Chafing dish and casserole cookery

The hot-water pan must be always used where slow cooking is required for creams, sauces, and rarebits. For frying, broiling, remove the hot-water pan and place the pan near to the flame, which is done by raising the lamp on a standard supplied for this purpose. Have the lamp filled with good alcohol, and closely covered until ready to light. Fill the pan one-fourth full of hot water, if handy, otherwise with cold, covering closely until hot. Let the prepared foods be served from the chafing dish on to the hot plates, and never attempt anything in the line of elaborate garnishing. Neither should an elaborate meal be attempted, especially if only one chafing dish is used. It requires at least two chafing dishes, CHAFING DISH FORK AND SPOON. Chafing Dish Cookery and sometimes three, to carry out a wholemeal successfully. Near at hand should be a small table containing the materials for preparing the meal. The flour, salt, pepper, and sugar should be accurately measured. Place small pats of butter or butter-balls on a dish. When whipped cream is used, prepare it beforehand, place it in a deep dish or bowl, and keep in a cool place until wanted. By having the meats seasoned and ready to form into whatever cooked dish is wanted, the cheese grated, eggs wiped clean, and placed near at hand, the work of cooking is simplified. Parsley and cress should be washed, and dried ready for use. For dishes where toast is needed, prepare the bread over the coal or gas fire, as toasting cannot TOASTER. be properly done over the lamp. The toast must, of course, be kept hot until ready for use. The most suitable preparations for the chafing dish are light ragoûts, eggs, and omelettes, so-called creamed dishes, light stew dishes, fish savouries, curries, etc. Needless to say that any of the following recipes can be prepared equally well in an ordinary saucepan on the stove ; but these recipes for selected dishes have been specially compiled, so that they can be conveniently prepared in a chafing dish. Chafing Dish Cookery A CHAFING DISH AND ITS OUTFIT. The above illustration shows the complete equipment of a chafing dish with its accessories. Besides the chafing dish and the lamp which provides the “ fuel ” and is the all-important adjunct for cooking, the following accessories and utensils are necessary : — Two or three spoons, one wooden and one silver-plated, used for stirring and mixing. A fork used for similar purposes. A flagon or tin bottle to hold the fluid fuel, methylated spirit. A skimmer, used for skimming purposes. An egg poacher, most handy to poach eggs in a dainty style. An omelet pan and a blazer, used for frying and broiling purposes. The Blazer. The blazer of a chafing dish is used the same way and for the same purpose as an ordinary saut6 pan or frying pan, or as the upper part of a double boiler. To decide how to use the blazer, it is necessary to consider how the article would be cooked if an ordinary cooking stove were used, and use the blazer accordingly. For example, a roux can be made by melting butter and frying or blending flour in it, and then 14 Chafing Dish Cookery