Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-05-05

marble floor, for it is by hose which may
play fearlessly in any part of the room tha
the kitchen is kept clean. Connected with
the Kitchen and built under the sidewalk il
a series of vaults. These are for ice, meat
vegetables, milk and eggs, and are built il
three sections OF hollow masonry that NAL
be kept free from damp, and perfect ventila
tion. The heavier insure articles, such a
ice and meat, are let in through the side
walk with derrick and hoist, which relieves
the kitchen of a good deal of unpleasantness
as every housekeeper may imagine.
THE LATEST THING.
The very latest thing in kitchens is tha
of the Cate Savarin, in the fine new build
ing OF the Equitable Insurance Company
in lower Broadway. Although it is intend
ed to feed 5000 people between noon and ;
O'Clock. its methods, appliances and perfect
organization present hints to people who
dine in more moderate numbers. Through
the courtesy OF Mr.. Dolver, the Superin.
tendent, was allowed to inspect it just be-
fore the fray began.
It is q large open apartment at the top oi
the house, reached by elevators. The hool
is laid with white encaustic tiles, and the
walls are ceiled and lined with lustrous
white enamelled tiles. Three ranges are
built out in the floor, and the AZ cooks skir-
mish on all sides. This position of the
range is approved in some private houses,
as it gives the cook greater command of her
resources. Between these ranges were two
long tables and in the center of each was a
sunken square of tin or zinc perforated with
holes. In these basins stood tin handleless
pals and around them water surged and
spluttered. These were the steam tables,
and in them all the cooking that requires no
browning or crust is done.
The question of fuel is now verv open
one. In this Kitchen everything that can
be done by steam is done, and as steam is
required for the other purposes of the build
ing, the fuel is practically saved, not to
speak of the lack of wear and tear in merely
turning the wrist to let the steam off and
on. At Billett's, which is small but the
most fashionable of the downtown restaur-
ants, all the cooking is done by gas. And
while talking with Mr.. Post, he recalled an
engagement that afternoon to see some cook
ing done by electricity. Press button and
the pot boils.
But steam will not broil, bake or roast;
this handicaps it greatly for private use. In
this kitchen there were separate charcoal
fires for broiling. A large brick oven in the
center of the room for the pastry with gas
Il,
a tremendous upright CRATE with three tiers
of spits before which fowls were now spin
ming and shedding juices gloriously. The
spit and the upright CRATE make the one
luxury that private kitchens. however un-
pretenticus, should try to afford. One need
not be so fastidious as the old Norman epi-
cures who required their fowls to be roas ted
before apple tree logs, but the kiss of the
flames is certainly transforming and ideal
ICES even the pig as we have been delight
fully told.
SAVING SPACE.
Every piece of furniture in the kitchen
has special definite purpose to fulfill, The
brawny butchers occupy one corner with
their battle axes. The pastry cooks prac-
tice the fine arts on their own area, the men
cunning with their knives keep within their
own barriers. Everything is calculated to
save space and time. Above each range
are horizontal bars, from which hang the
long-handled copper pans which the ninible
cooks manipulate with the rabidity and
ease of the tumbler in the ciroas.
10 the waiter, always in anguish be-
tween the wrath OF the hungry man and
the boot toe of the cookfhe kitchen st the
top OF the house va saving grace. He
never, by any, ,|ehauce, can encounter the
cook, and leaning against the dumb waiter
while hl5viands descend gets few seconds
to bfdce himself up to meet the laundering
bVow of his client in the brilliant restaurant
beyond. The disadvantage on the other
hand is that any inaccuracy in filling the
order cannot be ascertained for some time,
but this way insures accuracy.
Something was said last week of the
movement to rescue the top floor. This goes
hand in hand with private elevators. There
Is also another movement toward elevating
the kitchen dynamically. One of the most
novel of the private is that of DR.. Morton,
on Fifty-second street west. All the house
hold offices are on the top floor. The serv-
ants bedrooms are in front. Midway is the
laundry with tiled floor and wainscoting;
connecting with it is the servants sitting
room, and opening into it the kitchen.
THE COOKS THRONE.
This is noble room, with windows that
catch the first rays of the morning sun and
the last rays of his benign majesty, and COM
mand the distant prospect right and left,
One may well envy the cook her private do
minion. Mrs. Morton, with more practical
mind, tells me that the saving of gas bills is
of consideration. There is also a consider
able saving of time, SIS the ashman, the rag
man, the peddlars of all wares, soon discover
that there is neither pleasure nor profit in
tue AREA. Ine HuuanlIdrlan aspect or this
elevated kitchen is worth notice when one
considers the army of servants that spend
their lives in Easements inaccessible to air
and light.
Mrs. Morton saws that by organizing her
household carefully, less, not more. servants
are required. A great lift is used at stated
intervals by the man who manages the fur
mace, everything else is brought up on
dumb walters, and servants stairway is
screened off by a pretty arrangement of
spindles. The clothes are dried on top of
the house, and in a cold room above the
kitchen meats are hung and perishable arti-
cles kept
1t is not misapplication Of an adjective
to call some of the kitchens in the hand
somer apartment houses beautiful. These
are small but calculated to a nicely. In
fact, except when there is a staffof servants,
it is mistake to have large kitchen. It
wastes the time and takes the strength of
the cook to cover more space than is re-
quired. As these kitchens are placed in the
least advantageous parts of the house, every
care is taken to give them all the light and
air possible. The floors are tiled. The
walls are lined with enamel tiles usually
white, but some times made gayer with COL
ored tiles, blue or pink. The sinks are por-
celain lined and the faucets silver plated.
The cupboards and dressers are in light
natural woods and the glass unspotted. The
cook feels as if she is in a jewel box or is a
precious article enshrined in a cabinet and
the probabilities are that she strives to keep
her situation. MARY GAYHUMPHREYs.