Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-05
IN A NOTED KITCHEN
CULINARY DEPARTMENT OF THE
LORD MAYoR,s MANsIoN.
Range Seven Yards Longing Iron
cupboards for Crockery-Ths
Plate Closet.


From Tt-Bits
Now that we are In the thick Of the sea-
son when the hospitality Of the dinner ta-
BILE resumes its sway. and when thousands
OF generous hosts are wing with each other
In testing digesttons fresh from the restor-
ing waters OF Homburg and vichy. 1t may
be interesting to take a peep at the Nam
sion House kitchens, the center round which
gastronomic London revolves.
And what q feast II Is for hungry eyes.
this spectacle of "below-stairs' life--this
hive Of culinary skill and industry, respon-
sible for the myriad dishes under which
the tables Of civic hospitality groan year
after year. Through the clouds of savory
steam and the seeming chaos of perspiring
cooks and rushing porters, each knowing
his own duty and all working with the pre-
cisfon of perfect machine. the eye is ar
rested by an enormous range. nearly seven
yards long. with its open furnace. which re-
quires thirty hundredweight of coal q day
to feed It's fires.
Here. one can imagine, might easily be
cooked whole OK or joints sufficient to
feed small army; and, as matter of fact
on the serried rows of splits as we look are
revolving score OF joints. Weighing in all
nearly four hundredweight, to say nothing
OF half hundred birds, all being skillfully
cooked ito turn" By an ingenious ar
turns the Splits with Its own hot breath.
Compared with this mammoth range its
neighbor seems insignificant: and yet this
smaller range Is quite equal to cooking a
quarter of ton of meat at a time, and
VIII not be mt off with less than half a
ton Of coal day. alsaffYn
Great Vegetable Pots.
Here. too. are Gargantuan vegetable pots.
every one OF which will hold fifty cabbages;
mammoth potato steamers with more than
a hundredweight of potatoes In each of their
four divisions. and monster vessels Of
cleaning copper in which half a dozen
Yorkshire hams can be lost to sight
In enormous iron cupboards the plates
required for a. banquet, often numbering
4,0OO to 5000. are being heated by steam.
and thousands more are available for emer-
gencies, while in the sculleries as many
thousands OF glasses knives and forks are
prepared for the feast.
For an average Mansion House banquet
the cooks alone number a score, each an
acknowledged genius in his particular culin-
airy field: thirty skilled wielders of the knife
are engaged IN carving, dozen men are
responsible for the wines and 100 deft wait
ers see that the guests lack nothing Of the
good cheer provided. And when we con-
slider the requirements of single Mansion
House banquet we can see that even such
an army of men will be kept busily en-
ployed, for among the Items for such a
feast as the lord mayors annual dinner on
November are 100 gallons of SOUP 1890
oysters. 500 Holsters, 40 turkeys, 200 par
tridges 100 pheasants, 200 chickens 100
calves. feet, 20 hares, IS legs of veal and
800 pounds of ham.
Treasures Of Wine.
But the kitchen by no means exhausts
the interest in this department of the Man
sion House. for IL we go down into the
vaults we shall see such treasures Of wine
as would make a Lucullus smack his lips"
in moment of forgetfulness of the proprie-
ties; and on the doors OF each of several
cellars We may see the initials of many a
past lord mayor who has dedicated its con-
tents to future hospitality.
Then a glance into the plate closet is a
revelation of riches of gold and silver which
even millionaire might be pardoned for
coveting. Here Is a single tea tray of solid
silver which weighs over 500 ounces. here
are rows on rows of silver plates. half a
dozen of which would be cheap for a s1o0
note; massive cups of silver-gilt OF which
we can count sixty: vases, candelabra,
ewers and bowls for rosewater, in bewilder-
Ing and dazzling confusion.
This turbot DISH one of a pair, alone
weighs thirty pounds of solid silver. At
that end Of the strong room are the his
toric mace and state swords, emblems Of
the dignity and splendor of the chief mag
istrate of the greatest city In the world; and
In that box on the shelf lie the lord mayors
collar and pendan wonderfully wrought in
gold and studded with costly gems.
Such treasures naturally are watched with
jealous eyes and every night they are spe-
cially guarded by butler. who, If he sleeps
at all on his bed near the threshold Of this
treasure house, sleeps with one eye open
and ready at a moments notice to ring the
bell placed just overhead, the sound OF
which will wake a small army of police
men and watchmen into instant and agrees
sive life.