Chafing dish and casserole cookery

This style of cooking is known as “ en casserole,” which in reality is the French name for stew-pan, and means that the dish is served in the vessel in which it has been cooked. Fish, meat, poultry and game can be cooked in this way ; soups, especially those of the pot-au-feu kind, are cooked and served in marmites, which are another type of fireproof cooking pots. Fruit, which needs to be carefully stewed, is excellent if cooked in this ware. For braising and stewing this kind of cookery has really no equal, and there are many other dishes cooked “ en casserole ” which have proved to be so superior in taste and flavour that one had better abandon them altogether than attempt to serve them without the aid of this useful cooking utensil. Any one who has adopted the use of these casseroles, marmites, braising or baking dishes will readily admit that the merits claimed for them are in no way exaggerated, for by their use the cook Casserole Cookery 47 finds in them a most valuable assistant to ensure genuine, wholesome cookery. It is, however, well to remember that fierce heat is to be avoided when cooking in an earthenware pan. Some Advantages of a Casserole. Less heat is, as a rule, required when cooking In a casserole. Food in a casserole may be cooked either on tne stove or in the oven. Occasional basting is desirable. When the contents of the pan or pot is cooked gently, it is not only more economical, but tough meat will be more tender, and may thus be used with excellent results. A braise or stew cooked in an earthenware stewpan can be served in the casserole, thereby securing it being “piping hot.” A clean serviette is sometimes folded neatly round it, and the dish, called “en casserole,” is always appreciated. Any dish which requires slow, gentle cooking (simmering, stewing or braising) can be prepared in this way ; thus, a ragout, braise ; as well as rechauffds such as Miriton, mince and hash are decidedly better in flavour when re-cooked in earthenware than in metal stew-pans. petite flDarmlte. This dish, which forms the standard dinner item of the average French household, is best prepared in an earthenware marmite stock-pot, for it is an acknowledged fact that a petite marmite cooked in stoneware is far more palatable, and for this reason this mode of cooking is especially recommended. Petite marmite is so typically French that no other equivalent has as yet been found. It is a kind of soup usually served in little earthenware pots, which just hold enough for one 48 Casserole Cookery person, but in some places it is sent to table in the actual pot In which it is cooked. Recipe. The following ingredients will make a dish sufficient for eight to ten persons : 2 lb. of rump or plate of beef, 1 small piece of marrowbone, half an ox-tail, 3 quarts of water, 2 carrots, 1 turnip, 1 leek, half-stick celery, half small cabbage, 1 bay-leaf, 2 cloves, 12 peppercorns, and salt. Mode of Preparation. Wipe the meat, cut the ox-tail into small joints, put these in a stoneware marmite with the water, and let come slowly to the boil, remove the scum as it rises to the surface. Have the vegetables trimmed, cleansed and pared, cut the carrots and turnips into convenient shapes, add these with the bay-leaf and peppercorns to the soup, and let the whole simmer gently for about 2\ hours. Add salt to taste during the process of cooking.