Ingredients.
Method.—Boil the sugar, water and tartaric acid five minutes. When nearly cold beat into the syrup the whites of the eggs, beaten until foamy, and the flavoring extract. Store in a fruit jar, closely covered. To use, put three tablespoonfuls into a glass half full of cold water, stir in one-fourth a teaspoonful of soda, and drink while effervescing. A pint of any kind of fruit juice may displace the water, when a teaspoonful of lemon juice should be added to the contents of each glass before stirring in the soda.
(To serve 60.)Ingredients.
Method.—Scald the milk with the spices and nuts. Break up the chocolate and melt over hot water; add the sugar, mix thoroughly, then gradually stir in the boiling water; let cook two or three minutes after all the water has been added, then turn into the hot milk; let stand over hot water until ready to serve, then add the beaten yolks of eggs, diluted with half a cup of water, milk or cream, and strain through a cheese-cloth. Keep hot over hot water.
Ingredients.
Boil the sugar and water about six minutes; let cool, then add the lemon slices, with seeds removed, and the cloves; let stand some hours in a cold place. When ready to serve, add the claret, water and liqueur, all chilled on ice. Put a piece of ice in the pitcher and pour over it the mixture. The beverage should not be sweet.
Copper Chafing-Dish with Earthen Casserole.Copper Chafing-Dish with Earthen Casserole.
Leaf
Gentlemen, prepare not to be gone;We have a trifling foolish banquet.—Romeo and Juliet.
Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast.—Comedy of Errors, iii.I.
A little quail, or some such light thing, when I come home at night.—Charles Dickens.
Now and then your men of witWill condescend to take a bit.—Swift.
Well, he was an ingenious man that first found out eating and drinking.—Swift.
How fire was discovered, when it was first applied to the needs of human beings, the origin and early use of cooking and heating utensils,—all are concealed from us in the mists that surround the life of prehistoric man. But at the dawn of history, even before the beginning of our era, crude appliances for cooking were in use; and, without doubt, one of the earliest of these was an utensil corresponding in some particulars, at least, to the chafing-dish of to-day.
The chafing-dish is a portable utensil used upon the table, either for cooking food or for keeping food hot after it has been cooked by other means. In ancient times, the fuel of the chafing-dish was either live coals or olive oil; to-day we use either electricity, gas, alcohol or colonial spirits.
The first chafing-dishes of which historic mention is made consisted of a pan heated over a pot of burning oil, the pan resting upon a frame which held the pot of oil. It was with such an utensil, perhaps, that the Israelitish women cooked thelocusts of Egypt and Palestine, for these were eaten as a common food by the people of the biblical lands and age.
Mommsen, in his history of Rome, while speaking of the extravagance of the times, as shown in the table furnishings, probably refers to the chafing-dish when he says: "A well-wrought bronze cooking-machine came to cost more than an estate." The idea that this might be the utensil referred to is strengthened by the fact that many chafing-dishes have been found in the ruins of Pompeii. These were made of bronze, and highly ornamented. Evidently, olive oil was the fuel used in these dishes.
Coming down to more modern times, Madame de Staël had a dish of very unique pattern, and, when driven by the command of Napoleon from her beloved Paris, she carried her chafing-dish with her into exile as one of her most cherished household gods. At the present day among the favored few, who have full purses, are found sets of little silver chafing-dishes about four inches square. These tiny dishes rest upon a doylie-covered plate, and a bird or rarebit may be served in them as a course at dinner, one to each guest. The cooking is not done in these dishes, and they are not furnished with lamps; in them the food, while it is being eaten, is simply kept hot by means of a tiny pan filled with hot water.
In reality, the modern chafing-dish is a species ofbain marie, or double boiler, with a lamp soarranged that cooking can be done without other appliances. It consists of four parts. Thefirstis the blazer, or the pan in which the cooking is done; this is provided with a long handle. Thesecondis the hot-water pan, which corresponds to the lower part of the double boiler; this should be provided with handles, and is a very inconvenient dish without them. Thethirdis the frame upon which the hot-water pan rests, and in which the spirit-lamp is set. Thelast, but by no means least, part is the lamp; this is provided with a cotton or an asbestos wick. When the lamp has a cotton wick, the flame is regulated by turning the wick up or down, as in an ordinary lamp. At present this style of lamp is found only in the more expensive grades of dishes,—silver-plated, and costing from $15 upwards. When asbestos is used as the wick, the lamp is filled with this porous stone, which is to be saturated with alcohol immediately before using, and the top is covered with a wire netting. The flame is regulated by means of metal slides, which open and shut over the netting, thus cutting off or letting on the flame, as it is desired.
