Grill room

“ A grill-room is a bad place to dine, but it is a convenient place to lunch. It always contains a number of tables, which accommodate not less than half a dozen persons; small tables of the proper dimensions for a tête-â-tête being, for inscrutable reasons, wholly absent from English eating-houses.
The grill-room in question is decorated in that style of which the animus is to be agreeable to Mr. William Morris, though I suspect that in the present application of his charming principles he would find a good deal of base alloy. ”

“ The lights in the electroliers burn here day and night, but the atmosphere is never stuffy. A glass screen keeps the heat of the grill from the room, and in front of this screen are piles of crimson tomatoes, and chops and steaks of deeper red, and mushrooms yellow, grey and warm brown, a harmony in reds and greys. Its carte du jour is all-embracing, and some of the dishes are always ready. ”

“ The deep rose of the carpet contrasts with the white of the walls. At a multitude of tables are hundreds of people of every comfortable class in life, from the bank clerk to the field-marshal, and from the typist to the duchess, eating meals simple or elaborate, just as they will. This grill-room, like [Pg 102] most of the others, caters for every taste; for there is an elaborate carte du jour, two table d'hôte luncheons at half-a-crown and three-and-six, and a table d'hôte dinner at five-and-six. Electric fans keep the atmosphere pure. ”

“ The staircase which leads down to it is oak-panelled. In the little ante-chamber where hats and coats are given up there is a newspaper stall, and in another ante-room are easy-chairs, dark green in colour, and small tables with tops of burnished copper. The grill-room itself is all white, little pilasters breaking the smooth sides of the walls. Blue china stands on the shelves, a Cromwell clock ticks on a bracket, and at one side of the room are arched recesses with stained glass windows at the back of them. ”

“ Quite a number of Britons of both sexes wanted all the conveniences of the grill-rooms long before the modern grill-room came into existence. (Hard-working men of business who had not time to go home to the suburbs to change their clothes, men of the theatre, authors and managers who work late in the evening, actors and actresses who like a very light meal before going to the theatre, and to sup after their work without wearing gorgeous raiment, and a host of other people who get their living by their brains.) ”

“ A man in a hurry can eat a four-course dinner here in half-an-hour without risking indigestion, but a couple who wish to talk over their meal can make a cutlet and an ice an excuse for sitting out an hour.
The grill-room of the Princes' Restaurant, to which one descends from an entrance in Piccadilly, is a comfortable white room, with white pillars and mirrors in the panelled walls, where quite good food is served, and where there are always the dishes of the day ready as well as the chops and steaks, kidneys and sausages, and other legitimate grill fare. ”

“ There are no secret closets in this house, with the exception of a sliding panel in the Grill Room, which when lifted gives access to the wine closet below. Beyond that is the old kitchen, which is now used as a dining-room. It still shows the old brick oven, where during Governor Gilman's occupancy the baking was done, and also the Dutch oven, where the meat was roasted in the governor's day. On the mantel over the old fireplace are displayed some fine bits [Pg 79] of old pewter, while the windows of this house still retain the small panes. ”

“ Down in the café a table d'hôte meal is served, wonderful value for very few shillings, but I am not smoke-proof, and I like eating my meals without the taste and smell of tobacco added to them. The grill-room is always full, and perhaps more solid eating, of juicy fillets and grilled chops and cutlets, is done there than anywhere else in the house, except in the banqueting-rooms. ”

“ There are the little carved cupids on the outside portals, the marble-topped tables which are deftly covered with table-cloths by the waiters in the usual French garb of white aprons and short jackets when the meal-times approach, the partitions of brass rail, the marble columns, the panels of glazed tiles, and, at the end of the room, the grill with a clock above it, where, shielded by a transparent screen, a stout cook all in white stands and turns the chops and the steaks on the great gridiron where the fat drips through and fizzles on the coals beneath. ”

