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 quant.i.ty will supply heat for at least half an hour.
Gla.s.s, 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 p.r.o.nounced success, the work must be done noiselessly and gracefully. The preparation of all articles is the same for the chafing-dish as for the common 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 a.s.semble 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 sh.e.l.l, drained, and left in a pitcher from which they can be readily poured. The quant.i.ty of b.u.t.ter used in the recipes is indicated by tablespoonfuls, and may be measured out beforehand and rolled into dainty b.a.l.l.s with b.u.t.ter-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 upon which 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 lobster Newburgh or 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.
Sauteing and frying it were better to reserve for the range and a well-ventilated kitchen.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Course at Formal Dinner served in Individual Chafing-Dishes.
(See page 157)]
Alcohol is most commonly used in the lamp of the chafing-dish; and, on account of its cheapness, one is often advised to buy _wood_ alcohol.
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.
=Are Midnight Suppers Hygienic?=
"Being no further enemy to you Than 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 const.i.tutional 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 a.s.similated. 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 cases must 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 a.s.similated 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.
=How to Make Sauces.=
Let hunger move thy appetyte, and not savory sauces.--_Babees Book._
"Change is the sauce that sharpens appet.i.te."
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 b.u.t.ter into the blazer; let the b.u.t.ter 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 b.u.t.ter; 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 b.u.t.ter, 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 b.u.t.ter, then brown the flour in the b.u.t.ter, and, whenever it is convenient, use brown stock as the liquid.
INGREDIENTS FOR ONE CUP OF SAUCE.
2 tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter.
2 tablespoonfuls of flour.
1/4 a teaspoonful of salt.
A few grains of pepper.
1 cup of liquid.
INGREDIENTS FOR ONE PINT OF SAUCE.
1/4 a cup of b.u.t.ter.
1/4 a cup of flour.
1/2 a teaspoonful of salt.
1/4 a teaspoonful of pepper.
1 pint of liquid.
=Measuring.=
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.
=Flavoring.=
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 p.r.o.nounced is demanded. A few bits of onion and carrot browned in hot b.u.t.ter, 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.
RECIPES.
"_No variety here, But you, most n.o.ble guests, whose gracious looks Must make a dish or two become a feast._"
OYSTER DISHES.
He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.--_Swift._
=Oysters.=
Put into the blazer twenty-five to fifty choice oysters. As soon as they are hot and look plump, add salt, pepper and b.u.t.ter. Serve on b.u.t.tered toast or crackers. Add two tablespoonfuls of cream or half a tablespoonful of lemon juice before serving, if desired.