The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1890-06-08
A GENIUS FOR COOKING.
The Son of an English Gentleman Who is
Studying to BE "A Chef.

The Son of an English Gentleman Who Is
Studying to BE Chef.
Harold Frederic IN the N. Y. Times.
A London friend of mine, man of culture
and refinement, has educated his Oldest son to
be cook. In the first place, the boy had an
obvious natural genius for cookery. When he
was ten years old it was his delight to be al
lowed to take charge of the kitchen and make
the whole dinner himself. Three years later he
could construct complicated pastry and con-
fections. The talent seemed worth cultivating
Accordingly, he was taken to Brussels and
placed in charge of the chef of celebrated res
taurant there. The sum of five hundred dollars
was paid for six months tuition and at the end
of that time he obtained a certificate of pro-
ficiency. Thence he was taken to Paris, where
he began term of higher study under the chef
of the Grand Hotel Here the premium paid
was not so high, because the lad was now of
some use in the kitchens. Getting his certifi-
cate there, the boy has now returned to Lon
don to begin the serious work of his profession.
He has been apprenticed for three years to NJ.
Carpenter the renowned chef of the new
Savoy Hotel. During this period he will get
salary of only fifteen shillings per week, some
thing under four dollars, but at the end of the
three years, when he will be twenty years old,
he will be able at the outset to command twenty
five or thirty dollars per week, which, with Or
| binary luck, Will increase TO something ike one
hundred dollars within the next dozen years.
What comes after that must depend on his own
talents, or, rather, on whether he has only
talent instead of genius.
About the money-making possibilities Of this
| queer profession there can be no doubt. Public
attention was directed to this not long ago by
w. X. Vanderbilt's importation of Joseph, the
celebrated mdStie dh6tel of the old Bignon's.
Joseph had $4,000 q year, and gave the place
| up, partly on account of dislike for the servants
about him, partly because the commission sys
| tenn did not flourish in America. This last is q
most important item with the European Chef
NJ. Charpentier, of the Savoy in London, for eX-
ample, gets salary of $500, but his commits
sions are supposed to represent an additional
ten or twelve thousand dollars annually. This
theory of a cooks right to control all the pur-
chases for the kitchen, and to receive commits
sions from all the ira lespeople, is an established
feature, not only in swell hotels, but in great
mansions, and even moderately big private
houses in England and France. "But how will
it affect your son socially?' | asked; twill he
be able to associate, as an illustration, with the
class of men you meet, and that he would have
met had You made him an engineer or 4 solicit
tor?'' "Oh, yes" the father replied: ''there
would be no trouble about that The master
cooks, it seems, are highly dignifed and i'm
portant class of people. ''They have a club in
the West End he went on to tell me, 'where
| the annual subscription is S100-a very high sum
for a London club" This apprenticng of an
English gentleman's son to the chef ofthe Savoy
| may be the initial move in a social revolution.