuce. He handled it
with an affectionate pride in his facilities
fresh as the day it came into this room
crisp, nice, and with all its original
qualities. It's been in here six weeks now,
and some of this lot will be here until far
into the winter / sprinkle it generally
with water myself-and we keep it as
fresh as you see it, " Smaller compart-
ments were crowded with game-duckS
and geese by the hundred, and one whole
box with pheasants. There was more
IN no of fxyop
frozen to the consistency of rock.
Another compartment was packed
with even larger number of quail and
the information was vouchsafed that at
a recent party no quail were eaten.
Nearly all the quail and pheasant, the ca
terer explained, comes from Missouri
where they are captured in nets, shipped
in quantity by express and stored in the
refrigerator, where they can be hept with
out deterioration for months. The same
holds true of meats.
There was an infinite variety of
rare sea fish carefully stored in
another compartment. An ingeni-
Gus arrangement of ice supplied
sufficiently cold water at which thousand
of Blue Point oysters, six days from the
sea, wet their parched lips and washed
down the steady diet of oatmeal, slightly
sailed, on which the nOn-cOmmittal BIZ
valves feed during the brief period they
remain waiting consumption.
To all appearance an oyster, even in the
shell, 800 rifles from sea, is dead. But
it is part of the art of the caterer, not for
gotten, to preserve life and spirits, and
even prevent possible fits of homesickness
upon the part of Sir Oyster by feeding and
watering him well. The suddenness and
vigor with which o shell will close if dis
turbed in the process of feeding is pretty
satisfactory evidence of the health and
vigor that may be maintained with proper
care. But the main wing of the menag-
erie was found elsewhere. In one of the
rooms of the basement of the hotel-the
room directly under the ladies' reception
room, pen has been built, a foot and a
half high. On the stone floor no less than
seventy-f1ve terrapin were found wad-
ding about, climbing over each other, or
drawing in their heads and legs when APP
preached.
"There will be fifty more here to.mor-
row." said the steward as he picked one
up and studied its shell; land they viii
stay here and play their games and feed
upon such green stuff as I may give
them They don't require a great deal,
and are light eaters at best Some day
not very far distant they will go into soup,
which will be the genuine article.
The chef, whose particular hobby is
soups, won't fail to make that
whole happy family of turtles into some
thing fit for the gods. For the present
they are my pets. A pretty family, aren't
they?"