The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1910-03-25
LARGEST KITCHEN
IN THIS STATE
How Food Is Prepared for Big
Retreat Family.
svE.yT,uSo Ryys ON SCHEDULE
Meals Prepared In tho Big Model kisch'
en- are Sent to Various Parts Of the In
ssisu,ion with Great Rsgularisy-Ds'
seription Of Equipment

ssi,u,ion With Great Rsgularisy-Ds'
seription Of Equipment
Have you any idea Of the equipment and
material that Is necessary TO feed so per
sons. A trip through the culinary depart
msnt Of the Brsttleboro Retreat will give
some idea Of the amount Of energy ana
material necessary TO prepare the ds'iy
meals OF this big family OF inmates. at
tendants, and officials, II Is sale TO say
that II. W. spaulding, the kitchen stew
ard Of the institution. presldes over Tue
biggest cookery ia Vermont. lie has been
connected with the institution - Years anu
may be termed the main wheel IN Tue
mechanism that provides three meals daiiy
for his big family. lie has kitchen and
eouilment that lacks nothing. The room
i 81 by 10 feet and the hoor u OF slate,
scrupulously clean. To the height OF hNs
feet the room is tiled with white giassu
brick. In the centre Of the room u va.
mammoth range, eight ieet SQUARE, anu AZ
one end are located the great steam k Tt
for cooking vegetables and soups. ihefe
arr tour OF them, each OF 80 gallons eapae-
NV. A smaller kettle, holding 10 gallons
Is used for the preparation oil sauces DE
sides these big cooking reeeptacies arg
three steam cookers, each one capaoie o.
boldine 200 pounds of meat or two busheis
or more of vegetables. A dozen large hams
can be cooked in this apparatus IN Two
hours and a half. Connected with the bug
rang. !, a broilcr that will accommodate %
rounds or more OF steak. At one side OF
he room are situated two s0gallon kettles
heated by steam in which tea ana e9nee
are prepared. The roasting oven, which
will accommodate 300 pounds oil meat,
built into the wall at the east siue 9i .he
room and a machine is conveniently ar
ranged for slicing the meat before u Is
semi 10 the serving table directly in front
OF the range. ~.
Openinr out of the kitchen is the bak,
CRY where two barrels OF flour are used
daily. Here $50 loaves OF bread are baked
each day in an oven that easily accomino'
dates that number A bread mixer oper'
ated by 5.horsepower electric motor
Lneads a barrel OF -four and the necessary
ingredients into a batch OF dough that
would look appalling to the ORDINARY
housewife. Here 100 pies, enough ior one
meal, are cooked at one time IN the oig
oven and days supply OF doughnu's,
amounting to five and one'haif bushels is
prepared. :,;..,.;o,, ooo,nes
the quarters formerly used as gymna'
sium. Opening out of the room to the west
Is the room used in washing and prepar'
iny vegetables for the range. Here three
and a half bushels of pared potatoes were
nrepared Wednesday afternoon Tor the
Vegetable soup to be served as part OF
Yesterdays dinner In this room are To-
Gated big sinks of galvanized iron where
ali the dishwashing is done and leading
directly from this room Is the room whete
all kitchen utensils are kept. The noo,s oi
both rooms are of slate and the walls oi
whitewashed brick. Returning 10 the
kitchen one is struck by the absence OF
odors and smoke from the range. his is
due to an ingenious arrangement whereby
the smoke from the fireboxes in the range
is conveyed downward through pipe and
carried under the floor to the chimney. A
gigantic hood extending over the entire
eGuipmept prevents the steam from COOK
inc food from disfguring the steel ceiling
which is painted white, as are the walls OF
the kitchen above the thing. windows
near the ceiling at two sides OF the room
permit ample ventilation.
The transportation and distribution OF
the food from the big kitchen to the sew
eral dining rooms is a unique part OF the
operation of the institution, and Mr..
Spaulding's ingenuity Is Responsible ior
the equipment The kitchen is located on
the oronnd floor or rather on the first floor
of the old gymnasium building in the rear
O, the main buildings of the institution.
The food is placed in heavy tin containers
at the serving table, coffee or tea in large
pots, meats, vegetables, pastry, etc. IN
specially designed receptacles and the
whole placed in galvanized iron car which
is practically air tight, permitting no heat
to escape. The car is run directly onto
an elevator and carried to the floor below
Here it is wheeled hurriedly through
subway to an elevator in the main building
and sent upward when the food is as
tributed to the different dining rooms 70
be served by the attendants to the Dig
family of inmates.
To comprehend the amount of work nee
essary to prepare one meal, for instance
dinner. one is told that in addition to the
two bushels and half of potatoes neces-
essary for the soup three bushels OF po-
tatoes must be prepared and the same
amount of onions When cabbage is
served it requires little matter OF three
barrels of this vegetable. Three barrels OF
SQUASH are needed for the monday meal
one barrel of beets and two barrels OF
parsnips. 1t requires roast OF beef Weigh-
ing about 300 pounds and 70 gallons OF tea
From $50 to 200 pounds OF corned beer are
required for one meal of this big family
and at supper 100 pies are eaten. Sixty
pounds of butter a day are needed and
when dried fruits are served as sauce
for supper it takes so pounds which makes
a washtub full of sauce. During the fall
and winter Steward Spaulding manages to
use IS barrels of green tomato pickles IN
addition to 50 bushels of cucumber pickles.
His supply Of 5000 pounds OF cheese MADE
last year will hardly last until the season
comes again for turning out tins DAIRY
product. While one marvels at the WORK
necessary to prepare meal IN this plg
kitchen the problem seems simpler wn Zen
one studies the numerous labor-savlng de-
vices, Here may be seen machine tor
naring potatoes and other vegetables. 1t
holds a half bushel of potatoes and does
in 10 minutes the work that four or hve
women could do in a half hour. meat
grinder operated by power can produce re-
suits in few minutes that half dozen
women could not accomplish IN hal1 an
hour.
On the floor beneath the kitchen are To-
Gated the refrigerators, three in number;
One is used for the left-overs and mere an
meats. vegetables and other perishable
foods are placed to be utilized later. The
refrigerator used for meats accommodates
20 quarters of beef, and another is used
to store butter, eggs, and milk; On this
floor is the milk room where the milk Is
delivered from the Retreat farm. The IN,
stitution uses so gallons of milk daily. All
utensils used in milking are washed in this
room and sterlized with steam and hung
on metal pegs to dry. No cloths are used
whatever in cleansing these utensils;
This big cookery is run on q schedule
similar to that employed by railroad com
pany in moving its trains. In the big
kitchen hang the general orders Of MIR;
Spaulding and each car loaded with food
is sent from the kitchen at exactly the
same time each day. There is no guess
work. It is clock work and the cars are