Chapter IX: Introduction: =Chafing-dishes Past and Present.= (1)

Well, he was an ingenious man that first found out
eating and drinking.--_Swift._

How fire was discovered, when it was first applied to the needs of human beings, the origin and early use of cooking and heating utensils,--all are concealed from us in the mists that surround the life of prehistoric man. But at the dawn of history, even before the beginning of our era, crude appliances for cooking were in use; and, without doubt, one of the earliest of these was an utensil corresponding in some particulars, at least, to the chafing-dish of to-day.

The chafing-dish is a portable utensil used upon the table, either for cooking food or for keeping food hot after it has been cooked by other means. In ancient times, the fuel of the chafing-dish was either live coals or olive oil; to-day we use either electricity, gas, alcohol or colonial spirits.

The first chafing-dishes of which historic mention is made consisted of a pan heated over a pot of burning oil, the pan resting upon a frame which held the pot of oil. It was with such an utensil, perhaps, that the Israelitish women cooked the locusts of Egypt and Palestine, for these were eaten as a common food by the people of the biblical lands and age.

Mommsen, in his history of Rome, while speaking of the extravagance of the times, as shown in the table furnishings, probably refers to the chafing-dish when he says: "A well-wrought bronze cooking-machine came to cost more than an estate." The idea that this might be the utensil referred to is strengthened by the fact that many chafing-dishes have been found in the ruins of Pompeii. These were made of bronze, and highly ornamented. Evidently, olive oil was the fuel used in these dishes.

Coming down to more modern times, Madame de Staël had a dish of very unique pattern, and, when driven by the command of Napoleon from her beloved Paris, she carried her chafing-dish with her into exile as one of her most cherished household gods. At the present day among the favored few, who have full purses, are found sets of little silver chafing-dishes about four inches square. These tiny dishes rest upon a doylie-covered plate, and a bird or rarebit may be served in them as a course at dinner, one to each guest. The cooking is not done in these dishes, and they are not furnished with lamps; in them the food, while it is being eaten, is simply kept hot by means of a tiny pan filled with hot water.

"With all Appliances and Means to boot."]

In reality, the modern chafing-dish is a species of _bain marie_, or double boiler, with a lamp so arranged that cooking can be done without other appliances. It consists of four parts. The _first_ is the blazer, or the pan in which the cooking is done; this is provided with a long handle. The _second_ is the hot-water pan, which corresponds to the lower part of the double boiler; this should be provided with handles, and is a very inconvenient dish without them. The _third_ is the frame upon which the hot-water pan rests, and in which the spirit-lamp is set. The _last_, but by no means least, part is the lamp; this is provided with a cotton or an asbestos wick. When the lamp has a cotton wick, the flame is regulated by turning the wick up or down, as in an ordinary lamp. At present this style of lamp is found only in the more expensive grades of dishes,--silver-plated, and costing from $15 upwards. When asbestos is used as the wick, the lamp is filled with this porous stone, which is to be saturated with alcohol immediately before using, and the top is covered with a wire netting. The flame is regulated by means of metal slides, which open and shut over the netting, thus cutting off or letting on the flame, as it is desired.

=Chafing-dish Appointments.=

With all appliances and means to boot.
--HENRY IV., iii. I.

The chafing-dish should always rest upon a tray, as a very slight draught of air, or the expansion of the alcohol when heated, will sometimes cause the flame to flare out and downward, and thus an unprotected tablecloth might be set on fire.

Often a cutlet dish is considered a necessary part of a chafing-dish outfit; but as one of the chief merits of the chafing-dish consists in the possibility of serving a repast the instant it is cooked, there would seem to be a want of propriety in removing the cooked article to a platter and garnishing the dish before serving.

A polished wooden spoon, with long handle and small bowl, is a most convenient utensil to use while cooking the dainty; but the regulation chafing-dish spoon is needed when serving the same. Such a spoon has a broad bowl of silver or aluminum, with rounded end, and a long ebony handle.

The filler is a most convenient article for use, when the lamp needs replenishing with alcohol, but in its absence the alcohol may be turned into a small pitcher and from that into the lamp. A lamp of the average size holds about five tablespoonfuls of alcohol, and this quantity will supply heat for at least half an hour.

Glass, granite or tin measuring-cups, upon which thirds or quarters are indicated, also tea- and tablespoons, are essential for accurate measurements.

Several items are essential to the successful serving of a meal from the chafing-dish. To be a pronounced success, the work must be done noiselessly and gracefully. The preparation of all articles is the same for the chafing-dish as for the common stove; but where the mixing is done at the table, as for a rarebit, the recipe takes on an additional flavor, according to the deftness with which it is done.

Let, then, everything be ready and at hand, before the guests or family assemble at the table. Have the lamp filled and covered, so that it may remain filled. Have all seasonings measured out in a cup. In case the yolks of eggs are to be used, they will not injure, having been beaten beforehand, if they be kept covered. When oysters are to be served, have them washed, freed from bits of shell, drained, and left in a pitcher from which they can be readily poured. The quantity of butter used in the recipes is indicated by tablespoonfuls, and may be measured out beforehand and rolled into dainty balls with butter-hands, a spoonful in each ball.

Bear in mind that the hot-water pan is to be used in all cases where the double boiler would be used, if the cooking were to be done upon the range. For instance, where the recipe calls for milk or cream, except in the making of a sauce, use the bath from the beginning. Also, be careful always to place the blazer in the bath before eggs are added to any mixture. Indeed, the hot-water pan is the one feature of the chafing-dish which it is most important to notice; for on the proper use of the hot-water pan the value of the chafing-dish as an exponent of scientific cookery entirely depends. She who well understands the principles upon which the use of this rests has gained no small insight into the secret of all cookery, be it scientific, economic or hygienic; for a knowledge of the effect of heat at different temperatures, applied to food, is the very foundation-stone upon which all cookery rests.

Although the chafing-dish is especially adapted to the needs of the bachelor, man or maid, its use should not be relegated entirely to the homeless or the Bohemian. In the sick-room, at the luncheon-table, on Sunday night, it is most serviceable and wellnigh indispensable; it always suggests hearty welcome and good cheer.

