Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-10-11
AN EMPRESS IN r.. kTcHEN.


She Looks After 1t. 81, ,"rintends Every
thing. anu tt Is u VI .idet. al Place.
The empire Of a Ia is best
royal house. per in rope. ohe is
as thoroughly acquainted with the de-
tails of the imperial Austrian kitchen
as her husband is with the details Of
the imperial Austrian government.
She superintends the houschold Vt
fairs of the big palace at the Austrian
capital with the greatest care. Size re-
ceives personally, reads and acts upon
reports from cooks, buffers, keepers
of the plate and keepers of the linen.
Cooking devices which have become in
convenient or antiquated are abolished
only at her command. New methods
of preparing or serving food are
adopted only at her suggestion.
Changes i'll the personnel of the estab-
lishment are made for the most part
only i'll obedience to her orders. Con-
sequentIy person can eat, drink,
sleep and be served better in her
house than in any other in Europe.
The kitchen in which the food for
the bluest blood of Austria is cooked is
huge room with all the arrange
ments at each end for preparing fish,
fowl and beast for the table Fifty
chickens can be cooked at once on one
of the big whirling spits. Against the
side walls from floor to ceiling stand
scores and scores of chatting dishes.
In these Dishes all of which are self
warming, the meats are carried to the
carving room, whence they are re-
turned to the kitchen ready to be
served. The boiling and baking and
frying and carrying and cutting oc-
cupy a small regiment of servants.
Twenty-Five male cooks, in white
clothes, dress, spit season and stuff
the meats. AS many female cooks
prepare the vegetables, the buildings
and the salads. a dozen or more
boys hurry the birds, fish and joints
from the kitchen to the carving room,
where long lines of carvers slice and
joint everything laid before them.
The kitchen utensils fill big room
opening into the kitchen. THIS room
Is the ideal of German housewives.
The high walls are covered with pans
kettles, griddles and covers, which
shine as only German hands and Ger
man muscles can make them shine.
There are soup tureens in which big
boy might be drowned, kettles in
which twins could play house, and
pans that could hold half a dozen
Hanses or Gretchens. In short, about
every culinary utensil on the walls is
OF the heroic size, suggestive rather of
the Missouri barbecue than of the
feasts of crowned heads and diplomats
at one of the first of courts.
For days before the great court
| festivals the whole Austrian court
kitchen staff, from the head court
cooking master down to the
youngest scullion, work like mad.
The chefs hold repeated consultations
III their council chamber often debat-
ing hour after hour with all the ear
nestness of parliament or congress
concerning the best methods OF pre-
pairing fowls, sauces, cakes and soups.
The menu, as selected by the chefs, is
submitted to the master of the provis-
ion department, SO that he may imme-
diately order from the city whatever
the cellars of the castle lack.
The Austrian court dinners are fa-
nous on the continent. The delica-
cies which result from the protracted
meetings in the council chamber Of
the chefs are often so fine that ia
NoiCu BueStS hot llilrequeltly OD-
serve the old German fashion of TAX
ing a choice bit home to their friends
in the name of the empress and with
her best wishes. All that remains Of
a court feast or dinner is sent TO the
Niennese hospitals. On the days just
after the banquet the empress is very
busy looking over the reports and in
ventories of the frau head keeper Of
the napkins, and the fraulein head
keeper of the tablecloths, and the
head guardian of the imperial china,
and a dozen other like functionaries
with jointed titles She reviews all
these communications with conscien-
tious care, and orders with strict at
tention to minute details the replace
ment of all that has been lost, broken
or defaced. New York Sun.