“ All these matters invariably straighten themselves out. I read in the columns of City intelligence that the hotel, under the management of Mr F. Heim, who is now managing director, is a financial success, and is paying good dividends. The restaurant has gathered to itself a clientele that is smart and well-dressed, and it treats its guests excellently.
To the great grill-room, which lies down in the basement below the restaurant, and which is one of the largest and one of the busiest places of good cheer in London, I allude in my chapter concerning some of the grill-rooms. ”

“ The numerous grill rooms are also accommodating, though they do not open early enough to offer an American breakfast, while the hotels seldom venture on anything beyond bacon and eggs before lunch time. ”

“ This barbecue of stone is built with the firebox and grill at a convenient height. A chimney is desirable but not necessary. Note the device for raising and lowering the grill.
There are several methods of adapting the outdoor fireplace to cooking. The simplest is to provide yourself with a pair of rather high andirons and a grill to lay over the top of them. The grill may also be hinged to rear of the fireplace or you may install sliding adjustable grill as illustrated. A pot and crane adds to the appearance as well as the utility of the outdoor fireplace. ”

“ The design of the barbecue grill or outdoor stove is a matter for your own taste. For comfort’s sake you will want to have the grill top 55 about the height of your kitchen stove. Build up the firebox so that when the coals are glowing, they will be about eight inches below the grill, which should be made of 3/16-inch steel rods spaced about one inch apart in a metal frame. A groove or seat for the grill may be made in the masonry, or you may provide supports by imbedding projecting pieces of iron in the firebox walls. ”

“ In the 1950s, when backyard grills became widely available, and outdoor cooking really began to take off. The combination of outdoor grills and the charcoal briquets made barbecuing so easy and reliable, that today, according to a Barbecue Industry Association survey, seven out of ten American households own a barbecue grill, and we use them about 1.5 billion times a year total. ”

“ There were wreaths to-night in the club windows, and when Sands opened the doors there was a mass of poinsettia against the hall mirror.
How warm it looked with all that gold and red!
In the basement was the grill. It was a night when one might order something heavy and hot. A planked steak—with deviled oysters at the start and a salad at the end. ”

“ The grill must always be placed over the glowing fuel in advance, and it should be very hot when the objects to be grilled are placed upon it, otherwise they would stick to the bars, and would probably be spoiled when turned.
Grills Classified.
Grills may be divided into four classes, of which each demands particular care. They are: (1) Red-meat grills (beef and mutton) ; (2) White-meat grills (veal, lamb, poultry) ; (3) Fish; (4) Grills coated with butter and bread-crumbs. ”

“ In the earlier days the grills, both that for gentlemen and that for ladies, were noted for their magnificent service and their wonderful cooking. A breakfast in the Ladies' Grill, with an omelet of California oysters, toast and coffee, was a meal long to be remembered. ”

“ Outside, all you need to do is baste the skin with fat to prevent it from burning, and if you are using an open fire, regularly turn the bird so that it is heated evenly. An oven solves the latter problem, and although Englishmen had bake ovens in 1621, the Pilgrims didn’t. But a decade or so later they built them into their Plymouth fireplaces and used them regularly for roasts as well as breads. So if you don’t have an outdoor grill with a spit or a fireplace that could be converted into an open hearth, an oven will do fine. ”

“ In an electrically fitted kitchen what do we see? A clean, bright-looking oven and a hot plate for boiling and simmering, and probably a grill, completed by a plate heater, all standing on a table placed in a good light and conveniently near the sink. The cook may sit at ease peeling apples and put out a hand to alter the heat of the oven or hot plate, or to move a saucepan. If she is a forgetful [180] person, a red lamp reminds her of the fact that she has not switched off the current from any portion of the cooking apparatus no longer needed. ”

“ There is a cavernous old kitchen within, resplendent in shining copper—a busy kitchen to-day, sizzling in good things and pungent with the aroma of two tender young chickens, basting on a spit, a jolly old kitchen, far more enticing than the dingy long dining-room adjoining it, whose walls are frescoed in panels representing bottle-green lobsters, gaping succulent clams, and ferocious crabs sidling away indignantly from nets held daintily by fine ladies and their gallants, in costumes that were in vogue before the revolution. ”