While it is out of place, at any ceremonial meal, as a means of cooking, even on such occasions a lobster Newburgh or other dish that needs be served piping hot to be eaten at its best may be brought on in individual chafing-dishes. These are supplied with hot-water pans and lamps. At a chafing-dish supper each guest can prepare his own rarebit.

Any operation in cooking that can be performed on the kitchen range may be successfully carried out on the chafing-dish, provided one be skilled in its use. But as the dining-room is usually chosen as the site in which to test its possibilities, here it were well to confine one's efforts to such dishes as will not give rise to too much disorder. Sautéing and frying it were better to reserve for the range and a well-ventilated kitchen.

(See page 157)]

Alcohol is most commonly used in the lamp of the chafing-dish; and, on account of its cheapness, one is often advised to buy _wood_ alcohol. But in large markets, where many fowl are singed daily over an alcohol flame, the marketmen will tell you that the very best article is none too good for their purpose. It does not smoke, wastes less rapidly, and in the end will prove quite as economical.

=Are Midnight Suppers Hygienic?=

"Being no further enemy to you
Than the constraint of hospitable zeal."

In regard to the chafing-dish and its most prominent use, some one may fittingly ask: Is it hygienic to eat at midnight? Can one keep one's health and eat late suppers? As in all things pertaining to food, no set rules can be given to meet every case; much depends upon constitutional traits, individual habits and idiosyncrasies. One may practise what another cannot attempt. As a rule, however, people who eat a hearty dinner, after the work of the day is done, do not need to eat again until the following breakfast hour.

Those who are engaged, either mentally or physically, throughout the evening, cannot with impunity, eat a very hearty meal previous to that effort; but after their work is done they need nourishing food, and food that is both easily digested and assimilated. But even these should not eat and then immediately retire; for during sleep all the bodily organs, including the stomach, become dormant. Food partaken at this hour is not properly taken care of, and in too many cases must be digested when the individual has awakened, out of sorts, the next morning.

It is well to remember, also, that, at any time after food is eaten, there should be a period of rest from all active effort; for then the blood flows from the other organs of the body to the stomach, and the work of digestion is begun. Oftentimes we hear men say they must smoke after meals, for unless they do so they cannot digest their food. They fail to see that it is not the tobacco that promotes digestion, but the enforced repose.

But, if we must eat at midnight, the question may well be asked, What shall we eat? That which can be digested and assimilated with the least effort on the part of the digestive organs. And among such things we may note oysters, eggs and game, when these have been properly--that is, delicately--cooked.

=How to Make Sauces.=

Let hunger move thy appetyte, and not savory
sauces.--_Babees Book._

"Change is the sauce that sharpens appetite."

As so many dishes are prepared in the chafing-dish that require the use of a simple sauce, we give in this place the methods usually followed in the preparation of common sauces. For one cup of sauce, put two tablespoonfuls of butter into the blazer; let the butter simply melt, without coloring, if for a white sauce, but cook until brown for a brown sauce. Mix together two tablespoonfuls of flour, one-fourth a teaspoonful of salt and a dash of black or white pepper, or a few grains of cayenne or paprica, and beat it into the bubbling butter; let the mixture cook two or three minutes, then stir into it, rather gradually at first, and beating constantly, one cup of cold milk, water or stock. Now, when the sauce boils up once after all the liquid is in, it is ready for use. In making a white sauce some cooks add, from time to time while the sauce is being stirred, a few drops of lemon juice, which they claim makes the sauce much whiter.

Sometimes we make the sauce after another fashion, using the same proportions of the various ingredients. If water or stock be used, put it in the blazer directly over the fire. If the liquid be milk, put it into the blazer, and the blazer over hot water; cream together the butter, flour and seasonings, dilute with a little of the hot liquid, pour into the remainder of the hot liquid, and stir constantly until the sauce thickens, and then occasionally for ten or fifteen minutes, until the flour is thoroughly cooked.

In making a brown sauce, first brown the butter, then brown the flour in the butter, and, whenever it is convenient, use brown stock as the liquid.

INGREDIENTS FOR ONE CUP OF SAUCE.

2 tablespoonfuls of butter.
2 tablespoonfuls of flour.
1/4 a teaspoonful of salt.
A few grains of pepper.
1 cup of liquid.

INGREDIENTS FOR ONE PINT OF SAUCE.

1/4 a cup of butter.
1/4 a cup of flour.
1/2 a teaspoonful of salt.
1/4 a teaspoonful of pepper.
1 pint of liquid.

=Measuring.=

In all recipes where flour is used, unless otherwise stated, the flour is measured after sifting once. When flour is measured by cups, the cup is filled with a spoon, and a level cupful is meant. A tablespoonful or teaspoonful of any designated material is a level spoonful of such material.

=Flavoring.=

When rich soup stock, flavored with vegetables and sweet herbs, is at hand for use in sauces, additional seasonings are not necessary; but when a sauce is made of milk, water, or water and meat extract, some flavor more or less pronounced is demanded. A few bits of onion and carrot browned in hot butter, or anchovy sauce or curry may be added; but, all things considered, the most convenient way to secure an appetizing flavor is by the use of "Kitchen Bouquet." This alone or in conjunction with a dash of some one of the many really good proprietary sauces on the market is well-nigh indispensable in chafing-dish cookery.

RECIPES.

"_No variety here,
But you, most noble guests, whose gracious looks
Must make a dish or two become a feast._"

OYSTER DISHES.

He was a bold man that first ate an
oyster.--_Swift._

=Oysters.=

Put into the blazer twenty-five to fifty choice oysters. As soon as they are hot and look plump, add salt, pepper and butter. Serve on buttered toast or crackers. Add two tablespoonfuls of cream or half a tablespoonful of lemon juice before serving, if desired.

=Oysters, No. 2.=

INGREDIENTS.

1 pint of solid oysters.
4 tablespoonfuls of butter.
1 tablespoonful of lemon juice.
1 scant teaspoonful of salt.
A few grains of cayenne.
Beaten yolks of 2 eggs.

