Suggestions Concerning RÉchauffÉs.

Many of the dishes prepared in the chafing-dish are rÉchauffÉs of cold cooked meats, including game and fish. The composition of such dishes is called "the flower of cookery": but it is well to remember that we are dealing with a class of foods that are more digestible when cooked rare; also, that in these cases digestibility decreases in proportion to the length of time, as well as the number of times, the article has been cooked. The meat or fish composing such dishes should not come into direct contact with the source of heat; after being freed from skin, bone and fat, they should simply be heated in a hot sauce over hot water.

Corned=Beef Hash.

Chop together very fine the corned beef and potatoes and a half or a whole green pepper, after having removed the seeds and veins; put two tablespoonfuls of butter into the blazer (over hot water), add the chopped ingredients, and season to suit the taste, adding a little stock or milk to moisten; mix thoroughly, then cover, and stir occasionally until heated through. Put a few bits of butter here and there over the top, and serve when melted. Use an equal quantity of meat and potato, or twice as much potato as meat. Serve with olives, pickles or a light vegetable salad.

Mock Terrapin.

Have ready cooked half a calf's liver (it may be boiled or braised with vegetables). Cut it into small cubes. Put one-fourth a cup of butter into the blazer; when colored a little add the cubes of liver dredged with two tablespoonfuls of flour, one-fourth a teaspoonful of paprica and half a teaspoonful of salt. Stir and cook until the flour is blended with the butter; then add one cup of water or stock and one teaspoonful of chopped parsley. As soon as the sauce boils, add one-fourth a cup of cream, two hard-boiled eggs chopped fine, and one teaspoonful of lemon juice. Serve on toast, with quarters of lemon cut lengthwise.

Note.—Cream may be used in the place of stock, and the yolks of two uncooked eggs instead of the cooked eggs.

Spaghetti.

Cut cold cooked chicken or turkey and cooked tongue (enough to make one cup of meat) in dice; cut into inch-length pieces cooked spaghetti enough to make one cup. Put one cup and a half of thin cream into the blazer over hot water, and, when hot, add the meat and spaghetti. Beat the yolks of two eggs, add two tablespoonfuls of cream, and stir into the hot mixture; add, also, half a teaspoonful (scant) of salt and a dash of paprica. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens slightly, then serve at once with toast or crackers.

Scrambled Ham and Eggs.

Put a tablespoonful of butter in the blazer. Break six eggs into a bowl, add six tablespoonfuls of water, and beat until you can take up a spoonful. Add about a cup of fine-chopped ham and mix well. Pour into the blazer, and cook until creamy, stirring constantly.

Chicken Klopps with Bechamel Sauce.

• 2 cups of cold chicken, chopped.
• ¼ a teaspoonful of celery pepper.
• 1 teaspoonful of chopped parsley.
• The unbeaten whites of 4 eggs.
• 1 teaspoonful of salt.

Method.—When ready to cook, mix the ingredients together thoroughly and form into round balls. Place the balls carefully in water just off the boil, and, in about five minutes, or as soon as the egg seems poached, remove the klopps with a skimmer. Serve with

BECHAMEL SAUCE.

• 1/3 a cup of butter.
• 1/3 a cup of flour.
• 1 cup of cream.
• 1 cup of chicken stock.
• ½ a teaspoonful of salt.
• A dash of paprica.
• The beaten yolks of 1 or 2 eggs.

Method.—Make the sauce in the usual manner, but do not let it boil after the yolks of the eggs are added.

Minced Ham À la Poulette.

To each cup of fine-chopped ham add one tablespoonful of fine bread crumbs, softened with cream or milk. Season with salt and pepper. Heat thoroughly and spread on rounds of moist buttered toast. Place a poached egg on each slice. Use two dishes.

Epicurean CanapÉs.

Heat a little butter in the blazer; sautÉ in it some narrow strips of bread and spread them thickly with the mixture used for epicurean sandwiches. Press a pitted olive in the centre of each and serve at once.

Aberdeen Sandwiches.

Heat one-fourth a cup of chopped cold tongue or ham, and half a cup of chopped veal or chicken, with half a cup of good sauce and two tablespoonfuls of curry paste (curry powder mixed with just enough water to form a paste). Let the mixture simmer five minutes, stirring constantly; then set aside to become cool. Have some bits of bread prepared as for sandwiches. Heat some clarified butter in the blazer, and in it sautÉ the bread a delicate brown, and drain on soft paper. Spread with the cold mixture, press two pieces together, and heat over hot water five or ten minutes. Serve hot.

Calf's Head en Tortue.

Peel a dozen mushrooms; break the caps in pieces and chop the stems very fine. SautÉ in three tablespoonfuls of butter, adding, if desired, half an onion cut fine. Sprinkle in one-fourth a cup of flour, half a teaspoonful, each, of salt and paprica, and, when the ingredients are well blended, add gradually one cup and a half of stock and one-fourth a cup of tomato juice. Let simmer a few moments, after the sauce boils; then add one pint of meat from a calf's head, cooked and cut in cubes.

Woodcock Toast.

