Beverly banner. [volume] (Beverly, N.J.) 1877-1964, 1890-03-08
AN EMPRESS IN THE KITCHEN.
ghe Looks After 1t, SuperIntends Every
thing, and 1t Is a Wonderful Place.

ghe Looks After It, Superlntends Every
thing, and 1t Is Wonderful Place.
The empress of Austria is the best
royal housekeeper in Europe. She 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 household af-
fairs of the big palace at the Austrian
capital with the greatest care. She re-
ceives personally, reads and acts upon
reports from cooks, buffers, keepers
oil 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 in the personnel of the estab-
lishment are made for the most part
only in obedience to her orders. Con
sequently a 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
a 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 splits. 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 small regiment of servants.
Twenty male cooks, in white
clothes, dress, spit, season and stuff
the meats. AS many female cooks
prepare the vegetables, the puddings
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
in their council chamber, often debat-
ing hour after hour with all the ear
nestness of a parliament or congress
concerning the best methods Of pre-
pairing fowls, sauces, cakes and soups.
The menu, as selected by the chefs, is
submitted tothe 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 ia
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
vored guests not infrequently OBJ
serve the old German fashion of tax
ing choice bit home to their friends
in the name of the empress and with
her best wishes. All that remains OF
court feast or dinner is sent to the
Viennese 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 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.