_Method._--Put the oysters into the blazer. When they look plump and the edges curl, put the blazer into the hot-water pan and add the seasonings. Add a few spoonfuls of the liquor from the pan to the yolks of the eggs, and, after mixing well, pour into the chafing-dish. Stir constantly until the liquor thickens, then serve on thin slices of buttered toast or on thin crackers.

=Oysters à la D'Uxelles.=

INGREDIENTS.

1 pint of parboiled and drained oysters.
1 pint of oyster liquor or chicken stock.
4 tablespoonfuls of butter.
4 tablespoonfuls of chopped mushrooms.
4 tablespoonfuls of flour.
A few drops of onion juice.
A few grains of cayenne.
1 teaspoonful of salt.
1 teaspoonful of lemon juice.
Yolks of 2 eggs.

_Method._--Let the oysters be parboiled and drained beforehand. (To parboil, heat quickly to the boiling-point in their own liquor.) Melt the butter in the blazer, add the flour, salt and pepper, and cook till frothy; add the oyster liquor or chicken stock and cook until the boiling-point is reached. Now add the oysters, and, as soon as they are heated thoroughly, put the blazer into the bath and add the beaten yolks, the onion and lemon juice and the mushrooms. As soon as the eggs thicken the sauce a little, serve on toast or crackers. If uncooked mushrooms are used, cook them in the butter two or three minutes before the flour and seasonings are added.

=Curried Oysters.=

INGREDIENTS.

1 pint of oysters (parboiled and drained).
1/2 a cup of cream.
2 tablespoonfuls of butter.
1 tablespoonful of flour.
1/2 a cup of oyster liquor.
1/2 a teaspoonful of curry powder.
1/2 a teaspoonful of chopped onion.
1 teaspoonful of salt.
1 saltspoonful of pepper.

_Method._--Cook the onion and butter in the blazer a few moments. Mix the flour and curry powder and stir into the butter. When frothy add the oyster liquor. As soon as the sauce boils up once, add the salt, pepper and cream, and, in a moment, the oysters. When the oysters are thoroughly heated, serve on buttered toast or crackers.

=Curried Oysters, No. 2.=

INGREDIENTS.

1 quart of oysters.
1/4 a cup of butter.
One small mild onion.
1 tablespoonful of curry powder.
1/4 a cup of flour.
1 cup of oyster liquor.
1 cup of white stock.
1/2 a cup of thick tomato pulp.
Salt and pepper to taste.

_Method._--Bring the oysters to the boiling-point in their own liquor, skim, drain, and set aside. Heat the butter in the blazer, sauté in it the onion cut in slices, stir in the flour and curry powder mixed with the salt and pepper, and, when frothy, add the oyster liquor, stock and tomato pulp (a pint of pulp reduced by slow cooking to half a cup). When the sauce boils, add the oysters; and when hot serve on buttered toast or fried bread.

=Fricassee of Oysters.=

INGREDIENTS.

1 quart of oysters.
4 tablespoonfuls of butter.
Yolks of 2 eggs.
1/2 a teaspoonful of chopped parsley.
1 tablespoonful of flour.
Pepper, salt, cayenne.

_Method._--Brown the butter and add to it the parsley, seasonings and flour; let heat, then add the well-drained oysters, and, when the edges begin to curl, add the well-beaten yolks. Serve on warmed plates, with fried bread and parsley.

=Creamed Dishes.=

(_Oysters, shrimps, lobsters, sweetbreads, chicken, veal, fish, mushrooms, asparagus tips, peas, etc._)

INGREDIENTS.

2 tablespoonfuls of butter.
4 tablespoonfuls of flour.
2 saltspoonfuls of salt.
2 cups of cream, or 2 cups of milk and 4 tablespoonfuls
of butter.
1 saltspoonful of pepper.
1 pint of fish, meat, etc.
2 tablespoonfuls of mushrooms, chopped or diced.
1 teaspoonful of chopped parsley.
1 teaspoonful of onion juice.
1 tablespoonful of lemon juice.

_Method._--Prepare the sauce in the usual manner. If oysters are used, they should have been parboiled previously and drained, and, if large, cut in pieces. Fish should be flaked when hot, and meats cut into dice when cold.

=Devilled Dishes.=

Season any of the creamed dishes highly with cayenne, onion juice, mustard, and Worcestershire or other sauce.

=Scrambled Eggs with Oysters.=

Cream together two tablespoonfuls of butter and one tablespoonful of anchovy paste. Melt in the blazer, then add half a dozen eggs, beaten slightly with one-fourth a teaspoonful of salt and a dash of paprica. Stir and cook, and, when beginning to thicken, add half a pint of oysters, parboiled, "bearded," and cut fine. When scrambled, serve on sippets of toast, lightly spread with anchovy paste.

=Panned Oysters.=

With a fork pressed into a butter ball, rub over the bottom of the hot blazer. Then cover the surface with small rounds of toast, and put one or two uncooked oysters on each round; cover, and cook until plump, dust with salt and pepper, and put a bit of butter on each oyster. Serve, when the butter has melted, with slices of lemon.

=Panned Oysters with Maître d'Hôtel Butter.=

Cook as before. Have ready two tablespoonfuls of butter beaten to a cream; add a few grains of salt and paprica, one tablespoonful of chopped parsley, and, by degrees, the juice of half a lemon. Spread upon the oysters before serving.

=Oyster Cromeskies.=

Scald the oysters in their own liquor over a quick fire. When plump wrap each oyster in a slice of bacon, and fasten with a small skewer (wooden toothpick). Sauté in the blazer, heated very hot. Serve on thin rounds of toast. These cromeskies are most easily cooked in a double broiler, resting on a dripping-pan, in a hot oven.

=Oysters Sauté.=

Wash and drain the oysters, season with salt and pepper, roll in fine crumbs, dip in beaten egg, then roll in crumbs again. Put a little olive oil or clarified butter in the blazer; when it is heated, put in the oysters, brown them on one side, turn, and brown on the other side.

=Oyster Canapés.=

Scald a cup of cream, add two tablespoonfuls of fine-grated bread crumbs, a tablespoonful of butter, a dash of paprica and a grating of nutmeg; then add two dozen oysters, washed, drained and chopped. Stir until the oysters are thoroughly heated, but without boiling the mixture. Spread rounds of toast with butter, and then with the oyster mixture. Serve at once accompanied by olives, pim-olas or gherkins.

