The bachelor and the chafing dish

then put it into a stewpan with an ounce of butter. Do not stir or touch the rice while boiling ; the water will keep the grains apart, and preserve them from breaking. Dish up separately, and serve with any curry. It will add much to the flavor to boil an onion in with the rice. The Arabs steep the grains in butter (ghee) before boiling, to prevent the escape of the gluten, or starch, and declare that the nourishment is withdrawn from the grain and communicated to the liquor without this precaution. However, in serving rice with curry, mix a spoonful of the curry paste with brown gravy, and pour on the rice as it is ready to serve. It will be further improved by squeezing in half of a lemon. Curry of Meats. — Put a “ walnut ” of butter, or a tablespoon of olive-oil, into the chafing-dish. When it is quite melted, add a tablespoonful of minced onion, and after that is browned add a full teaspoon of curry powder. Now cook for five minutes ; then add a pint of soup-stock, couple of pinches of salt ; then simmer until reduced to nearly one-half. Into this put the picked meat and warm up. Other curries are, of course, made the same way, or slightly varied to suit the taste — by the addition, for instance, of paprika, chutney sauce, etc. 84 The Bachelor and the Chafing-dish. Curries of lobsters, scallops, shrimps, and crabs are especially delicious. Veal chops, sweetbreads, and salmon may be treated the same way. Rice Compote. — This is the way I saw Mrs. Rorer make it : Into the chafing-dish went four t’ablespoonfuls of sugar, four of sherry (claret is equally good), and one sliced banana. To this was added four tablespoonfuls of cold boiled rice. It was kept covered while the banana cooked tender to keep the wine flavor from escaping. When the cover was raised to add one-half a pineapple, shredded in with a silver fork, the odor was delicious, and everybody sniffed approvingly. Two minutes’ cooking finished it. Calf’s Liver and Bacon. — Slice both liver and bacon quite thin : cook well in the chafing-dish until the liver is thoroughly browned and curled. Chops or Steaks. — Dredge them with flour. Have the frying-pan perfectly clean and hot, then put in butter or clarified, fresh beef-suet, which makes excellent fat for frying ; put in the steaks (or chops), and turn them frequently to preserve the gravy. In fifteen minutes, if the fire be in proper condition, they will be cooked ; dredge them with a little salt and pepper before you take them The Autocrat and the Chafing-dish. 85 from the pan ; transfer them to a hot dish, pour the fat from the pan, and put in two ounces of butter rolled in flour, and a cup of gravy or stock, and when it has simmered for a minute, pour it over the meat. Cut the fillet of a roast sirloin of beef into pieces about two inches square ; dredge them with flour, and fry in butter till they are brown; then put the meat into a stewpan with half a pint of good gravy, a teaspoonful of salt, half a teaspoonful of pepper, and one anchovy ; add a tablespoonful of port wine, and let it simmer five minutes ; then turn out and pour the gravy over, with a tablespoonful of lemon juice after the meat is dished.