Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1901-11-14
THE CHIEF AND HIS MINIoNs
How Their Duties are Performed in a
Bio Hotel

! ~SNNS 6'N FSitoifHSo III ~
Big Hotel
| For his service the chef of a hsx
hotel may receive $4,000 a year. big
Isalary for cooking, but by no means
out of proportion to his value to ths
hotel. He is supreme in his work
shop, the kitchens which are large.
brilliantly lighted and scrupulously
clean rooms, with hardly a suggestion
in the air of broiling and baking and
roasting and frying that is going on all
around. The chef, with sub-chefs over
the butcher shops, the soups. the ca
trees, the roasts, the vegetables, the
! DakeshopS and the pastries. and q hun
! dred cooks are calling out orders in
French, for they Nce nearly all French
! or Swiss, and French is the languages
OF the kitchen as well as of the court
| wherever good cuisine is attempt
| ed, so busting around in their white
caps and aprons, so intent ON their
work that the intrusion of a stranger
is not noticed. The walters. in their
black coats, with their order cards and
their trays, thread their way in and
out among the cooks, each hurrying TO
fill his order in the shortest possible
time. 1t is finely specialized kitchen.
however, and all the skurrying bach
and forth and shrill calls in French
for portions of many dishes seem CON
fusing only for moment Then fol
lows an appreciation of the wonderful
system of the place that insures the
highest art in cooking, OF the men
who do nothing but roast all day with
a knowledge of the exact number Of
minutes and even seconds .cuuired 10
produce the best results. of others who
1uggle copper skillets, and of others
Who fry and bake and carve aud gar
nish, and of the garde-manger where
the portions OF meat and raw foods
are prepared and dressed in readiness
for the range. Each cook attends only
to the preparation of his own dishes,
and as for the chief, he seldom cooks
at all. He has an office of his own.
where he keeps his memoranda. Ris
books and his special menus, and the
secrets of his business. During the
rush hours his place is in the center
of the kitchen, directing, watching,
NNAAN "AASAA 'ANSSNSthAJ fAuAhOhlSlAh6- ~
sevral big banquets are In progress.
making 1t necessary to send hundreds
of portions of each dish to them at
once, it is the chefs duty to see that
these courses are sent up promptly
and to check off each one on the bul~
letin board at the time ~ is sent
When he goes off duty one of his as
sistants takes his place. Besides the
cooks, there are a dozen men and wo-
men who do nothing but peel potatoes.
Ohters who make toast, and still others
who attend to the big Sish-washing
machines. The butcher and his as
sistants have charge Of the supplies OF
meats, some Of WhiCh--fOr instance
beef-are kept in the big refrigera~
tors. where the temperature never
varies a degree for three months ba
fore serving. In strong contrast with
the dishes they have seen preparing
is the comparatively simple dinner Of
the cooks themselves AS they sit at
the long table in their white aprons
and caps before each one is placed
bottle Of Claret. They are the ONLY
employees to whom the hotel serves
wine. This is q right jealousIy guarded
by the cooks, and, they alIegc made
necessary by their work over hot
ranges.
The best walters in New York are
the Swiss, German and French In
addition to the regular complement
every hotel has an extra list Of wait
eTs. employed only for big dinners and
suppers. The extra list of one Of these
hotels, which employs regularly about
700 walters. numbers nearly 1000 men
who serve III downtown and IN this
hotel at night, when they are needed
Their wages are small but their tips
are large. and few Of them are quite
as prosperous a. the guests whom
they serve. Ten per cent Of tho bill
Is the standard American tip, but in
some of the fashionable restaurants
and hotels 10 per cent. tip Is so lar
below the average that it does not ill
the waiter with gratitude 3or make
him anxious 30 serve the guc=t 0n bia
next vieit.--Ainslce Magazinc