THE MODERN KITCHEN

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 4, 6 January 1936, Page 10

THE MODERN KITCHEN

HOTELS & RESTAURANTS

DISPLAY AT OLYMPIA

(From "Tlio Post's" Representative.) LONDON, December 7.

Cookery exhibitions have previously been held in London, but this year the exhibition at Olympia has been planned on a much larger scale. Hotels, restaurants, catering firms, and the industries which provide the furnishings for kitchens as well as for the ordinary living-rooms of hotels, have all combined to arrange a most comprehensive show. In fact, for the first time the catering trade is able to see under one roof almost all that interests them.

Cooking competitions, under the auspices of the Salon Culinaire International de Londres, are as usual a feature of the exhibition, and the public may see the dishes produced by experts in their craft. Among the unusual and spectacular products are a fifteen-foot sugar, model of the Queen Mary, a ten-foot sugar model of ths Normandie, and a 4ft 6in scale model of the Flying Scotsman made from blue prints and photographs supplied by the railway company. Even tlw rails and ballast and, coal are edible sugar. There are also a Swiss chalet and a windmill in chocolate.

Large entries have been received for the 28 classes, and it is interesting to observe that army school instructors have entered over 30 dishes. The most popular competition is lor the decorated ham. It is notable that thera are only five women competitors. In the kitchen, theatre demonstrations ol home cookery are being given by West End chefs, and at all the sessions all seats in the theatre are occupied. EQUIPMENT NOVELTIES. Many novelties are to be seen in the equipment exhibits. A new idea is a fire attached to the ceiling of bathrooms, thus abolishing the risk of towels or clothes catching fire. The fire may be swivelled so that the rays can be directed on the user whether in the bath or out of it. There is an electric toaster which rings a bell when the toast is ready. About six rounds may be toasted at one and the same time, and a new lot put in position as the completed rounds are taken out. There is a cooker which roasts a chicken in six minutes. A new device for gas cooking ranges spreads the heat so that many pots may be kepi boiling at one and the same time. The gas flames emerge from the sides of the furnace and strike a pyramid of refractory materials. This deflects and spreads the flames so as to give it the maximum effectiveness. Electricity, is applied for laboursaving in many forms of kitchen work. There are electric dishwashers, electric dough mixers, potato peelers, potato chippers, potato crispers, rn«at mixers, sausage and mincing machines, sausage fillers, and coffee mills. There are checking systems which save the trade tens of thousands a year. A new type of machine actuated by a handle turns out butter pats from the solid block. Hitlierto, the buttcrpat trade with clubs and hotels has been in the hands of a few firms. Restaurants, hotels, and clubs will now be able to make their butter into pats on their, own premises. THE LAGER BEER TRADE. A development of considerable interest is the increasing popularity, of lager beer. Several German and other Continental firms are exhibiting their wares and freely issuing samples, but a Scottish firm has also entered into the trade. It is said that the growing habit of having late suppers is responsible for the increase in the consumption of lager. An enterprising London firm has tested the hardness of water in all parts of the country, and explains that a water-softening device pays for itself in the savings it makes on soap, tea, gas, and in many other ways. The models range from that for the bathroom or kitchen tap at 22s 6d to a 6000-gallons-an-hour model ai £400. A new type of mat for places where there is the tread of many thousands ot feet is made of tough rubber fibre links, composed of Egyptian cotton and pure para rubber woven on steel wire. The Electrical Development Association demonstrates the all-electric hotel. There are examples of lighting arrangements for lounges, pedestal hand basins with heating units in the base, illuminated bar counters, heaters that are also ventilators, and complete electric laundry installations.