=Escalloped Oysters.=

Stir one cup of cracker crumbs into half a cup of melted butter. Heat half a cup of cream or strained oyster liquor in the blazer, put in a layer of oysters (about a cup), washed and drained, and sprinkle with a part of the prepared crumbs, salt and pepper; add another layer of oysters, the rest of the crumbs, and salt and pepper. Cover, and cook nearly ten minutes. Do not stir the oysters.

LOBSTER AND OTHER SEA FISH.

And ate a lobster, and sang and mighty merry.
--_Pepys' Diary._

Take every creature in of every kind.
--_Pope._

=Buttered Lobster.=

Pick the meat from a boiled lobster and cut it into small pieces; sift over it the coral; mix with it also the liver, two tablespoonfuls of vinegar or three of lemon juice, one-third a cup of butter and one-fourth a teaspoonful, each, of cayenne and made mustard; heat in the blazer until thoroughly hot. Serve on cup-shaped leaves of lettuce with a quarter of a hard-boiled _egg_ on the top of each portion.

=Lobster à la Newburgh.=

INGREDIENTS.

Meat of 2 medium-sized lobsters.
4 tablespoonfuls of butter.
1/2 a teaspoonful of salt.
1/4 a teaspoonful of pepper.
2 tablespoonfuls, each, of sherry wine and brandy.
Grating of nutmeg.
Yolks of 4 eggs.
1 cup of cream.

_Method._--Remove the meat from the shells and cut it into delicate slices. Put the butter in the blazer, and, when it melts, put the lobster into it and cook four or five minutes. Add the salt, pepper, nutmeg, wine and brandy. Stir the cream into the beaten yolks, and then stir both into the lobster mixture. Serve as soon as the eggs thicken the sauce.

=Plain Lobster.=

Pour three tablespoonfuls of lemon juice over the meat of one lobster and season with salt and pepper. Put three tablespoonfuls of butter in the blazer, and, when it is melted, add the prepared lobster; stir until hot and serve at once.

=Clams à la Newburgh.=

Use one quart of clams. Separate the hard from the soft parts of the clams. Chop the hard parts fine. Substitute the soft and the chopped parts of the clams for the lobster and proceed as for lobster à la Newburgh.

Oyster, chicken, turkey or sweetbread à la Newburgh may be prepared by substituting one of the above ingredients for the lobster.

=Lobster à la Bordelaise.=

INGREDIENTS.

2 cloves of garlic, chopped.
1 sliced carrot.
2 tablespoonfuls of butter.
2 glasses of white wine (half a cup).
Meat of 2 lobsters.
1 glass of brandy.
3 tablespoonfuls of butter.
Chopped parsley, white and cayenne pepper, salt.

_Method._--Melt the butter in the blazer and in it cook the onion and carrot about five minutes. Remove the carrot; add the wine, lobster and seasonings. When thoroughly heated, add the butter, parsley and brandy and serve at once.

=Hawaiian Lobster Curry.=

(ADA D. WAGG.)

INGREDIENTS.

1-1/2 tablespoonfuls of butter.
1/2 an onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, very fine.
A small piece of grated ginger root.
1-1/2 tablespoonfuls of cornstarch.
1-1/2 tablespoonfuls of curry powder.
1 pint of milk.
1 grated cocoanut.
Meat of a lobster weighing 2 pounds.
Salt and pepper to taste.

_Method._--Grate the cocoanut and set it aside to soak an hour in one pint of milk. Sauté the onion and garlic in the butter, add the cornstarch and seasonings, and cook until frothy; add the milk strained from the cocoanut, gradually, and, when the sauce boils up once, add the lobster; salt and pepper to taste.

=Lobster à la Bechamel.=

INGREDIENTS.

Meat of 2 lobsters.
4 tablespoonfuls of butter.
4 tablespoonfuls of flour.
Salt and pepper.
Grating of nutmeg.
1 cup of cream.
4 yolks of eggs.
1 cup of white stock, seasoned with mace, bay leaf, etc.
1 teaspoonful of lemon juice.
Dried and sifted coral.

_Method._--Cut the lobster in delicate slices or in dice, as preferred. Make a bechamel sauce, after the usual manner, of the butter, flour, seasonings, cream and stock. Add the lobster, and, when heated thoroughly, add the beaten yolks mixed with a few spoonfuls of the sauce from the blazer. Add the lemon juice, and sprinkle the dried and sifted coral or some chopped parsley over the top of the mixture as it is served.

Oysters, clams, sweetbread, chicken or turkey may be served à la Bordelaise or Bechamel.

=Lobster à la Poulette.=

INGREDIENTS.

1/3 a cup of butter.
1/3 a cup of flour.
1/2 a teaspoonful of salt.
Dash of paprica.
1/4 a teaspoonful of white pepper.
1 cup of cream.
1 cup of well-seasoned chicken stock.
Juice of half a lemon.
2 hard-boiled eggs.
1 pint of diced lobster meat.

_Method._--Prepare a white sauce, using the ingredients mentioned, and adding the lemon juice by degrees. Add the lobster to the sauce. Cut the whites of the hard-boiled eggs in rings and pass the yolks through a sieve. Serve the lobster on bits of toast, or on thin crackers, with a sprinkling of the yolks over the lobster, and circles of the whites around it.

=Oyster Crabs à la Hollandaise.=

Remove the meat from one pint of oyster crabs; put this, with a little of the liquor, into the blazer, add two tablespoonfuls of butter, a dash of paprica and a scant half-teaspoonful of salt, and let cook three or four minutes without boiling. Set the blazer over hot water and add three-fourths a cup of hollandaise sauce (either hot or cold). Stir until the mixture is heated, then add one tablespoonful of lemon juice and one teaspoonful of chopped parsley. Serve on toast, in Swedish timbale cases or in patty cases.

=Hollandaise Sauce.=

Put one-fourth a cup of vinegar, two tablespoonfuls of butter, a grating of nutmeg and a dash of paprica over hot water to heat. Beat the yolks of four eggs, add the hot vinegar to them, return to the fire, and stir constantly while the mixture thickens; then add two more tablespoonfuls of butter in bits.

