The cult of the chafing dish

A quite excellent and easily prepared sauce, which the very poorest households can make, and which will give zest to the simplest meal, is that described in the Delamere Cookery Book. This is the recipe for Pleasant Companionship sauce. A kind word will stir up the dormant appetite, while a harsh one will extinguish it, and, what is worse, will check the digestion of nutriment already taken. Such sauce may be regarded as Moral Sauce. Reasoning from these winged words, we may infer that the remark so often heard from the mouths of little girl-children in the street : " Now, I won't 'ave none o' your sauce ! " must really mean that there is a lack of Moral Sauce in the family circle. In the recipes for the following sauces, 1 have purposely kept the ingredients as simple as possible ; they are all reliable and appetising. As to which sauce appertains especially to which fish or meat, I do not propose to enter. That is a matter of taste, experience, and individuality, and I need hardly add that a white sauce does not go well with brown meat, nor brown sauce with white meat. Such admonitions are surely unnecessary to the advanced Chafist. . Butter Sauce. Two tablespoons of butter, the same of flour ; melt and mix together in the Dish, bring to boiling-point and allow to boil up for half a minute, then pour in a cupful of boiling water, to reduce the same to the consistency of cream ; boil up again, stirring all the time, add a squeeze of lemon before serving. White Sauce. Mix well in the Chafing Dish two tablespoons of flour, one of butter, a small grating of nutmeg, a little pepper and salt ; add a tumbler of milk ; hot it up, stirring the while, and strain before using. Brown Sauce. Two tablespoons of butter. Heat and stir until it is brown and sizzling, then add a tablespoon of Tarragon vinegar, the same of Worcester sauce, half a tablespoon of chopped capers, a teaspoon of anchovy sauce, and a ' wine-glass of bouillon. Boil up all this for three minutes. Piquant Sauce. Mix up in the Dish a teaspoon of each of the following, chopped finely : gherkins, capers, shallots (or mild onions) ; add half a teaspoon of black pepper and a tablespoon of vinegar. Boil this for three minutes, then add a wine-glass of bouillon and a tablespoon of " brown thickening " — which is sold ready made by grocers — and a dash of anchovy sauce. Boil up again and skim the surface before using. Maltre d'Hotel Sauce. Mix up well two tablespoons of butter with one of flour, a grating of nutmeg, half a teaspoon of black pepper, the same of salt, rather more of chopped parsley, and a good squeeze of lemon. Put all this in the Chafing Dish with a tablespoon of milk. Stir it until it boils up, and then serve very hot. Ravigote or Remoulade Sauce. These are to all intents and purposes the same sauce, save that R6moulade has an added dose of oil and mustard. Mix a tablespoon of flour with the same of butter, a grating of nutmeg, half a teaspoon of pepper, the same of salt, the same of chopped parsley, and a good squeeze of lemon. Put this in the Chafing Dish with a tablespoon of bouillon, boil it up and skim it. Now mix up separately a tablespoon each of Tarragon and Chili vinegar and Worcester sauce, with a teaspoon of anchovy sauce. Boil up this mixture, and after two minutes' boiling add it to the former mixture and combine the two. Reform Sauce. A cupful of bouillon in the Dish, add a wine-glass of port (or claret, but port is more orthodox), half as much Worcester sauce, a teaspoon of anchovy sauce, and a full tablespoon of red currant jelly. Boil it all up for three minutes, and skim before using. Soubise Sauce. Peel and slice four onions ; put them in the Dish with a teaspoon of butter, a little