The chafing-dish supper

A fault into which over-ambitious housekeepers are prone to fall is that of making the chafing-dish an adjunct instead of the central figure of the meal named in its honor. When one is bidden to an alleged chafing-dish tea, and finds there bouillon, croquettes, pates, or other entrees, salads, cliauds-froids, sweets, ices, wines, etc., he is impressed with the fact that the chafing-dish makes but a poor showing even when it is used to prepare some such delectable dainty as lobster a la Newburg, or sweetbreads and mushrooms. 100 The Chafing-dish Supper At the chafing-dish supper all other parts should be subordinated to the holder of the title role. The hostess may accompany her hot dish with the desirable accessories and follow it with a salad and a sweet, but she should give it no such rivals as elaborate entrees previously prepared by the cook. For the Sunday-night tea let the cordon bleu of the chafing-dish devise a menu like one of the following : Panned Oysters with Sherry. Saratoga Potatoes. Graham Toast. Tomato and Lettuce Salad. Crackers and Cheese. Home made Charlotte Russe. The Chafing-dish Menu 101 Lobster a la Newburg. French Rolls. Cold Turkey. Celery Salad. Brandied Peaches. Fish Salad with Mayonnaise Dressing. Thin Bread and Butter. Cheese Fondu. Snowflake Crackers. Blanc-mange. Preserved Ginger. Cold Roast Beef, sliced thin. Creamed or Devilled Tomatoes. Baked Beans. Chicory Salad. Wine Jelly. 102 The Chafing-dish Supper Sweetbreads with Mushrooms. Finger Rolls. Lettuce with French Dressing. Oatmeal Crackers. Cream Cheese. Fresh Fruit. Kidneys and Bacon, Baked Potatoes. Chicken Salad. Chocolate Sponge. With any of these suppers coffee may either be served with the first course, in large cups, or at the close of the meal, as at dinner, in demi-tasses. When the hostess has once come to regard the chafing-dish as an indispensable figure on the Sunday-night tea-table, she The Chafing-dish Menu 103 will readily plan new and attractive menus, and the component parts of these will be dishes that can be prepared in advance, so that the maid to whose lot it falls to abide by the stuff on Sunday evening, may not have her labors increased by being obliged to cook a heavy meal. The midnight supper — and never does the chafing-dish look quite so much at home as when the centre of such a feast — is a much simpler affair. The phrase "midnight supper/' I may say, is more a figure of speech than a statement of facts. The period "midnight" is mentioned because of the flavor of the daring and unexpected it lends to a meal that is oftener than not entirely proper and wellconducted. For the midnight supper, then, there need be no very involved preparations. There is no necessity for more than one 104 The Chafing-dish Supper important dish, and the salad need not appear. Lobster, in one form or other, creamed clams, broiled oysters, kidneys in some style, curries, game, devilled dishes, Welsh rabbits — these are among the viands suitable for a late evening repast, whether it be eaten at midnight or one or two hours earlier. At such a feast there should be plenty of bread and butter, or sandwiches or crackers, and something to drink — coffee, chocolate, beer, ale, claret cup, punch, or a light wine.