The cult of the chafing dish

The Roast Beef of Old England which has done so much to maintain the reputation of Great Britain on the Continent, is strangely mistreated and man-handled in foreign parts. It is often served saignant or nearly raw, under the mistaken belief that we like it that way. Moreover, in very old French cookery books, roast mutton and roast lamb are gravely designated Rosbif de Mouton and Rosbif d' Agneau respectively. Was this sheer flattery, or ignorance, or both ? Devilled Beef. Devilled Beef can be highly recommended in this fashion : Three thick slices of cold cooked roast beef, lean. Butter them as though they were slices of bread. Then dose them liberally with the following mixture ; One teaspoon made mustard, half a teaspoon black pepper, same of salt, a teaspoon of Worcester sauce, and a tablespoon of vinegar. Cook them in this in the Chafing Dish, until the meat begins to curl up at the edges. This, although very good, is mere journeyman work and not a " creation." Did not Aristotle say that a man who eats a dinner is a better judge of it than the cook ? That is judgment, however, not creation, and the French cook-artists call their dishes " creations " — like the dressmakers. A chop, I contend, should only be cooked on a gridiron — grilled, that is to say, over an open fire. Any other treatment is an offence which, in a more enlightened age, would be made indictable. St. Lawrence would rise in his grave and object, were a chop put in a Chafing Dish — and quite right too ! St. Lawrence is of course the patron saint of the grill, for is he not said to have been broiled alive on a gridiron ? According to the respectable authority of Foxe's Book of Martyrs, his dying words were: "This side enough is toasted, so turn me, tyrant, eat, And see whether, raw or roasted, I make the better meat." Chipped Beef. One of the best things produced in America, besides buyers of spurious art works and donors of Free Libraries, is Chipped Beef. You can buy it in tins and treat it thus. Put three tablespoons of butter in the dish. When just melted add a tablespoon of flour ; stir until smooth. Then add the Chipped Beef, which must have been previously soaked in cold water for ten minutes ; let it simmer for eight minutes, then stir in the beaten-up yolks of two eggs, and serve very hot. Every day is Thanksgiving Day when one eats Chipped Beef, and it is a selfish dish to cook, because one wants to eat it all oneself ; and the worst of eating is that it takes away one's appetite — although there is a proverb to the contrary. But it is always comfortable to be content (or nearly so) on good plain food, instead of on the misguided concoctions of addle-egged and addled-pated foreigners, which leave one in the position of the unfortunate vultures in the famous Oxford prize poem, who " Satiated with one horrid meal, No second rapture for another feel." Zrazy. This is how to make Polish Zrazy in a Chafing Dish. Buy the whole undercut (fillet) of a small sirloin. Cut it into inch slices. Brown two sliced onions in the Dish in a large walnut of butter. Add the meat, a teaspoon of Paprika, salt, and half a dozen cloves. Cover up, and let it hot up to boiling. Do not uncover, as the great thing is to let it steam in its own fumet. Shake the pan now and again, so that it shall amalgamate well. After once boiling up, let it simmer for fifteen minutes, add a good squeeze of lemon, a glass of claret, and serve with the accompaniment of potato salad. " This dish of meat is too good for any but anglers, or very honest men," says Izaak Walton of a like concoction. Frizzled Ham.