Shrimps, oysters, lobsters and delicate fish are all good when served after this recipe.

=Devilled Crabs.=

Melt one tablespoonful of butter, add one tablespoonful of flour, and, when blended, one cup of milk. Add the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs rubbed through a sieve, and season to taste with salt, paprica, a teaspoonful of lemon juice and wine; cayenne, mustard and tobasco sauce are approved by some. Add one cup of crab meat and one-fourth a cup of canned mushrooms cut in quarters. Serve on toast.

=Oyster Crabs.=

INGREDIENTS.

1 pint of oyster crabs.
1 tablespoonful of butter.
1/2 an onion, sliced.
1 tablespoonful of flour.
1 cup of white stock.
1 teaspoonful of lemon juice.
1 tablespoonful of chopped parsley.
1 yolk of egg.
Salt and pepper.

_Method._--Melt the butter in the blazer, add the onion, and let cook until a light-brown color; add the flour and mix until smooth; add the stock and stir until it thickens. Add the crab meat, lemon juice, parsley, salt and pepper. Beat the yolk of the egg and add two or three spoonfuls of the sauce to it; mix well, add to the ingredients in the blazer, stir constantly, and serve as soon as heated.

=Crabs à la Creole.=

INGREDIENTS.

1 green pepper, chopped fine.
1 clove of garlic, chopped fine.
1 small onion, chopped fine.
1 tablespoonful of butter.
1 cup of tomatoes.
1 cup of crab meat.
Pepper and salt.

_Method._--Put the butter in the blazer; when melted, add the garlic, onion, salt, pepper and tomatoes, and let cook ten minutes; add the crab meat (fresh or canned). Serve when hot on sippets of toast.

=Shrimps à la Poulette.=

Make a sauce of one-fourth a cup, each, of butter and flour, half a teaspoonful of salt, a dash of pepper and one cup and a half of white stock; add one tablespoonful of anchovy essence and a quart of shelled shrimps. When hot add the beaten yolks of two eggs, with half a cup of cream. Lastly, add a tablespoonful of lemon juice and serve, _without_ boiling, on sippets of toast.

=Shrimps with Peas.=

A pint of shrimps and a cup of peas, heated in a cup and a half of cream sauce, are particularly good.

=Anchovy Toast.=

Put about two tablespoonfuls of clarified butter into the blazer. When hot add bread cut as for sandwiches. Brown the bread on one side, turn, and brown the other side. Spread with anchovy paste and serve at once.

=Anchovy Toast with Eggs.=

Prepare the anchovy toast in one chafing-dish, and, at the same time, the eggs in another. Beat five eggs slightly, add half a teaspoonful of salt, a dash of pepper and half a cup of cream or milk. Put a large tablespoonful of butter in the blazer; when melted, add the egg mixture. Stir until the egg is creamy, and serve on the anchovy toast.

=Anchovy Toast with Spinach.=

Press cooked spinach, chopped fine, through a purée sieve; reheat with a little butter, salt and two or three drops of tobasco sauce. Sauté rounds of bread to a golden brown in a little hot butter, spread with anchovy paste, and over this spread the purée of spinach. Press into the spinach on each round of bread a quarter of a hard-boiled egg cut lengthwise, having the yolk uppermost.

=Anchovies with Olives.=

All the preparations for this dish, with the exception of sautéing the bread, may be made some hours before serving.

Thoroughly wash the anchovies, cut off the fillets, and chop very fine with a sprig of parsley and a few chives, or a slice or two of Bermuda onion; put the whole into a mortar and pound well, adding, meanwhile, a little paprica. Cut some large selected olives in halves, take out the stones, and fill them with the anchovy mixture. Cut small rounds of bread an inch and a half in diameter and an inch in thickness; remove a crumb, similar in shape to the olive, from the centre of each. Put a little butter into the blazer, and, when hot, sauté the rounds of bread on both sides; drain on soft paper, put an olive in the centre of each and a little mayonnaise over the whole. Five anchovies will suffice to stuff a dozen olives.

=Sardine Canapés.=

Have ready yolks of eggs, cooked until firm, and an equal bulk of sardines, each rubbed to a paste. Mix thoroughly, and season with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Prepare some bread in the blazer as for anchovy toast; then spread with the sardine mixture and serve at once.

=Curried Sardines.=

Mix together one teaspoonful, each, of sugar and curry powder and a saltspoonful of salt. Put these into the blazer with one cup of cream and half a teaspoonful of lemon juice. Stir until the mixture is hot, then put into it ten or twelve sardines. In the mean time, heat some butter or oil in a second blazer, and in it sauté some bits of bread a little larger than the sardines, and round slices of tart apple. Serve each sardine on a bit of bread; pour a little of the sauce over the top and garnish with a round of apple. The slices of apple will keep their shape, if the apples be cored and then cut into rounds without paring.

=Sardines.=

(_French fashion._)

Remove the skins and tails from about a dozen sardines and heat them in the oven. Heat some butter or oil in the blazer of one chafing-dish, and in it sauté some bits of bread of suitable shape to serve under the sardines. Put in the blazer of another chafing-dish, over hot water, the well-beaten yolks of four eggs, one teaspoonful, each, of tarragon vinegar, cider vinegar and made mustard, one-fourth a teaspoonful of salt and one tablespoonful of butter. Stir the sauce until it is quite thick, then serve the sardines on the bread with the sauce poured over them. Olives are agreeable with this dish.

=Moulded Halibut with Creamed Peas.=

Two chafing-dishes will be requisite for preparing this delicious luncheon dish.