Chafing-Dish, Filler, Etc.Chafing-Dish, Filler, Etc.
"With all Appliances and Means to boot."
With all appliances and means to boot.—Henry IV., iii.I.
The chafing-dish should always rest upon a tray, as a very slight draught of air, or the expansion of the alcohol when heated, will sometimescause the flame to flare out and downward, and thus an unprotected tablecloth might be set on fire.
Often a cutlet dish is considered a necessary part of a chafing-dish outfit; but as one of the chief merits of the chafing-dish consists in the possibility of serving a repast the instant it is cooked, there would seem to be a want of propriety in removing the cooked article to a platter and garnishing the dish before serving.
A polished wooden spoon, with long handle and small bowl, is a most convenient utensil to use while cooking the dainty; but the regulation chafing-dish spoon is needed when serving the same. Such a spoon has a broad bowl of silver or aluminum, with rounded end, and a long ebony handle.
The filler is a most convenient article for use, when the lamp needs replenishing with alcohol, but in its absence the alcohol may be turned into a small pitcher and from that into the lamp. A lamp of the average size holds about five tablespoonfuls of alcohol, and this quantity will supply heat for at least half an hour.
Glass, granite or tin measuring-cups, upon which thirds or quarters are indicated, also tea- and tablespoons, are essential for accurate measurements.
Several items are essential to the successful serving of a meal from the chafing-dish. To be a pronounced success, the work must be done noiselessly and gracefully. The preparation of all articles is the same for the chafing-dish as for thecommon stove; but where the mixing is done at the table, as for a rarebit, the recipe takes on an additional flavor, according to the deftness with which it is done.
Let, then, everything be ready and at hand, before the guests or family assemble at the table. Have the lamp filled and covered, so that it may remain filled. Have all seasonings measured out in a cup. In case the yolks of eggs are to be used, they will not injure, having been beaten beforehand, if they be kept covered. When oysters are to be served, have them washed, freed from bits of shell, drained, and left in a pitcher from which they can be readily poured. The quantity of butter used in the recipes is indicated by tablespoonfuls, and may be measured out beforehand and rolled into dainty balls with butter-hands, a spoonful in each ball.
Bear in mind that the hot-water pan is to be used in all cases where the double boiler would be used, if the cooking were to be done upon the range. For instance, where the recipe calls for milk or cream, except in the making of a sauce, use the bath from the beginning. Also, be careful always to place the blazer in the bath before eggs are added to any mixture. Indeed, the hot-water pan is the one feature of the chafing-dish which it is most important to notice; for on the proper use of the hot-water pan the value of the chafing-dish as an exponent of scientific cookery entirely depends. She who well understands the principles uponwhich the use of this rests has gained no small insight into the secret of all cookery, be it scientific, economic or hygienic; for a knowledge of the effect of heat at different temperatures, applied to food, is the very foundation-stone upon which all cookery rests.
Although the chafing-dish is especially adapted to the needs of the bachelor, man or maid, its use should not be relegated entirely to the homeless or the Bohemian. In the sick-room, at the luncheon-table, on Sunday night, it is most serviceable and wellnigh indispensable; it always suggests hearty welcome and good cheer.
While it is out of place, at any ceremonial meal, as a means of cooking, even on such occasions a lobsterNewburghor other dish that needs be served piping hot to be eaten at its best may be brought on in individual chafing-dishes. These are supplied with hot-water pans and lamps. At a chafing-dish supper each guest can prepare his own rarebit.
Any operation in cooking that can be performed on the kitchen range may be successfully carried out on the chafing-dish, provided one be skilled in its use. But as the dining-room is usually chosen as the site in which to test its possibilities, here it were well to confine one's efforts to such dishes as will not give rise to too much disorder. Sautéing and frying it were better to reserve for the range and a well-ventilated kitchen.
