The cult of the chafing dish

Prawns lend themselves most kindly to Chafing-Dish cookery, and can be treated in sundry appetising ways. Fresh prawns are of course quite the best, but the Barataria canned article is not to be despised, if they be carefully washed before using ; and there are one or two brands of bottled prawns which cook excellently. Digestive Prawns. Shell two dozen prawns, put them in the Chafing Dish with half a pint of milk, half a teaspoon of Paprika, a pinch of salt, and a sprinkling of nutmeg. Keep stirring till near boiling-point, then lower the flame ; add a glass of sherry and two beaten eggs ; simmer for eight minutes, and then serve on toast. £ Prawn Wiggle. The next is an American recipe and rejoices in the name of Prawn Wiggle. Melt three tablespoons of butter in the dish, and two tablespoons of flour mixed with a teaspoon of salt and a good pinch of pepper. Stir up and then pour in gradually half a pint of milk. As soon as the sauce thickens add a cupful of prawns and a cupful of cold cooked green peas. Mix up well and simmer for eight minutes. The pink and green form a delightsome colour blend, suggesting certain well-known racing colours, and the combined flavours are most delicate. But why "wiggle" ? Well, why not ? Prawns on the Grass. Prawns on the Grass is recommendable, easy, and decorative for the supper-table. Butter lightly the bottom of the Chafing Dish, half fill it with carefully prepared cooked cold spinach ; on this put a dozen prawns, two eggs, hard-boiled and cut in quarters ; arrange these symmetrically, add pepper, salt, and a cupful of milk. Cover up and let it simmer steadily for ten to twelve minutes. Serve in the Chafing Dish with sippets of toast. It is impossible to treat here of the delectable crayfish, crawfish, and langouste ; they are all cookable and easily digested. Best of all, perhaps, are the Oder Krebse, and the Swedish Kraftor, with their delightful and unique flavour and sweetness, but they must be eaten near where they are born in order to be appreciated. In the company of chaste ChafHnda it is easy to enjoy a maigre day, for she deals so delicately with fish that one is almost tempted to envy the days of " Cecil's Fast." It will be remembered that Lord Burleigh introduced a Bill to enjoin the eating of fish only on certain days, on all creeds alike, in order to restore the fish trade. It would be highly improper to devote a chapter to fish without referring to Vatel committing suicide on his sword (or was it a skewer .?), but the story is as stale as the fish would be when it did arrive after all. A century ago his memory was rather painfully honoured by roasted slices of cod on a spit, the dish being called a la Vatel. To many worthy folk, painters in particular, the magic word trout immediately suggests Varnishing Day at the Paris Salon, and dijeuner at Ledoyen's, Trout with green sauce is the staple traditional dish of the day, A couple of years ago I had the curiosity to inquire how much was eaten, and the maître d'hôtel gave me the following figures: 250 lbs. of trout ; 1 5 gallons of green sauce ; 1 20 chickens; 80 ducks; 40 saddles of lamb ; 170 bundles of asparagus ; and 100 baskets of strawberries. Besides this, the usual thousand and one odds and ends of a miscellaneous carte du jour. Painters have proverbially good appetites. Oysters. Purposely, and of malice ■prepense, I am carefully omitting all mention of the cooking of oysters in any shape or form. I consider it nefaste — almost sacrilegious. Our natives are so exquisitely succulent, so absolutely perfect in their delicacy, that to paint the lily