MENAGER.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7414, 28 May 1902, Page 1

MENAGER.

— — — -*■ B_N_ EDWABD'S FREjrCH COOK. (New TbrkSwn.) ■ ! All the world and nis wife are free to. look upon King Edward's Coronation pageant in June. The public performers, however, will not be the whole show. Inside the palace gates distinguished artists will have to make the effort of their lives. Their names will not appear on the programme, and for that reason their achievements may pass unrecognised unless mentioned now. Among them are the King's cook and his wine taster. It 'was a decree promulgated by King Edward when he ascended the throne that Mr Menager w-is not to be interfered with. Mr Menager .draws an annual salary of 10,000 dol a year— about the same as a LieutenantGeneral in the British Army or an Admiral of the Fleet/ It is the same as the official income of two members or Lord Stjttsbury's Cabinet, and it exceeds that of the Keeper • of the British Museum . and' of sundry Bi:^ops,. . Mr Mender's position is ,much firmer than the Ministry's. The King has referred to him again and again, as a "-perfect treaeure," and frequently proffers him a cigar from the Royal pocket cafee. ' , '■ Mr Menager's career goes to substantiate tbe saying that great cooks are born, not made. " He is not more than forty now, and the' compliment of being asked to become chef to the Prince of Wales was paid him more than five years ago. He is a Frenchman, probably of the south, tall and comely with a black beard trimmed on the model of his master's. It was from the kitchen of the Reform Clnb, the best club for dining in London, that, he moved' wettward a few hundred yards to ISlarlborough House. The Reform Club kitchen has Been. for long the studio of great artists. Its Tory neighbour, the Carleton, plodded along wUh the old plain dishes and let the cookery contest go by •default,? only shaking. its head and muttering,7'Those • Whigs always had French leanings." ' ... 7 ■ ' ■•'- 'the queen's cook. Francatelli, wno i , was Queen Victoria's cook for many years, came from the Reform. He reached his apotheosis when ihe wrote a on hi.** art and opened a. cafe in Paris — not an ordinary cafe where people go who dine to live, but one catering ior. the patronage of the most select of the cosmopolitan society .which lives to dine.; Before the Prince of Wales's friends started - the • Marlborough Club at his own door he dined often with the Marquis of Hartington, how the Duke of Devonshire,. I and Sir Henry James at the Reform Club.: There foVlearned' for the first time .to admire^ the man" who devised, his dinners. . When Mr L Menager wag asked to come up higher he took his methods with hijm. For one thing he will have all' the simpler work done by kitchenmaids. t No male hands in the junior kitchen for him. . 'He says with conviction that he .does not believe that feminine nature can rise to the greatest heights in his art any more than in painting, poetry or music. --Vet,. Jo iis rare moments of comparative humil--ity, he will half admit that his women assistants contrive great works for which Jie, as ohef, gets credit, and he knows other J^cJtfjas in London^ Sir Edward. Lawsort',B and JuUus.Werfcher's, which have frequently served dinners to nis Royal master'arid are "controlled absolutely by women cooks. '''.'' His own' male assistant confines himself to pastry, omelettes and rolls. Other matters he entrusts to feminine hands. . He does not sleep under the King's roof, "b_t has his private residence in a street not very far away. Breakfasts are not his a&airs on ordinary days; they are the task of his assisant. -i It is not 'looked : for that any artist can- produce .three masterpieces in one day, especially when the greatest, the dinner, has to come last. Thus, Mr Menager need not quit his own' roof tree until after .eleven o'clock. MB MENAGEB's KITTIES. Then he steps into; a hansoin and drives 'to Marlborough 'House. His kitchen is big. and bright and has all the windows ,on the ground .floor facing the lawn. .-'; The carte for luncheon is brought to him and his work begins. The King never draws up the list of dishes for Tlis own meals.' That is done -by Lord Fa'rqutanr, the Master of the Household,- or Lord Valentia, the Comptroller ; but of course it is .always varied enough to include- anything the King wants,, for it is a chief qualification of these functionaries to know his tastep. r . 7. ■ ' Mr Menager selects everything that, he needs. The master of the kitchen, Mr Blackwood, a much more prosaic personage, a.mere man. of figures, sees that all the articles come in and that the items "on the i tradesmen's accounts correspond. When he has verified them they are taken to Sir Nigel Kingscote, the Paymaster, -who writes out cheques for payment. Leaving these persons to their countinghouse work, Mr Siena ger sallies forth. from Marlborough House smoking a big cigar and walks up St James's Street. ' His destination is the Chefs' Club in Shaftesbury Avenue,* where he will play a ga_te of billiards. Then he will, drop; in at the Cafe Royal and afterward haye a friendly chat •with one or other of his restaurateur com-patriots-near Piccadilly (Jbrcus. At six o'clock he returns to Marlborough House to prepare the King's dinner. He is frankly proud of his early creations and