“ But it was the stove that made this room unique: not an ordinary, commonplace cooking-machine, but a big, generous, roomy arrangement, pushed far back out of everybody’s way, with out-riggers for broiling, and capacious ovens for baking, and shelves for keeping things hot, besides big and little openings on top for pots and kettles and frying-pans, of a pattern unknown to the modern chef; each and every one dearly prized by the cheery little soul who burnt her face to a blazing red in its service. ”

“ When using the grill, make it red-hot and see that the grill pan is under, and getting hot at the same time. The grill is used for toasting, and if you turn over the toasted side of bread on to a cold surface, it makes it tough. ”

“ On a modern stove, the grill is arranged so that half of it may be lighted at a time for grilling small things. When grilling meat or fish, cook with full heat for two minutes in order to seal the pores and conserve the good of the food, then reduce the heat, turn, increase the heat, and decrease again. ”

“ That of the knuckle is frequently left in, but for some dishes it is necessary to take it out; in doing this, be careful not to tear the skin. A most excellent grill may be made by leaving sufficient meat for it upon the bones of a shoulder of mutton, when they are removed from the joint: it will be found very superior to the broiled blade-bone of a roast shoulder, which is so much liked by many people.
STEWED SHOULDER OF VEAL.
(English Receipt.) ”

“ Two slices of bacon fried. Place on them a fried egg and on the top a cooked tomato which has been fried in a little butter.
[28]
GRILLED STEAK
See that the fire is clear and red, without flames. Trim off most of the fat from the steak, and rub the wires of the grill with it and heat it over the coals. Then put in the meat and turn over and over as it cooks, and be careful not to let it get burnt. ”

“ In some London houses, including those of the Coffee Tavern Company, the customers are allowed to bring their own chop or piece of meat to be cooked, and are provided with plate, knife and fork, salt and pepper for a charge of one halfpenny. Hitherto this accommodation has been provided for working men only at publichouses, and wherever the custom prevails the Coffee Publichouse should adopt it. A grill may be fitted up for the purpose at an expense of from £15 to £20. Gas ovens are found to work well, both for cooking meat and baking bread, cakes, &c. ”

“ When the grill is hot, turn the gas down and watch the toast very carefully, as it cooks very quickly. Always keep a large pan or kettle of water over the griller, as it helps to throw down the heat. Do not boil the kettle on a boiling tap and use the griller for toast, but cook over the griller as well as under it ”

“ Upstairs are the kitchen, where the woman cook responds to the verbal shorthand shouts of the waiters by putting chops and steaks on to the grill and clanging the oven door as good things to bake go into its recesses, and other old rooms, in which are some interesting relics of the old lexicographer, the chair in which he always sat at the Mitre, and other things curious and quaint, but they must await inspection till after lunch, for to-day is a pudding day, and the fat waiter with a moustache is waiting for our orders. ”

“ An intermediate pantry or entry way shuts off many of the smells of cooking, and a small slide through which dishes can be passed serves to the same end, as it obviates the necessity of keeping the door ajar while food is carried back and forth.
How to light the dining room is a question of some importance. There should be light enough to show the table to advantage, but it should be possible to darken the room with shutters or blinds in the inevitable summer warfare with flies. A room looks better, artistically, where the light enters from but one side. ”

“ The chief dwelling room has the same sort of kitchen fireplace, with boiler, toaster hanging on the bars, movable iron griddle socketed to the hob, hook above for roasting, and broad fender, on which stand a kettle and a plate of buttered toast. The door, between the fireplace and the corner, has neither panels, fingerplates nor handles: it is made of plain boards, and fastens with a latch. The table is a kitchen table, with a treacle colored cover of American cloth, chapped at the corners by draping. ”