The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1905-03-11

William Asal, at present chef at a
Kansas City chop house, was for
long time an apprentice cook in the
kitchens of Grand Duke Frederick OF
Baden, at Carlsruhe, Germany, says
the Kansas City Journal. The Grand
Duchess was a sister of Emperor
William /. This is one of the most
exclusive regal establishments in Eu-
rope, and there is always warm rivalry
among the men of the white cap and
apron to enter its service, for a recon-
mendation from the master of the
house of the Grand Duke of Baden is
in a sense royal commission which
insures its owner employment at a
high salary.
Speaking of his experiences in the
palace at Carlsruhe, Mr.. Asal said !:
1T is by no means an easy matter to
learn the trade of cooking in the royal
kitchen. Volunteers for this service
must first of all come from highly re-
spectacle families and must serve four
years as apprentices. This term of
four years is required because of the
number of applications which are
received for the work. You see, if a
cook could enter the royal service for
a short time he would do so for the
prestige it would give him elsewhere,
and there would be too frequent
changes. The probationary term once
was two years, then three years, and
now it is four.
"After receiving the appointment
as an apprentice, which carries with
it no salary, the apprentice becomes
at once identified with the palace es-
tablishment. There is an imperative
rule thatthe youngest apprentice must
submit each day the bill of fare for
the next, and this must be in his own
handwriting. There are in the royal
kitchen of the Grand Duke Frederick
two chefs, who are paid, and a
steward, who is called the maitre
d'hotel. The apprentices, of whom
there are from four to six, but never
more than six. work under the direc-
ton of the chefs. The chefs each
work two weeks and then lay off two
weeks, but the salary is monthly, and
about 40 marks.
"The life of those in royal kitchens
is very pleasant. Each employee
gets his bottle of wine and his beer at
every meal and he is treated with con-
sideration. In the summer time when
the ducal family goes to the country
residence every cook, of course, wants
to go along. In the country life is
even more pleasant than in the city.
We were allowed to fish in the pre-
serves, when there was noroyal party
out, of course, and we were given
many other liberties. Every en-
ployee of the household who goes to
the country gets mileage, and most of
the cooking utensils are taken from
the city palace. AS rule, all royal
visitors give tips to employees Of the
establishment. These tips are de-
posted with a trusted official of the
household and at the end of the year
the total sumis divided equally among
the employees, from the highest
salaried to the candle bearers. While
I was in the Duke S kitchen the En-
press of Austria gave S, 600 marks for
the employees Of the palace.
"The routine of the palace seldom,
if ever, varies, - continued Mr.. Asal.
"The Grand Duchess directs the
preparation of all food. She receives
the maitre d'hote1 every afternoon at
d o'clock and together they decide on
the bill of fare for the three meals Of
the next day. The maitre d'hotel
gives this bill of fare to the chef the
next morning and he in turn makes
out the requisition for the necessary
supplies. Should he be so unfortu-
nate as to forget anything he must
buy it out of his own pocket, for the
store room is open only one hour
day. Why these rules are SO strictly
enforced is because about a year be-
fore went into the kitchen the chefs
had entered into private agreement
with the butchers and others to cheat
the household and they had succeeded
to the extent of 10000 marks.
"The maitre d'hotel always goes to
market himself and selects the sup
plies which are sent to the chef. The
morning meal is very simple. In
fact, the Grand Duke ate only the
plainest food. He had his breakfast
at 8 O'Clock, luncheon at noon and
dinner in the evening. The strictest
rules prevailed everywhere. The
royal table was laid in small dining
room in the central part of the palace,
and there the Duke, the Grand
Duchess and the Crown Prince ate
together. Covers were always laid
for FIVE, for the Grand Duke often
asks one or two of his Ministers or
some some especially honored guest
to dine with his family.
"Always in the Dukes kitchen
just as we were dishing up, high
official of the household came in and
tasted every dish that was destined
for the royal table. This rule was
never violated and if the dishes were
not previously tasted they never saw
the Dukes table. The chefs selected
the wines which went to all tables.
There is not royal cellar in Europe
that has as fine wines as the one
owned by the Grand Duke of Baden.
There is a master of the cellar and
ten assistants. These men do nothing
but buy wine. bottle and serve it.
''It must be remembered that while
there are ordinarily only three served
at the royal table there are about I2o