, 1903-03-06
THE WONDERS OF THE
WAlDORF-ASroRuA XII

l
wALooRF-AsToRIA KITCHEN.
Every cook is an arbiter of fate and
every kitchen is a field of destiny,
So a popular English writer has said,
and according to this dictum, the colos-
sal kitchen of the Waldorf-Astoria in
New York is no mean factor in the
molding Of men and manners.
Fourteen ~white-capped chefs. all
members OF the ar~istocracy of cater
ers-diplomes, as the French say--re-
port for duty each morning to the digni-
fed Gordon bleu chef of this huge cara |
vansary, says the Kansas City Star.
This chief Of chefs is a man who
has to be awake at all points like some
kind of insects. but he never goes near
an oven or a broiler. He sits in state
at his desk all day, cool-and confident,
directing and planning for his IA aides.
Through them-in their separate de.
partments-he controls the trained
army of assistant cooks, helpers and
solutions that is moving about SO brisk
ly and yet SO noiselessly in this, the
greatest cook DON in the world.
What a brigade of hungrey epicures
there must be above stairs to require
the services of II cooks Just to make
sauces and 10 to do nothing but fry
things-although the plebian word
fry is never whispered in this aristo-
| cratic rrnninof t. ic nluyn,-c oo,fo in
stead. Then there are 10 assistants who
are kept "on the jump from morning
till night mixing and freezing the most
delectable ice creams and ices; % who
bend their energies to make soups and
cook vegetables, with 10 more lost to
all other sights and sounds as they
evolve the pufiest of puff pastry.
The big kitchen where these profess
sional cooks all work as specialists
las smoothly and efficiently as finely
geared acknowledgements 10000 square
feet OF space. In it there are two large
ranges, each containing IS separate
fires. To keep these fires burning
brightly all day and far into the night,
five men nus be on duty here con
stantly. For use in connection with
these mammoth ranges there are six
game broilers, an immense steel oven
divided into four compartments for
meats. four separate ovens for cakes
and pastry. six copper caldrons for
vegetables, six steel broilers for meats
exclusive of game, Is coffee urns and
dozens of tables and c%hopping blocks.
Each chef of the IA reigns supreme
in his own domain. The chef Of the
~roasts and his assistants never give a
thought to the pastry, while the ice
cream men seem apparently never to
have heard OF the animal and vegetable
kingdoms in their primary manifesto
lions. The salad mixers are SO exclu-
sive that they scarcely speak to the
soup makers "as they pass by" and the
sauce makers draw the line strictly at
sauces.
The ease and efficiency with which
this gigantic cooking plant" does its
work is demonstrated by its proved
ability to serve 1900 persons at
meal without the slightest hitch or the
most remote suspicion O. furry. This
is considered high water mark, and yet
the management is SO perfect in every
detail that it could cater to many more
should the necessity arise. At high
pressure it could prepare soup for 500
guests. make coffee for COCOA frag-
rant, velvety beverage-roasts for A.
900, salad for 1900, 1000 loaves of
bread, 275 gallons Of ice cream of a
dozen different flavors, serve 200 doz-
en- oysters, broil game for 5000, and
turn out other gustatory d%elicacies in
the same barbecue proportions.
To prepare a 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 a dinner, for
example, that will satisfy the palates
of a brigade Of wealthy people in a city
of nerves and notions-the men mostly