Have ready one pound of raw halibut chopped very fine; beat the yolk of an egg, add to it one teaspoonful and a fourth of salt, one-fourth a teaspoonful of white pepper and a few grains of cayenne or paprica. Blend a teaspoonful of cornstarch with a little milk; then add milk to make two-thirds a cup, stir gradually into the egg and seasonings, and then very slowly into the fish. Lastly, fold into the mixture one-third a cup of thick cream, beaten until stiff. Butter dariole moulds thoroughly, arrange a circle of cooked peas around the bottom of each mould, and fill with the fish preparation two-thirds full. Set into the blazer, surrounded with boiling water; after the water is again boiling, turn down the flame so that the water will barely quiver, and let cook about twenty minutes. Prepare, in the mean time, in the second blazer, creamed peas. Turn the fish from the moulds and surround with the

=Creamed Peas.=

Have ready one can of peas, drained, rinsed, covered with boiling water and drained again. Melt two tablespoonfuls of butter; add one tablespoonful of flour with one teaspoonful of sugar and half a teaspoonful of salt; add the peas and one-third a cup of milk, stir, and let cook until the liquid begins to bubble.

=Purée of Fish.=

Scald one quart of milk, with half an onion and a stalk of celery; strain into a pitcher and keep hot if convenient. Add to the remnants of cold boiled white fish enough canned salmon to make two cups; chop fine and rub through a purée sieve. Cook together in the blazer two tablespoonfuls of butter, three of flour, one teaspoonful of salt and a dash of pepper. Add the milk gradually, and, when all is added and the contents of the blazer are boiling, put a few spoonfuls of the sauce into the fish and beat until smooth; add more sauce, and, when well diluted and smooth, turn the whole into the blazer. Stir, and let cook until very hot; then serve with crackers, split, buttered, and browned in the oven. These proportions give three pints of soup. Vegetable purées may be prepared in the same way.

=Salt Codfish with Tomato Sauce.=

Sauté one clove of garlic and half an onion, grated or chopped fine, in three tablespoonfuls of butter; add two tablespoonfuls of flour, one-fourth a teaspoonful of paprica and one pimento, chopped fine; also, add one cup of tomato pulp, and, when the sauce boils, half a pound of "hatcheled" codfish, or any salt codfish picked into small pieces and freshened in one quart of cold water. Serve, while hot, with brownbread sandwiches, and pickles or pim-olas.

=Salt Codfish in Cream Sauce.=

Pick enough salt codfish into bits to make one cup. Let stand in cold water about half an hour. Make one cup of cream sauce, using one tablespoonful and a half of flour, two tablespoonfuls of butter and one cup of cream; remove all the water from the fish by wringing in a cheese-cloth, add the fish to the sauce, and, when heated, stir in a lightly beaten egg. Serve upon rounds of toast, with olives, or plain lettuce, or tomato salad.

=Réchauffé of Fish.=

INGREDIENTS.

1 cup of cooked fish, flaked.
1 cup of macaroni, cooked, and still hot.
1/4 a cup of butter.
1 cup of tomato purée.
1/2 a teaspoonful of salt.
Dash of pepper.
8 drops of tobasco sauce.

_Method._--Melt the butter in the blazer and toss about in it the macaroni and fish; add the seasonings and the tomato purée, which should be well reduced. Serve when thoroughly heated.

=Réchauffé of Fish, No. 2.=

INGREDIENTS.

1 pint of cooked fish, flaked and seasoned.
1/4 a cup of butter.
1/4 a cup of flour.
1 cup of fish stock.
1 cup of cream and milk combined.
1/2 a teaspoonful of salt, if needed.
1 teaspoonful of anchovy paste.
1/2 a teaspoonful of paprica.
2 tablespoonfuls of oil.
2 tablespoonfuls of lemon juice.
1 tablespoonful of chopped parsley.

_Method._--Marinate the fish while hot with salt, pepper, oil and lemon juice, adding, also, a few drops of onion juice, if desired. At serving-time make a sauce of the butter, flour, salt, paprica, stock and cream; add the paste and the fish, and, when the fish is thoroughly heated, turn down the flame of the lamp or set the blazer into hot water. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve.

=Sardines on Toast.=

Melt two tablespoonfuls of butter in the blazer; add two tablespoonfuls of flour and a dash of paprica, and stir until smooth and browned a little; then add half a cup of stock and half a cup of sherry; stir until thickened, then let simmer a few minutes, and add nearly a cup of sardines, from which the bones and skin have been removed and the flesh separated into small pieces. Let stand until very hot.

CHEESE CONFECTIONS.

You must eat no cheese . . . it breeds melancholy.
--_B. Jonson._

Art thou come? Why my cheese, my digestion!
--_Troilus and Cressida._

Cheese is probably the most popular article served from the chafing-dish. What possessor of a chafing-dish has not concocted a rarebit--and the best one ever made? Were you ever present when the process of evolving a rarebit was in progress and half the guests were not disappointed in the seasoning? For perfection in this toothsome dish, mustard is demanded by some; by others the use of this biting condiment is considered a lapse in culinary taste. The consensus of opinion, however, is in favor of paprica; and, theoretically, Mattieu Williams considers bicarbonate of soda to be demanded, not for the sake of seasoning, but as an aid to digestion.

As regards the digestibility of cheese, and, consequently, its adaptability to midnight suppers, opinions differ widely. Dr. Hoy, an excellent authority on diet, calls cheese a concentrated meat, a tissue builder,--but not itself a tissue, and so without waste elements,--a condensed, compact food product, and indigestible on account of its very compactness. Still, when the caseine, or curd, is softened and broken up by the addition of liquid and gentle heat, it is rendered more digestible; and cheese so prepared may be for some, if taken with no other nitrogenous food, an acceptable and easily digested article of diet.

=Welsh Rarebit.=

INGREDIENTS.

1 tablespoonful of butter.
1/2 a pound of cheese, cut fine or grated.
1/4 a teaspoonful of salt.
A dash of paprica.
1/2 a cup of cream.
The beaten yolks of 2 eggs.

_Method._--Melt the butter, add the cheese and seasonings, and stir until melted; then add the eggs, diluted with the cream, and stir until smooth and slightly thickened. _Do not allow the mixture to boil_ at any time in the cooking; if necessary, cook over hot water. Serve on thin crackers, hot shredded-wheat or granose biscuit, or on bread toasted on but one side, placing the rarebit on the untoasted side.

=Welsh Rarebit, No. 2.=

INGREDIENTS.

1 tablespoonful of butter.
1/2 a teaspoonful of cornstarch.
1/2 a cup of thin cream.
1/2 a pound of mild cheese.
1/4 a teaspoonful of salt.
1/2 a saltspoonful of mustard.
A few grains of cayenne.