Alcohol is most commonly used in the lamp of the chafing-dish; and, on account of its cheapness,one is often advised to buywoodalcohol. But in large markets, where many fowl are singed daily over an alcohol flame, the marketmen will tell you that the very best article is none too good for their purpose. It does not smoke, wastes less rapidly, and in the end will prove quite as economical.
Course at Formal Dinner served in Individual Chafing-Dishes.Course at Formal Dinner served in Individual Chafing-Dishes.
Seepage 157
"Being no further enemy to youThan the constraint of hospitable zeal."
In regard to the chafing-dish and its most prominent use, some one may fittingly ask: Is it hygienic to eat at midnight? Can one keep one's health and eat late suppers? As in all things pertaining to food, no set rules can be given to meet every case; much depends upon constitutional traits, individual habits and idiosyncrasies. One may practise what another cannot attempt. As a rule, however, people who eat a hearty dinner, after the work of the day is done, do not need to eat again until the following breakfast hour.
Those who are engaged, either mentally or physically, throughout the evening, cannot with impunity, eat a very hearty meal previous to that effort; but after their work is done they need nourishing food, and food that is both easily digested and assimilated. But even these should not eat and then immediately retire; for during sleep all the bodily organs, including the stomach, become dormant. Food partaken at this hour is not properly taken care of, and in too many casesmust be digested when the individual has awakened, out of sorts, the next morning.
It is well to remember, also, that, at any time after food is eaten, there should be a period of rest from all active effort; for then the blood flows from the other organs of the body to the stomach, and the work of digestion is begun. Oftentimes we hear men say they must smoke after meals, for unless they do so they cannot digest their food. They fail to see that it is not the tobacco that promotes digestion, but the enforced repose.
But, if we must eat at midnight, the question may well be asked, What shall we eat? That which can be digested and assimilated with the least effort on the part of the digestive organs. And among such things we may note oysters, eggs and game, when these have been properly—that is, delicately—cooked.
Let hunger move thy appetyte, and not savory sauces.—Babees Book."Change is the sauce that sharpens appetite."
As so many dishes are prepared in the chafing-dish that require the use of a simple sauce, we give in this place the methods usually followed in the preparation of common sauces. For one cup of sauce, put two tablespoonfuls of butter into the blazer; let the butter simply melt, without coloring, if for a white sauce, but cook until brown for a brown sauce. Mix together two tablespoonfuls of flour, one-fourth a teaspoonful of salt and a dash of black or white pepper, or a few grains of cayenne or paprica, and beat it into the bubbling butter; let the mixture cook two or three minutes, then stir into it, rather gradually at first, and beating constantly, one cup of cold milk, water or stock. Now, when the sauce boils up once after all the liquid is in, it is ready for use. In making a white sauce some cooks add, from time to time while the sauce is being stirred, a few drops of lemon juice, which they claim makes the sauce much whiter.
Sometimes we make the sauce after another fashion, using the same proportions of the various ingredients. If water or stock be used, put it in the blazer directly over the fire. If the liquid be milk, put it into the blazer, and the blazer over hot water; cream together the butter, flour and seasonings, dilute with a little of the hot liquid, pour into the remainder of the hot liquid, and stir constantly until the sauce thickens, and then occasionally for ten or fifteen minutes, until the flour is thoroughly cooked.
In making a brown sauce, first brown the butter, then brown the flour in the butter, and, whenever it is convenient, use brown stock as the liquid.
Ingredients for One Cup of Sauce.
Ingredients for One Pint of Sauce.
In all recipes where flour is used, unless otherwise stated, the flour is measured after sifting once. When flour is measured by cups, the cup is filled with a spoon, and a level cupful is meant. A tablespoonful or teaspoonful of any designated material is a level spoonful of such material.
When rich soup stock, flavored with vegetables and sweet herbs, is at hand for use in sauces, additional seasonings are not necessary; but when a sauce is made of milk, water, or water and meat extract, some flavor more or less pronounced is demanded. A few bits of onion and carrot browned in hot butter, or anchovy sauce or curry may be added; but, all things considered, the most convenient way to secure an appetizing flavor is by the use of "Kitchen Bouquet." This alone or in conjunction with a dash of some one of the many really good proprietary sauces on the market is well-nigh indispensable in chafing-dish cookery.
