Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 9, 1995 TAG: 9508090038
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL DERMODY ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: PROVIDENCE, R.I. LENGTH: Medium
Of course, if he wanted to know what kind of soup was served during a Graf Zeppelin flight from Berlin to the United States on Aug. 18, 1931, he could have found that out from her, too. (It was celery).
Kuck is curator of the Culinary Archives & Museum at Johnson & Wales University, home to one of the largest collection of cookbooks, menus, dining room illustrations and kitchen gadgets in the world.
``We get calls all the time from chefs, writers and people who need to know something very specific about a dish, or what people wore at a banquet 300 years ago,'' said Kuck, whose name, fittingly, is pronounced ``Cook.''
``We make it our job is to record the past, present and future of culinary trends,'' she said.
Those records often come in handy.
When Scorsese's people called, researchers pulled old menus, banquet illustrations and 19th-century dinner invitations hand-painted by Tiffany's of New York to make sure the dining scenes were authentic. They even came up with a recipe for Roman punch, a lemon-flavored ice with rum used to cleanse the palate at such a dinner.
Kuck, daughter of famous Chicago chef Louis Szathmary, is encyclopedic in her knowledge of the collection.
She can tell you why the Earl of Sandwich invented his namesake food (greasy fingers from open-face sandwiches ruined the playing cards used during his all-night games) and what was the most expensive dish at Boston's Parker House restaurant in 1868 (roast goose, 60 cents).
The museum's inside looks like a warehouse, with its concrete floors and rough, wooden beams running from floor to ceiling. There are more than 300,000 items, including 40,000 menus, 70,000 prints and 20,000 cookbooks, some dating to the 16th century.
Taking a tour is like being led through a never-ending garage sale.
``For myself, it is the greatest thing there is,'' said Roland Mesnier, pastry chef at the White House. ``I never have enough time when I'm there. There's just so much to see.''
One wall is lined with stoves, some more than 100 years old.
There are thousands of wooden spoons - the world's most popular culinary implement - and about as many knives, including one that legend says was taken from gunslinger Billy the Kid at a Midwest jail cell.
Aisles of shelves are stocked with copper bread molds, utensils and labor-saving devices such as the cherry pitter that did two at a time, a raisin de-seeder, string bean slicer, olive pit-remover and more.
Blue binders piled high on desks contain menus from world-famous restaurants, private dinner parties, airlines and cruise ships.
One of the most popular displays has thousands of pieces of correspondence from famous people.
``Everybody's fascinated by the letters,'' Kuck said. ``We all have to eat. I guess people feel more of a connection to somebody so famous when they see how they had the same concerns as everybody else.''
The museum is open Monday through Saturday. Admission is $3 for adults, $2 for senior citizens, $1 for college students and 50 cents for children. Guided tours are provided by Johnson & Wales University students.
by CNB