The kitchens

R

Richard Coplen

Guest
In all the time I've been in here I don't think I've heard much about the kitchens. Any ideas people? Anyone have any idea what they looked like and how were the ovens and such heated? Were they coal-heated? How much kitchen staff was needed? Did the A la Carte restaurant have it's own seperate kitchens? Any ideas?
Appreciate it,
Rich.
 
There is a detailed description of the 'Culinary Department' in The Shipbuilder special issue on the Olympic Class. Some edited highlights: These vessels were provided with possibly the largest kitchen ranges in existence in their day - the 1st/2nd Class galley contained two, each with a total working frontage of 96' and including 19 ovens. The kitchen area had storage bunkers for coke and (mainly) coal, but there were also steam ovens and electrical appliances including devices for heating, freezing, peeling, slicing, mincing, mixing and whisking. A hoist provided a connection with the food storage areas on lower decks. The restaurant had its own separate kitchen and pantry provision, as did the 3rd class dining area.

About 100 people in total worked in the kitchens, pantries and food storage areas, the vast majority serving the 1st and 2nd Class passengers. In addition, the restaurant employed about 30 in its own kitchens and pantries.
.
 
Actually, nobody worked in the kitchens on Titanic. Quite a number worked in the galleys.

There's a photo of some of them on page 59 of Titanic Voices. It was captioned by a landlubbber.
 
Ah, the joys of semantics. For the staff writers at The Shipbuilder, well versed as they were in nautical terminology, it was 'kitchens' all the way. It's interesting that the landlubbers of the legal profession at the British Inquiry were generally careful to refer to the 'galley', while surviving crew members who had worked there referred as often as not to the 'kitchen' and to themselves as 'kitchen hands'. There may be a moral there!
 
Sorry Dave, I'm not with you on this one.

The main kitchens on large passenger vessels were/are routinely referred to as - kitchens.

The term 'galley' in such vessels is usually reserved for outlying facilities such as a crew galley or native galley presided over by a certificated ships' cook (or bhandary).

In such as cargo vessels with only one facility (give or take a 'native' galley down aft) your espoused terminology would be correct.

By and large the terms are interchangeable without the necessity for umbrage (call a scuttle a porthole and you'll have some RN types apoplectic!)

Noel
 
I doubt they had any spare time, Rob. Some of the kitchen staff had administrative or supervisory duties, but other than that everybody was kept busy following their own specialities as baker, sauce cook, dishwasher or whatever. I imagine that providing a small army of passengers with three meals every day and doing all the cleaning up in between was very much a full-time task.
 
I'm with Bob on this one. A really small ship might find some time for a cook to get a break but on a big one, be it a warship or a liner/cruise ship, the work in the galley/kitchens/bakery/scullary/deep sink goes on constantly. I don't see how they could find time for much in the way of collateral duties.
 
My chef son was pondering the idea of working a cruise liner in the future, but was put off by descriptions of the working 'practcies' by an ashen-faced survivor of a 3 month tour of duty on a major cruise line. All he did was work, sleep, eat on the run, and cower in terror. I think it's OK if you're the executive chef or his immediate underlings, but if you are one of the minions it sounds like a trip back to the 19th century. Son said it made Gordon Ramsay sound your favourite granny teaching you to bake cookies.
I've moved this thread to Hospitality.
 
Your son has a good idea now what it is to be one of the lower ranks that anyone can get without actually doing it. Feeding thousands of people gourmet quality meals on a ship and doing it on a very tight schedule is not for the fait hearted.
 
I don't know if, on the other side of the Pond, you know who Gordon Ramsay is. He's the owner of a couple of Michelin-stared restaurants here, and is a great media junkie - he appears on TV constantly in the UK - berating, belittling, and otherwise crushing, anyone who works for him. Mesmerizing, if awful, TV. A perfectionist who used to be a pro-footballer. Seems he brought some of the aggression of soccer (not just a girl's game here...) into the kitchen. His language is appalling, but on the other hand, he does seem to be a good teacher. Which is why my son would rather consider (with trepidation) working for him (instead of a cruise line, where the training seems to be minimal, but the angst seems to be maximal). I've even heard rumours of suicides amongst the junior minion 'chefs' on cruise liners.... which is why I won't be sorry if my boy stays on dry land.
 
"Seems he brought some of the aggression of soccer (not just a girl's game here...) into the kitchen."

Oh it was already there... Rest assured, it's always been there.

Noel
 
Sounds like you are speaking from personal experience there, Noel? My son seems able to tolerate any amount of abuse so long as the Chef does actually cook and teach his underlings. Which, perhaps, explains some of the aggressive nature of chefs. I teach, but if I had to do so whilst also turning out perfect products (dishes), within a tight timeframe, in order to keep the whole enterprise afloat, I think I would be very manic... and my language would definitely deteriorate very quickly.
Revolutions are certainly not allowed in kitchens, John ... just think how you'd feel if it happened when you were out for a delicious meal? Lol! Or, even worse, on the cruise of a lifetime - just ask Jim Kalafus...
 

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