will -often include cutlets a la Reform or other dishes named after the great Whig resort in the King's menu. Timorous cooks might hesitate to thrust the word " reform " Under the eyes of a King when he was dining, but Mr Menager and his master understand each other. '• DIKING AT MABI.BOBOTJGH HOtJSE. His is a far harder task than -was his pensioned predecessor's in Queen Victoria's days. For weeks at a timo the Queen's meals m the. last reign would all be served on a- single silver tray in. a corner of one, [ of ter private apartments, with only, one. I of her daughters and two ladies-in-^'ting | for company. But now King Edward; ; [ when he is af- Windsor, orders the banqueting table to be set every night. 7 The main table seats about thirty, ahd for that company Mr Menager must be. prepared. Everything is -carved in the kitchen and. built up again on servingoishes. The King insists that the food shall all be served like entrees, the separate portions' ready : cut for each diner. .Only at Christmas time, when the' baron, of beef and the boar's head are on the list, is any carving done on the gieat sideboard. .. Before the King touches 3 dish a seiiicir. 'member of' his household tastes it and puts it before him. No waiter touches the ! plate after this tasting performance. . ] Bufc these things are outside Mr Mena- i ger *s province. • By that time he is mixing j in the outer world among his frieuds. He j knows nothing about -politics, buv he is al- j ways very glad to know a good thing about ] horses. It is his great relaxation, le sport, and his master sometimes lets liim know a good thing. Then lie puts his money i on with a will. - - - ! Tradesmen holdiug the Royal warrant furnish all the meat and household supplies. They aro understood to complain that though the volume of business is much bigger in the new reign, the Royal pursestrings are more tightly held. THB KINGS WINE-TASTER. The King's wine-tasier, Mr Payne, is ecarcely so close to the throne as Mr Menager, the cook. Mr Menager rose to his 1 present height through sheer genius, while [ Mr Payne belongs to the hereditary branclj lof the British Constitution, for he suc- ' ceeded his father. Physically, he is a great man, and hb treats his office with becoming gravity. Twice a week — it will be oftener when Coronation time comes — he walks into St James's Palace, produces his bunch of keys and -descends through a trapdoor into the cellar, accompanied by a servitor holding a lantern. The cellar is a subterranean passage extending to Buckingham Palace, passing under the Mall, the traffic cf London going Unheard r.bove. Locked side doors show where particular bins lie, and the thousands of bottles stacked along ths walls are fccarcely distinguishable from the old grey sides of the passage. Whai is now a long, narrow wine cellar, stretching from palace to palace, had romantic and other uses in the days of the Stuarts, and even, they say, much later. Mr Payne has the list of wine he has to take cut. Each kind he tastes. Like the professional at his craft, he doea not swallow. He will t-ell you that the man who

swallows, cannot taste. He just takes a, httle in his mouth and puts it out. So many dozen are taken up in a crate and handed over to Sir Nigel Kingscote, Paymaster of the Household, who issues the wine to the King's table when it is used. Then" Mr Payne returns to his cellar for more. There are no rivalries between Mr Payne and Mr Menager, although the wine cellar has, by the King's preference, scored one rather notable victory over the kitchen. The' King never takes coffee for breakfast — always champagne, a small bottle.