Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-12-21
MINUTE FRENCH KITCHENS,
Great Abundance of Copper Pans for
Use and Ornament.

Use and Ornament.
The Paris kitchen is remarkable for its
smallness and its neatness. In the apart
ment houses it is no more than a closet, but
closet well arranged for the purpose The
floor and the lower part of the wall are
tiled, the sink is big slab of building
stone followed out the range adapted for
large fire of coal or q small one Of char
coal. The oven soon becomes receptacle
for extra pans, for no baking is done, the
fire being allowed to die out after each
meal. To bake? Why, the cook would
sputter bad French all over the yard If you
were to ask her to bake anything What
are the bakeshops for, monsieur? If there
Is any brand of cake that madame is spe-
cially fond of, and she can make the dough
for it, cook will take it to the bakeshop
and they will bake it for few sous. Or
II there is roast of beef or leg of lamb
she will take that out to be baked; and it
is always done to perfection, at less cost
than keeping up the fire.
Not long ago a young American lady
made visit to two other young American
ladies, who were living with their mother
in an apartment not far from the Latin
Quarter. Being new to Paris, the visitor
was shown through the rooms, and when
she reached the kitchen she was filled with
horror at it's sze-or want of size.
Why" she exclaimed, where can you
keep your flour barrel?'
Just think of it!'' one Of the other young
ladies laughed in telling me of it: 1.-The
idea of a flour barrel in Paris where no.
flour at a time! l should like to Paris
grocer If any one asked for barrel of
-four"
The battery of copper pans and kettles is
the chief beauty of the Partisan kitchen.
1t takes from forty to sixty of these shining
utensils to make complete set, and they
are always kept hanging against the wall.
1t Is not in your own kitchen only that you
go through the streets. In the apartment
houses many of the kitchens are at the
front, and the cook on the ground floor
likes to open her window and sit sewing
where she can at once see the hustle Of the
pavement and let passers-by see the brill
liancy of her pans. There are vessels of
every conceivable size and shape, and many
whose uses a male American can hardly
guess. One. in particular; big, cylindrical
affair, gave me the impression Of an ice
cream freezer; but after several weeks l
found it to be sort Of inclosed spit, for
roasting meat before the fire. And in every
kitchen is a big, diamond shaped pan, three
or four inches Deep about the size to roast
a baby or a big turkey in.
There are some French secrets, however,
about the battery of copper pans that am
able to disclose. All those shining things
are for ornament, not for use. 1t is the GUS
tom to have them, and when Arabella Me-
linda marries and sets up housekeeping she
must have a complete assortment, If only to
show her friends that she Is able to have
them. But the cook will not use them If
she can possibly help it. They are ex-
tremely heavy: that is one objection. And
every time they are used they have to be
1t takes deal Of muscle and a bottle Of
acid to make them shine. So cook induces
the mistress to buy a half dozen common
pans of tin or granite ware, and those are
IA Sh "a ff,I1xy ofox
away out Of sight, but 1t is in the tin pans
that dinner is cooked. The coppers in your
kitchen answer exactly the same purpose
as the pictures In your parSr.