_Method._--Melt the butter; add to it the cream in which the cornstarch has been stirred. Let cook two minutes, and add the cheese broken into bits. Stir until the cheese is melted and the mixture perfectly smooth. Add the salt, mustard and paprica, and serve at once as above.

=Welsh Rarebit with Ale.=

INGREDIENTS.

1 tablespoonful of butter.
Generous 1/2 a pound of soft American cheese, broken into bits.
1/3 a teaspoonful of salt.
1 teaspoonful of mustard.
A few grains of cayenne.
1/2 a cup of ale.
1 egg.

_Method._--Put the butter into the chafing-dish (using the bath); when melted, add the cheese and ale. Mix the salt, mustard and cayenne, add the egg, and beat thoroughly. When the cheese is melted, add the egg mixture and let cook until it thickens. Serve as before.

=Halibut Rarebit.=

Marinate a cup of cooked halibut, flaked, with one tablespoonful of olive oil, a few drops of onion juice, one tablespoonful of lemon juice, one-fourth a teaspoonful of salt and a dash of paprica. Make a sauce of two tablespoonfuls, each, of butter and flour, one-fourth a teaspoonful of salt and half a cup, each, of chicken stock and cream. Add two-thirds a cup of grated cheese and the halibut. Serve, as soon as the fish is hot and the cheese melted, on the untoasted side of bread toasted on one side.

=Oyster Rarebit.=

Clean and remove the hard muscles from half a pint of oysters; parboil the oysters in the chafing-dish in their own liquor until their edges curl, then remove to a hot bowl. Put one tablespoonful of butter, half a pound of cheese broken in small bits, one-fourth a teaspoonful, each, of salt and mustard and a few grains of cayenne into the chafing-dish. While the cheese is melting, beat two eggs slightly, and add to them the oyster liquor; mix this gradually with the melted cheese, add the oysters, and turn at once over hot toast.

=Sardine Rarebit.=

Melt two tablespoonfuls of butter, add half a pound of fresh cheese, grated or broken into bits, and stir constantly while it melts; then add gradually the beaten yolk of an egg, diluted with two-thirds a cup of cream. Stir until smooth and slightly thickened; season with a scant half a teaspoonful of paprica, one-fourth a teaspoonful of salt and a few drops of tabasco sauce. Have ready a box of sardines, drained, broiled carefully and laid on the untoasted side of bread toasted on one side; pour the rarebit over the sardines and serve at once.

=Golden Buck.=

Prepare a rarebit in one chafing-dish; break some eggs into the blazer of another containing salted water just "off the boil." When the eggs are poached and the rarebit ready, place an egg above the rarebit on each slice of toast.

=Yorkshire Rarebit.=

Add two slices of broiled or fried bacon to each service of golden buck.

=Mock-Crab Toast.=

Melt a tablespoonful of butter in the blazer, turning it about so as to butter the surface thoroughly. Put in half a pound of mild cheese, grated, and stir until the cheese is melted; then add the yolks of three eggs, beaten and diluted with a tablespoonful of anchovy sauce, a teaspoonful of made mustard, two tablespoonfuls of lemon juice or vinegar and one-fourth a teaspoonful of paprica. Stir until smooth. Serve upon the untoasted side of sippets of bread toasted on one side.

=Cheese Fondue.=

INGREDIENTS.

1/4 a pound of cheese broken into bits.
2 tablespoonfuls of butter.
1 tablespoonful of flour.
1 saltspoonful, each, of soda and mustard.
3/4 a cup of milk.
A few grains of cayenne or paprica.
1/2 a cup of stale bread crumbs.
3 eggs.

_Method._--Sift the soda, mustard and cayenne into the flour and cook in the butter until frothy, then add the milk gradually; when the sauce boils, after all the milk has been added, put the blazer into the bath, add the crumbs and cheese, and cook and stir until the cheese is melted and the mixture becomes smooth; add the eggs, beaten until light, and serve at once.

(See page 191)]

=English Monkey.=

INGREDIENTS.

1 cup of milk.
1 egg.
1 tablespoonful of butter.
1 cup of fine bread crumbs from the centre of a stale loaf.
3/4 to 1 whole cup of cheese.

_Method._--Melt the butter, add the cheese, and stir while melting; then add the bread crumbs, which have been soaked in the milk and the egg lightly beaten.

EGGS.

New-laid eggs, with Baucis' busy care
Turned by a gentle fire, and roasted rare.
--_Dryden._

=Scrambled Eggs with Cheese.=

Beat six eggs until whites and yolks are well mixed; add half a teaspoonful of salt, a dash of paprica and six tablespoonfuls of milk or cream. Melt two tablespoonsful of butter in the blazer, pour in the egg mixture, and stir and scrape from the blazer as it thickens. Just before it comes to the proper consistency, sprinkle in half a cup of grated Parmesan cheese, still stirring as before, and turn down the flame or set the blazer into the bath. American dairy cheese may be used instead of the Parmesan.

=Scrambled Eggs with Smoked Salmon.=

Cook half a cup of smoked salmon, cut into thin strips, in a tablespoonful of butter three or four minutes; then add to the eggs just before the cooking is finished.

=Scrambled Eggs à la Union Club.=

Heat one can of pimentos (sweet red peppers) in boiling salted water; drain, and serve on rounds of buttered toast the pimentos filled with eggs scrambled with mushrooms or truffles. Pour around the pimentos a pint of well-seasoned brown sauce, to which one-third a cup of madeira has been added.

=Scrambled Eggs with Dried Beef.=

Cut half a pound of dried beef, sliced thin, into short match-like strips, cover with boiling water, drain at once, and add six eggs, beaten slightly, and one-fourth a cup of milk. Put two tablespoonfuls of butter into the blazer; when hot add the eggs and other ingredients, and stir and cook until the eggs are set.

=Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes.=

Have ready a pint of tomato pulp, from which the seeds have been removed, seasoned with onion, celery or parsley, and sweet herbs. Put a generous tablespoonful of butter into the blazer; add the tomato, and, when hot, six eggs, slightly beaten, half a teaspoonful of salt and half a saltspoonful of pepper. Stir until the contents are of a creamy consistency. Serve with brownbread toast.