"No variety here,But you, most noble guests, whose gracious looksMust make a dish or two become a feast."
He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.—Swift.
Put into the blazer twenty-five to fifty choice oysters. As soon as they are hot and look plump, add salt, pepper and butter. Serve on buttered toast or crackers. Add two tablespoonfuls of cream or half a tablespoonful of lemon juice before serving, if desired.
Ingredients.
Method.—Put the oysters into the blazer. When they look plump and the edges curl, put the blazer into the hot-water pan and add the seasonings. Add a few spoonfuls of the liquor from the pan to the yolks of the eggs, and, after mixing well, pour into the chafing-dish. Stir constantly until the liquor thickens, then serve on thin slices of buttered toast or on thin crackers.
Ingredients.
Method.—Let the oysters be parboiled and drained beforehand. (To parboil, heat quickly to the boiling-point in their own liquor.) Melt the butter in the blazer, add the flour, salt and pepper, and cook till frothy; add the oyster liquor or chicken stock and cook until the boiling-point is reached. Now add the oysters, and, as soon as they are heated thoroughly, put the blazer into the bath and add the beaten yolks, the onion and lemon juice and the mushrooms. As soon as the eggs thicken the sauce a little, serve on toast or crackers. If uncooked mushrooms are used, cook them in the butter two or three minutes before the flour and seasonings are added.
Ingredients.
Method.—Cook the onion and butter in the blazer a few moments. Mix the flour and curry powder and stir into the butter. When frothy add the oyster liquor. As soon as the sauce boils up once, add the salt, pepper and cream, and, in a moment, the oysters. When the oysters are thoroughly heated, serve on buttered toast or crackers.
Ingredients.
Method.—Bring the oysters to the boiling-point in their own liquor, skim, drain, and set aside. Heat the butter in the blazer, sauté in it the onion cut in slices, stir in the flour and curry powder mixed with the salt and pepper, and, when frothy, add the oyster liquor, stock and tomato pulp (a pint of pulp reduced by slow cooking to half a cup). When the sauce boils, add the oysters; and when hot serve on buttered toast or fried bread.
Ingredients.
Method.—Brown the butter and add to it the parsley, seasonings and flour; let heat, then add the well-drained oysters, and, when the edges begin to curl, add the well-beaten yolks. Serve on warmed plates, with fried bread and parsley.
(Oysters, shrimps, lobsters, sweetbreads, chicken, veal, fish, mushrooms, asparagus tips, peas, etc.)Ingredients.
Method.—Prepare the sauce in the usual manner. If oysters are used, they should have been parboiled previously and drained, and, if large, cut in pieces. Fish should be flaked when hot, and meats cut into dice when cold.
Season any of the creamed dishes highly with cayenne, onion juice, mustard, and Worcestershire or other sauce.
Cream together two tablespoonfuls of butter and one tablespoonful of anchovy paste. Melt in theblazer, then add half a dozen eggs, beaten slightly with one-fourth a teaspoonful of salt and a dash of paprica. Stir and cook, and, when beginning to thicken, add half a pint of oysters, parboiled, "bearded," and cut fine. When scrambled, serve on sippets of toast, lightly spread with anchovy paste.
With a fork pressed into a butter ball, rub over the bottom of the hot blazer. Then cover the surface with small rounds of toast, and put one or two uncooked oysters on each round; cover, and cook until plump, dust with salt and pepper, and put a bit of butter on each oyster. Serve, when the butter has melted, with slices of lemon.
Cook as before. Have ready two tablespoonfuls of butter beaten to a cream; add a few grains of salt and paprica, one tablespoonful of chopped parsley, and, by degrees, the juice of half a lemon. Spread upon the oysters before serving.
Scald the oysters in their own liquor over a quick fire. When plump wrap each oyster in a slice of bacon, and fasten with a small skewer (wooden toothpick). Sauté in the blazer, heated very hot. Serve on thin rounds of toast. These cromeskies are most easily cooked in a double broiler, resting on a dripping-pan, in a hot oven.
Wash and drain the oysters, season with salt and pepper, roll in fine crumbs, dip in beaten egg, then roll in crumbs again. Put a little olive oil or clarified butter in the blazer; when it is heated, put in the oysters, brown them on one side, turn, and brown on the other side.
