The Dickinson press., 1890-06-14
boxing ON A BIG SCALE.

BOOKING ON A BIG SCALE.
How FOOD IS PREPARED FOR AN
ARMY OF HUNGRY GUESTS.
s4he Mysterious Precincts of a Hotel Where
the steward IL Autocrat Everything
Done by Wholesale from boiling Soup
to Baking Pastry.
j Comparatively few people, as they sit
at their tables in the big hotels, have the
least conception of how the food is pre-
pared by the small army of cooks. To
prepare q dinner requires many hours
work, and a meal tw~enty-four hours
ahead is being cooked as another meal
is being served.
In all the leading hotels throughout
the country the kitchen is a most inter-
esting sight, and yet it is the most mys-
FERROUS, as it is only on rare occasions
that a visitor is allowed in the sacred
precincts in the rear of the dining room.
The cooking department in all first
class hotels is kept %scrupuously clean,
more so, in fact, than any other portion
of the entire hostelry. The cooks and
assistants ore always attired in clean,
white jackets and caps; the ranges, pots,
pans and kettles are always shining, and
the floors look as if they had been freshly
polished each morning. 1t is a good
cooks pride to have his kitchen as neat
as a pin and as bright as a dollar.
The entire cooking apparatus is heated
by steam, which can be regulated as the
occasion demands, thus insuring the
proper cooking of the food.
KITCHEN WONDERS.
One Of the wonders of n hotel kitchen
is the potato masher. The potatoes are
placed in the boiler with the jackets on
When they have become sufficiently
cooked they are put In a machine called
q "peeler;;" a few turns of the handle
rolls them out as cleverly pared as an
expert could do if the potato was hard
and raw. From the ''peeler" they are put
in the "masher," and here, after a few
revolutions, they are found on a plate
beneath, neatly mashed and steaming
hot. The egg boiler is a clever invention.
When an order comes from the dining
room for this product, the egg is placed
in a wire basket and set in what seems to
be q pan of water. In a second the cook
has turned on the steam from somewhere
and the water is soon bubbling all around
the basket. But a short space of time
elapses until the egg is On Its way into
the dining room. Porterhouse steaks are
broiled in an instant. Two large broilcrs
are kept hot by steam pipes, and a piece
of steak is cooked almost as SOC as it
touches the broiler. Toast is perhaps the
only article of food not prepared by
steam, save the bread, pastry and creams.
The carving stand is one of the most
interesting sights in a hotel kitchen
When the meats are cooked the kettles
are lifted from the large pot in which
they were prepared and are set in large
holes in the carving stand. Steam circu
lates all around underneath and keeps
the meat warm. In front of each kettle
is a s:nallpan in which is kept the sauces
which go with the different meats. The
carving stands presided over by twoex.
pert carvers in white jackets and caps
whose knives are as sharp as a razor. AL
the roasts and boiled food is served b!
them Us the walters call for them.
OTHER FEATURES OF TIL ROOM.
During the dinner hour the cooks are
kept busy serving the entrees, but al
breakfast and supper, and for severa.
hours preceding the noon meal, they are
engaged in preparing or overseeing the
cooking of all the food.
The pantry room is presided over by
girls. They serve all the desserts. The
head and the second cooks prepare thu
soups and entrees. The third cook see'
to the rroasts and.the boiled pieces. Til,
fourth" cook is known as the ''fry" cook
and everything that needs to be fried /
given to him. He has but little to do ii
dinner time, but has his hands full a
breakfast and supper. The fifth cool
acts as butcher, and sees that all fowls
and game are properly dressed and pre-
pared for the pots. One assistant give
his entire services to the preparation o
the salads. Two cooks preside over tn
vegetable department, and everything OF
the vegetable list is from their hands
One woman presides at a big range an,
cooks waf1es and cakes at a rate so rapi,
that they a scarcely be counted. Til
griddle is three or four feet square, an,
a great many cakes can be cooked at on
time.
A feature of the entire kitchen is tn
dish washing department where girls ar
employed. The refrigerator Is a depart
ment that is always we'll stocked. TIL
supply taken in on Saturday is Away
sufficient to last until the following Tue
day, and at all times there is enoughmes
on hand to last two or three days.-Louil
vile Courier-Journal. "
"a Fine Business.
Mr. iothom-An ca NV son w