The Louisiana populist., 1896-12-18
WHERE PIES ARE MADE.
An Establishment That Turns Them Ou'
bv the Thousand.

will make your mouth water II you
have a taste for the sweets, and in addi-
tiOn it will give you an insight into Il
business that has reached immense pro-
| portions within the last ten years"
| Down this street. and up the next, and
| up long flight of stairs. to Il office
where the lucky number of thirteen
misses Were ut work. This was the ini-
| tial bow TO the largest pie factory in
the whole of Gotham, and for that mat
ter the entire country. Here it is that
an average Of $4,000 pies are turned
out every day of the week except Fri
day, when the figures go over the 90
600 mark, because of the demands for
Sunday. Pies, little and big, and in all
conditions of preparation, are to be seen
here, and the average office boy or
downtown clerk" would imagine him.
self in pie heaven were he to get upon
the ground.
Ask the most experienced housewife,
and she will readily testify to the state
ment that it is no easy matter to make
first-class pie. Pie making is easy
with the young bride only. Still, in
this big factory spoken Of. it really does
seem simple affair-the putting to-
gerher of fruit and dough-because the
workmen go through the performance
in Empire State Express order: but il
is practice and experience with them
rather than personal pleasure. To
make pie correctly. as well as digest
lively. it is necessary to resort to four
processes.
lake. for instance. mince pie. The
work of preparing the filling is the first
undertaking. and then I'm regular order
come the task of making the crust,
filling the pie and baking it. Contrary
TO some ideas. it is essential to the well
fare of the aforesaid pie that the meat
required be of superior kind. This
obtained, il is consigned to an immense
steam-jacketed copper kettle that has
the capacity of n medium sized barrel
In this way il is cooked. and then in
trusted to the beneficial graces of an
enormous chopping machine, that does
its work as finely as projectile from a
twelve-inch gun might do with a wood
en- fence. Next come for attention the
beef suet, apples. citron, currents,
spices, and finally the brandy. and these
are mixed with the mincemeat by an
other machine. and are sent to the fl
Ter. While the mincemeat is being
mixed with the other mixture, another
force of men are preparing the crust.
This force of men work before an i'm
mense trough. and are rugged out in
clothes of immaculate white. with
bare arms as powdered with -four as
the hair on their heads. The trough is
partly filed with flour. and shortening
or lard is worked into it by the white
workmen. Water that has been spe-
cially iced is worked into the mixture
in the trough, and the whole thing soon
takes on quite dough-like appearance.
This dough is taken to another force
Of men, who roll it out into thin slices
and place it on tin plates. This OPP
Grafton is perhaps the quickest of any
of the processes. The men 20 through
the mountain of dough like wind
through sand hill. Quicker than it
takes to tell, the white-covered tins are
delivered to the fillers-in, and no army
OF old topers ever filled in as rapidly as
they do. All use ong-handled dipper
which has capacity just sufficient to
fill one pie. With this dipper in one
hand and the dough-covered tin plate
in the other, the filler-in dips the dipper
into the barrel Of filling alongside of
him, raises it in the air and with
graceful movement of his wrist turns
it into the waiting plate. This accom-.
plished, everything is ready for the
oven. The latter is n gigantic thing
operated much on the style of the Fer.
ris wheel. Suspended by its axle above
red-hot fire is wheel about IL feet
long and 16 inches in diameter Eight
iron platforms are hung from the rims
Of this wheel, and upon these plat
forms the pies are placed. The manner
of suspension is such that the pies al
ways remain horizontal. One of the
platforms is always over the opening in
the oven. The attendants cover the
platform with pies and the wheel is
then turned until the next platform
comes into view. which in like manner
is filled. This is continued until the
eight platforms have been covered
The Lext turn brings into view the irst
lot put in, all baked. TO a nicely. They
are then removed and the platform
filed again. Again the wheel turns
and another army of baked pies is pre-
sented and removed. This is continued
hour after hour so long rs the demand
lasts. An average of about LOO pies
are baked hourly over this oven. The
pie factory is great Institution, and
must be seen TO be appreciated.
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