Scald a cup of cream, add two tablespoonfuls of fine-grated bread crumbs, a tablespoonful of butter, a dash of paprica and a grating of nutmeg; then add two dozen oysters, washed, drained and chopped. Stir until the oysters are thoroughly heated, but without boiling the mixture. Spread rounds of toast with butter, and then with the oyster mixture. Serve at once accompanied by olives, pim-olas or gherkins.
Stir one cup of cracker crumbs into half a cup of melted butter. Heat half a cup of cream or strained oyster liquor in the blazer, put in a layer of oysters (about a cup), washed and drained, and sprinkle with a part of the prepared crumbs, salt and pepper; add another layer of oysters, the rest of the crumbs, and salt and pepper. Cover, and cook nearly ten minutes. Do not stir the oysters.
And ate a lobster, and sang and mighty merry.—Pepys' Diary.Take every creature in of every kind.—Pope.
Pick the meat from a boiled lobster and cut it into small pieces; sift over it the coral; mix with it also the liver, two tablespoonfuls of vinegar or three of lemon juice, one-third a cup of butter and one-fourth a teaspoonful, each, of cayenne and made mustard; heat in the blazer until thoroughly hot. Serve on cup-shaped leaves of lettuce with a quarter of a hard-boiledeggon the top of each portion.
Ingredients.
Method.—Remove the meat from the shells and cut it into delicate slices. Put the butter in the blazer, and, when it melts, put the lobster into itand cook four or five minutes. Add the salt, pepper, nutmeg, wine and brandy. Stir the cream into the beaten yolks, and then stir both into the lobster mixture. Serve as soon as the eggs thicken the sauce.
Pour three tablespoonfuls of lemon juice over the meat of one lobster and season with salt and pepper. Put three tablespoonfuls of butter in the blazer, and, when it is melted, add the prepared lobster; stir until hot and serve at once.
Use one quart of clams. Separate the hard from the soft parts of the clams. Chop the hard parts fine. Substitute the soft and the chopped parts of the clams for the lobster and proceed as for lobster à la Newburgh.
Oyster, chicken, turkey or sweetbread à la Newburgh may be prepared by substituting one of the above ingredients for the lobster.
Ingredients.
Method.—Melt the butter in the blazer and in it cook the onion and carrot about five minutes.Remove the carrot; add the wine, lobster and seasonings. When thoroughly heated, add the butter, parsley and brandy and serve at once.
(Ada D. Wagg.)Ingredients.
Method.—Grate the cocoanut and set it aside to soak an hour in one pint of milk. Sauté the onion and garlic in the butter, add the cornstarch and seasonings, and cook until frothy; add the milk strained from the cocoanut, gradually, and, when the sauce boils up once, add the lobster; salt and pepper to taste.
Ingredients.
Method.—Cut the lobster in delicate slices or in dice, as preferred. Make a bechamel sauce, after the usual manner, of the butter, flour, seasonings, cream and stock. Add the lobster, and, when heated thoroughly, add the beaten yolks mixed with a few spoonfuls of the sauce from the blazer. Add the lemon juice, and sprinkle the dried and sifted coral or some chopped parsley over the top of the mixture as it is served.
Oysters, clams, sweetbread, chicken or turkey may be served à la Bordelaise or Bechamel.
Ingredients.
Method.—Prepare a white sauce, using the ingredients mentioned, and adding the lemon juice by degrees. Add the lobster to the sauce. Cut the whites of the hard-boiled eggs in rings and pass the yolks through a sieve. Serve the lobster on bits of toast, or on thin crackers, with a sprinkling of the yolks over the lobster, and circles of the whites around it.
Remove the meat from one pint of oyster crabs; put this, with a little of the liquor, into the blazer,add two tablespoonfuls of butter, a dash of paprica and a scant half-teaspoonful of salt, and let cook three or four minutes without boiling. Set the blazer over hot water and add three-fourths a cup of hollandaise sauce (either hot or cold). Stir until the mixture is heated, then add one tablespoonful of lemon juice and one teaspoonful of chopped parsley. Serve on toast, in Swedish timbale cases or in patty cases.