=Eggs and Mushrooms à la Dauphine.=

INGREDIENTS.

1 pint of thick tomato sauce, highly seasoned.
1 pint of mushrooms.
1/2 a teaspoonful of salt.
1/2 a saltspoonful of pepper.
6 eggs.

_Method._--Cook the mushrooms in the tomato sauce until tender; add the seasoning and the eggs, which have been broken into a bowl. Lift the whites carefully with a silver or wooden fork while cooking, until they are set; then prick the yolks and let them mix with the tomato, whites of the eggs and mushrooms. Serve quite soft on toast.

=Scotch Woodcock.=

Make a cup of white sauce; add one tablespoonful of essence of anchovies and five hard-boiled eggs cut into quarters lengthwise.

=Eggs à la Italienne.=

INGREDIENTS.

5 eggs.
1 cup of milk.
1/2 a cup of boiled spaghetti, chopped.
1 tablespoonful of butter.
1/2 a cup of fresh mushrooms, sliced.
1 teaspoonful of chopped parsley.
1 scant teaspoonful of salt.
White pepper.

_Method._--Melt the butter in the blazer and sauté in it the sliced mushrooms; add the milk and spaghetti, and, when heated thoroughly, put the blazer in the bath and add the beaten eggs. Stir and cook until the eggs have thickened; then add the parsley and seasoning, and serve at once.

=Eggs à la Parisienne.=

Butter thickly the inner sides of as many dariole moulds as there are individuals to serve. Then sprinkle them thickly with fine-chopped parsley, ham or tongue. Break an egg into each mould, taking care not to break the yolk; sprinkle over the tops a little salt and pepper, and set in the blazer surrounded by hot water to two-thirds the height of the moulds. If, after a time, the water boils, even with the lamp turned low, put the blazer into the bath and continue cooking, until the eggs are set. The eggs should be covered while cooking. When cooked, turn from the moulds and serve with a purée of tomatoes. Half a cup of sliced mushrooms added to the purée improves this dish.

=Curried Eggs.=

(See cut facing page 186.)

INGREDIENTS.

6 eggs, cooked, in water just below the boiling-point,
20 minutes.
1/2 a cup of stock (fish, veal or chicken).
1/2 a cup of milk.
2 tablespoonfuls of butter.
2 tablespoonfuls of flour, or 1 teaspoonful of cornstarch.
1/2 a teaspoonful of curry-powder.
1 slice of onion.
Teaspoonful of lemon juice.
Salt and pepper to taste.

_Method._--Cook the onion in the butter a few minutes, then remove it and add the flour and curry powder; when frothy add the milk and stock. As soon as the boiling-point is reached, set the blazer into the hot-water pan and add the eggs cut in quarters. Season with salt and serve on sippets of toast.

Light meats, fish, oysters and lobsters may be prepared in the same way, omitting the half-cup of milk in the case of oysters. Chickens' livers may also be prepared by the same recipe, in which case the livers should have been cooked previously. Or they may be sautéd in a little hot butter in one dish, while the sauce is made in another.

=Shirred Eggs.=

Butter four or five shirring-dishes. To half a cup of grated bread crumbs and half a cup of chopped chicken or ham add enough cream to mix to a smooth, moist consistency, like butter. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Put a tablespoonful of the mixture into each dish, break in an egg, season with a dash of salt and pepper, cover with more of the mixture, and cook in the same manner as eggs à la Parisienne. Serve in the cups.

=Eggs.=

(_Creole style._)

Have prepared on a hot serving-dish a can of tomatoes, stewed until they are reduced to a scant pint, and upon the tomatoes rounds of buttered toast for each egg to be served. Break some eggs, one by one, into a cup, and turn them into the blazer two-thirds filled with hot water; turn the flame low and put on the chafing-dish cover; if the water boils, turn down the flame. When the eggs are nicely poached, remove with a skimmer to the toast. Pour out the water and melt in the blazer, browning if desired, two tablespoonfuls of butter; add one tablespoonful of lemon juice; heat to the boiling-point, dust the eggs with salt and pepper, pour over the sauce, and serve.

=Egg Canapés.=

Have ready, cooked beforehand, four hard-boiled eggs; cut them carefully into halves lengthwise, remove the yolks, and press them through a small sieve. Soak two anchovies, then dry and remove the bones and chop them with two or three cold cooked mushrooms and half a teaspoonful of capers; mix in the sifted yolks, add a seasoning of salt, pepper and paprica, and one teaspoonful of tarragon vinegar. This work may be done some hours before the time of serving. Have a little oil or clarified butter in the blazer, and sauté in it some rounds of bread--one for each half of an egg. When the bread is of good color on one side, turn it and place half an egg--the space from which the yolk was taken being filled with the anchovy mixture--on the bread; cover the blazer, and, when the second side of the bread is browned nicely and the egg hot, serve at once.

=Eggs with Asparagus.=

INGREDIENTS.

1 cup of asparagus peas.
1 cup of asparagus liquor.
2 tablespoonfuls of butter.
2 tablespoonfuls of flour.
1/4 a teaspoonful of salt.
Paprica.
3 or 4 eggs.

_Method._--Cut the asparagus in pieces of the size of a pea and cook until tender. In cooking, reserve the tips until the other pieces are partially cooked, or, being more tender, they will become broken while the others are still uncooked. Make a sauce of the butter, flour, salt, paprica, and water in which the asparagus was cooked, or use half a cup of cream in the place of part of the asparagus liquor. When the sauce boils, add the asparagus and mix lightly with the sauce; break the eggs, one after another, into a cup and slide them carefully on to the top of the asparagus. Season with a sprinkling of salt and pepper, and, if desired, a grating of nutmeg. Set the blazer into the bath and put on the cover. When the eggs are nicely poached, remove the eggs, with the asparagus below, on to rounds of toasted and buttered bread.

=Eggs with Spinach.=

Prepare in the same manner, using for one cup of chopped spinach one-third the quantity of sauce given above. If convenient, the eggs may be poached in a second dish, and in milk, water or stock.

=Eggs.=

(_Italian Style._)