The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1902-11-22
The Waldorf Its "Field Of
Destiny"


"Every cook is an arbiter of fate and
every kitchen is field of destiny Sol
well known writer has said, and, according
to this dictum, the colossal kitchen of the
Waldorf Astoria, in New York, must be
no mean factor in the molding of men and
manners
Fourteen hite-capped chefs, all mem
bers of the aristocracy of caterers-di-
plomes, as the French say-report for duty
each morning to the dignifed Gordon bleu
chef of this huge caravansary.
This ''chief of chefs is a man who has
to be awake at all points like some kinds
of insects, but he never goes near an oven
or a breiler He sits in state at his desk
all day, cool and confident, directing and
planning for his fourteen aides. Through
them, in their separate departments, he
controls the trained army of assistant cooks,
helpers and scullions that moves about SO
briskly and yet SO noiselessly in this the
greatest "eook- room in the world
What brigade of hungry epicures there
must be above stairs to require the services
of eleven cooks just to make sauces; ten to
do nothing but fry things (although the
plebeian word ''fry is never even whis-
pered in this aristocratic precinct; it is al
ways saute instead wenty-eight to make
soups and cook vegetables; ten who are
kept con the jump from morning till
night mixing and freezing the most delecta-
BILE ice creams and ices, with ten more lost
to all other sights and sounds as they bend
to the task of evolving the pufiest'of puff
pastry.
The big kitchen where these professional
cooks all work as specialists AS smooth
ly and efficiently as finely geared automatic
covers 10000 square feet of space. In it
there are two huge ranges, each containing
eighteen separate fires. To keep these
fires burning brightly all day and far into
the night, five men must be on duty here
constantly For use in connection with
these mammoth ranges there are six big
game broilers, big steel oven divided into
four compartments for meats; four separate
ovens for cakes and pastry, six giant cop
per caldrons for vegetables, six steel broil-
ers for meats exclusive of game, fifteen
ponderous coffee urns and dozens of tables
and chopping blocks.
Each chef of our fourteen reigns supreme
in his own department. The chef of the
roasts and his assistants never give thought
to the pastry, while the ice cream men
seem apparently never to have heard OF the
animal and vegetable kingdoms in their
primary manifestations. The salad mixers
are SO exclusive that they scarcely speak to
the soup makers "as they pass by, and
the sadce-makers draw the line strictly at
sauces
The ease and efficiency with which this
gigantic Cooking plant does its work is
demonstrated by its proven ability to serve
300 persons at one meal without the
slightest hitch or the most remote suspicion
of furry. This is considered high-water
mark, and yet the management IS so per-
fected in every detail that it could cater to
MANY more should the necessity arise. At
high pressure it could prepare soup Tor
5000 guests, make coffee for 60OO-a fra
grant, velvety beverage, fit to appease the
gods themselves-roasts for 1000, salad
for 1900, 1000 loaves of bread, 275 gal
Ions of ice cream of dozen different flavors,
serve 21OO dozen oysters, broiled game for
5000 and turn out other gustatory dellca-
cies in the same barbecue a barbarous
adjective that implores kind treatment)
proportions.
To prepare meal for soldiers IN the
field who count themselves lucky if they
get pork and beans, coffee and bread, is
mere diversion in comparison with the
preparation of dinner, for example, that
will satisfy the palates of brigade OF
wealthy people in a city Of nerves and mo-
tions-the men mostly epicures and the
women dainty and exacting beyond bellef
in their gastronomic tastes.
Each cooked dish must pass through
four hands before it appears in the spacious
gilded dining rooms overhead. The soul
lions do the preliminary work. Then 1t
passes to the "table men, who get it in
shape for the fire; the cooks then hover
over it until it is ''done to turn, and
the walters after reviewing it critically rush
it upstairs to the fastidious diner.
There is faultless butcher shop and
completely stocked grocery store attached
to this peerless cuisine, the table supplies
being drawn from these adjunct stores by
order of the big chef This has been proven
to be great time and money saving scheme.
The kitchen of the Waldorf Astoria oc-
cupies more space, is more strictly modern
in its appointments, employs more bona
fide chefs and expert assistants and turns
out more cooked things-each perfect OF
its kind-in day than any kitchen on the
face of the globe-not excepting the cele-
brated hostelries of the Moscovite Empire
itself
IF the verdict of inductive science be
worthy of acceptance-that what a man
thinks and becomes is dependent to an in-
credible extent upon the choice and prep
aratiou of his food-then are these fifteen
high priests of the culinary cult In the
Waldorf Astoria autocrats indeed, and
their colossal cuisine becomes exalted into
veritable s'feld of destiny.
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