Put one-fourth a cup of vinegar, two tablespoonfuls of butter, a grating of nutmeg and a dash of paprica over hot water to heat. Beat the yolks of four eggs, add the hot vinegar to them, return to the fire, and stir constantly while the mixture thickens; then add two more tablespoonfuls of butter in bits.
Shrimps, oysters, lobsters and delicate fish are all good when served after this recipe.
Melt one tablespoonful of butter, add one tablespoonful of flour, and, when blended, one cup of milk. Add the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs rubbed through a sieve, and season to taste with salt, paprica, a teaspoonful of lemon juice and wine; cayenne, mustard and tobasco sauce are approved by some. Add one cup of crab meat and one-fourth a cup of canned mushrooms cut in quarters. Serve on toast.
Ingredients.
Method.—Melt the butter in the blazer, add the onion, and let cook until a light-brown color; add the flour and mix until smooth; add the stock and stir until it thickens. Add the crab meat, lemon juice, parsley, salt and pepper. Beat the yolk of the egg and add two or three spoonfuls of the sauce to it; mix well, add to the ingredients in the blazer, stir constantly, and serve as soon as heated.
Ingredients.
Method.—Put the butter in the blazer; when melted, add the garlic, onion, salt, pepper and tomatoes, and let cook ten minutes; add the crab meat (fresh or canned). Serve when hot on sippets of toast.
Make a sauce of one-fourth a cup, each, of butter and flour, half a teaspoonful of salt, a dash of pepper and one cup and a half of white stock; add one tablespoonful of anchovy essence and a quart of shelled shrimps. When hot add the beaten yolks of two eggs, with half a cup of cream. Lastly, add a tablespoonful of lemon juice and serve,withoutboiling, on sippets of toast.
A pint of shrimps and a cup of peas, heated in a cup and a half of cream sauce, are particularly good.
Put about two tablespoonfuls of clarified butter into the blazer. When hot add bread cut as for sandwiches. Brown the bread on one side, turn, and brown the other side. Spread with anchovy paste and serve at once.
Prepare the anchovy toast in one chafing-dish, and, at the same time, the eggs in another. Beat five eggs slightly, add half a teaspoonful of salt, a dash of pepper and half a cup of cream or milk. Put a large tablespoonful of butter in the blazer; when melted, add the egg mixture. Stir until the egg is creamy, and serve on the anchovy toast.
Press cooked spinach, chopped fine, through a purée sieve; reheat with a little butter, salt and two or three drops of tobasco sauce. Sauté rounds of bread to a golden brown in a little hot butter, spread with anchovy paste, and over this spread the purée of spinach. Press into the spinach on each round of bread a quarter of a hard-boiled egg cut lengthwise, having the yolk uppermost.
All the preparations for this dish, with the exception of sautéing the bread, may be made some hours before serving.
Thoroughly wash the anchovies, cut off the fillets, and chop very fine with a sprig of parsley and a few chives, or a slice or two of Bermuda onion; put the whole into a mortar and pound well, adding, meanwhile, a little paprica. Cut some large selected olives in halves, take out the stones, and fill them with the anchovy mixture. Cut small rounds of bread an inch and a half in diameter and an inch in thickness; remove a crumb, similar in shape to the olive, from the centre of each. Put a little butter into the blazer, and, when hot, sauté the rounds of bread on both sides; drain on soft paper, put an olive in the centre of each and a little mayonnaise over the whole. Five anchovies will suffice to stuff a dozen olives.
Have ready yolks of eggs, cooked until firm, and an equal bulk of sardines, each rubbed to a paste. Mix thoroughly, and season with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Prepare some bread in the blazer as for anchovy toast; then spread with the sardine mixture and serve at once.
Mix together one teaspoonful, each, of sugar and curry powder and a saltspoonful of salt. Put these into the blazer with one cup of cream and half a teaspoonful of lemon juice. Stir until the mixture is hot, then put into it ten or twelve sardines. In the mean time, heat some butter or oil in a second blazer, and in it sauté some bits of bread a little larger than the sardines, and round slices of tart apple. Serve each sardine on a bit of bread; pour a little of the sauce over the top and garnish with a round of apple. The slices of apple will keep their shape, if the apples be cored and then cut into rounds without paring.