The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-03-03
SEA COOKS AND ACROBATS.
MTRd GILES DONE IN THE CA 1LLEY
 OFAN ATLANTIC LINER.

|
 Him Turtle and inc Pots and Pam
 Are Dancing ihe Can-Can-sea Cook
 on Merchant ships Who Have t< Fight the Crew.
 Cooking on the high seas isn't so ex-
 citing profession as it was in the old
 days; but even now, it presents prob-
 lene and situations that would drive a
 landsman chef to despair. It is one
 thing to sit down in dignified calm in
 a hotel kitchen and compose a sym
 phonic entree and it's quite another
 thing to clutch. rope swung across a
 kitchen that is trying to turn turtle
 and to master an entree that is at
 tempting to dance a can-can on top of
 a plunging range It would be happy
 thing for stewards and cooks if every
 disgruntled passenger on transatlan-
 tic steamer, could in rough weather, be
 forced to pay visit to the galley and
 watch the efforts by which the meals
 with which he has been finding fault
 are prepared. The chances are that two
 minutes amid the fumes and heat of the
 galley would reduce him to state of
 seasickness which would rob him of all
 interest in meals of any sort but if he could wait long enough to receive few
 mental impressions, he would climb the galley stairs humble and contrite traveller; and in future would say
 please" to the stewards, beg them not to hurry about filling his orders, and ac- to oe rnn n ol,
 in his behalf.
 On the modern steamers galley ar-
 engagements have been improved to a degree that would make an old time sea cook open his eyes in amazement, but
 ven under such conditions the cooking i@ difficult work. In the first place, room is necessarily limited, and every inch of space must be made to count, yet a large number of cooks and assist
 ants are employed. One of the large steamers will have thirty men at work in it's galley and thirty men playing leapfrog about a microscopic kitchen, and doing juggling feats with pots and pans and knives and rolling pins, while 1 the ship stands on its beam ends, is q 1 sight to bring tears to the eyes of a | ibNSi ol q dtlSt IlUs III tiiVSc iui tpN quarters cooking is done on q scale larg- CT than the ordinary saloon passenger realiZeT. The crew must be fed in port and out; so the cooks have from 800 to 600 men on their hands every day of the year Then, during the voyage, the 1 steerage, second cabin and first cabin must be provided for. The steerage pas sengers do not have an elaborate bill of 1 fare; but about 5000 small leaves of bread are baked for the crew and steer age every day, and that, in Itself is no small task. The very eight of the bak- er'e dough trough is enough to discour- age a faint-hearted cook, for flour Is dumped into it by the barrel. One hum dred and fifty barrels of flour melt away on voyage like spring snow flakes, and twenty tons of potatoes dance merrily up the galley stairs to table, hand in hand with 10000 pounds of beef, while 10000 eggs. more or less seasick, follow wearily. Then 15O gal Ions of fresh milk ecorn the l00C0 gal Ions of condensed milk stored beside 1t and advise the 1000 pounds of coffee to have nothing to do with it. The ghosts of countless chickens, turkeyts, ducks and fishes haunt the larder where their slaughtered bodies hang in hundreds at a time. As for the incidentals, no one but the head steward knows the tale of them. Imagine ali this food prepared in an apartment house kitchen addicted to hand springs, and you have the steamer galley situation.
 Along the end 6f the room run the rangee. The ovens are divided into com partments which will hold firmly pans of varying sizes On top of the stoves steel bar runs along the front and back, and separate cross bars may be clamped to these at convenient places, Pots and kettles are hemmed in, and to add to their flrmneEe, each is clamped to q cross bar with what looks like a large iron clothespn. All cooking uten- sils are made much deeper than would be nee 1ss ary in ordinary cokir g in order to avoid spillng of the contents in case of rough weather The huge copper stock pots, in which wholesale boiling is done, are heated, by steam and all broiling ie done over an immense char coal fire. The bakers have separate cubby hole and ovens for themselves; and beyond them is a cold room where confections and pastry are made Ev- erything is swept and garnished, in fashion to satisfy the heart of Dutch housewife, The white paint is secured until 1t is dazzling The copper shines resplendent--but the smells! ye gods! the smells. Let the seasick man who has held his breath and plunged madly up the companion way, to escape the deadly whiff of air coming from the galley, imagine that gust of odor inten- sitied concentrated, mixed with steam and smoke and multiplied by four and he may have come idea of the atmo- sphere down in the galley. A steamer kitchen is no place fer any one with tendency twoard seasicknesS; and the first few voyages of a young cooks as- sistant are tortures besides which the sufferings of the martyrs fade into in There isn't any fine glow of majesty about his nlartyrdom and he doesn't get an atom of sympathy. His galley mates guy him, and his superiors bully him. He sounds q depth of sea sickness, beside which the state of the groaning passenger on deck in steam CT chair is rose col0red and agreeable. | Often one voyage is all that he can stand, and he bolts incontinently, when | the ship reaches port, but if hs has the | to suffer until he is thoroughly | he overcomes hi,s qualms and | is ready to laugh at the next green |