Pound to a paste the freshly boiled livers of two fowls (ducks preferred), one teaspoonful of anchovy paste (or one anchovy may be pounded with the livers), half a teaspoonful of sugar, one tablespoonful of butter, one-fourth a teaspoonful of spiced pepper and the yolks of two raw eggs. Pass through a sieve, dilute with a little hot cream from a cup of cream heated over hot water, stir, and return to the rest of the cream. Stir until thickened, then pour over sippets or rounds of toast sautÉd a golden brown in a little butter.

Scotch Woodcock.

Beat thoroughly three eggs and three teaspoonfuls of anchovy paste. Put this into the chafing-dish over hot water with three-fourths a cup of milk and stir until thick. Spread sippets of toast with butter and then with anchovy paste, and turn the woodcock upon them.

Calves' Brains and Mushrooms À la Poulette.

SautÉ a clove of garlic, cut fine, in two tablespoonfuls of butter; add half a pound of mushrooms, peeled and broken in pieces, one-fourth a cup of flour, and sautÉ until well browned. Then add one-fourth a teaspoonful, each, of mace and paprica, half a teaspoonful of salt and one cup and a half of stock, and cook five or six minutes. Then add the yolks of two eggs, one tablespoonful of lemon juice, one tablespoonful of chopped parsley and three calves' brains, cooked, and cut in dice. Serve in timbale cases, or upon croustades of bread.

Beef Tea in Chafing=dish.

Cut juicy round steak into pieces about two inches square. Heat the blazer very hot; heat also a wooden lemon-squeezer in hot water or in any way that is most convenient. Put the meat into the hot blazer, turn again and again with a fork, keeping the blazer very hot. When the bits of meat are heated throughout, squeeze them, one by one, with the lemon-squeezer, into a hot bowl. Season with salt and serve at once.

Salmi of Duck or Game.

• Pieces of game.
• 1/3 a cup, each, of butter and flour.
• 1 tablespoonful, each, of carrot and onion slices.
• 2 cups of rich brown stock, highly seasoned.
• ¼ a cup of madeira.
• 1 cup of peas or flageolets, cooked.

Method.—Cook the butter, onion and carrot in the blazer until well browned. Skim out the onion and carrot and add the flour, pepper and salt. Add the stock. As soon as the sauce is cooked, add the madeira, the pieces of game, and the peas or flageolets. Serve as soon as the meat is hot.

Salmi of Duck, No. 2.

• 1 pint of thin slices of duck.
• 2 tablespoonfuls, each, of butter and flour.
• 1 pint of brown stock.
• 1 tablespoonful of catsup.
• 10 or 15 drops of onion juice.
• 1 teaspoonful of lemon juice.
• 6 mushrooms, cut in pieces.
• 1 tablespoonful of currant jelly.
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Method.—Brown the butter and make a sauce with the flour, seasoning and stock. Add the duck and mushrooms, simmer twenty minutes, add the currant jelly, and garnish with croutons.

Sweetbreads SautÉd.

Split parboiled sweetbreads into two pieces. Wipe dry, sprinkle with salt, pepper and flour; or season with salt and pepper, and egg-and-bread-crumb them. SautÉ in the blazer in hot olive oil, or butter, until nicely browned on both sides. Serve with French peas or tomato sauce.

Chicken with Mushrooms.

Melt one-fourth a cup of butter in the blazer; add six mushroom caps, peeled and sliced, and cook slowly, with a teaspoonful of grated onion, about six minutes; add two tablespoonfuls of flour, stir until smooth, then add one cup of cream, stock or milk, pepper and salt, and a few grains of mace. When the sauce boils, stir in one pint of chicken, finely chopped, and serve as soon as hot. Sweetbreads, lamb or veal may be served in the same manner.

Chopped Beef.

Chop half a pound of raw beef, from the tender part of the round, very fine. Rub the bottom of the hot blazer with butter, put in the meat with one teaspoonful of grated onion, stir, and cook four or five minutes; add two tablespoonfuls of butter, salt and pepper, and serve at once. This is good with bread, but better with baked potatoes. A pound of beef may be cooked at one time in a chafing-dish of good size, and the grated onion increased to suit the taste. The juice, of which there will be a large quantity, may be thickened with flour and butter creamed together; but it is better unthickened.

Chicken Timbales.

Pass the breast of a raw chicken through a meat-chopper five or six times; beat in, one at a time, the whites of two small eggs (the whites of the eggs are not to be previously beaten), then beat in very gradually one cup of thick cream. Season with half a teaspoonful of salt and one-fourth a teaspoonful of white pepper. Turn the mixture into buttered moulds, set them in the blazer, and cook, surrounded with hot water to two-thirds their height and covered, about twenty minutes. The water should not boil; if, with the flame turned low, it still boils, set the blazer into the bath, in which the water may boil vigorously without harm to the timbales. Serve with

BECHAMEL SAUCE.

Melt two tablespoonfuls of butter, add two tablespoonfuls of flour, one-fourth a teaspoonful of salt, a dash of pepper and half a cup, each, of chicken stock and cream; add the beaten yolk of one egg and let stand over hot water five minutes. Or,

MUSHROOM SAUCE.

Make as above, substituting one-fourth a cup of mushroom liquor for a part of the chicken stock, and adding with the egg half a can of mushrooms, or a cup of fresh mushrooms sautÉd in two tablespoonfuls of butter.

Supreme of Chicken.

Chop fine the breast of a raw chicken. Beat one egg, add the chicken, and continue beating until smooth; then add three eggs, one at a time, beating each egg in thoroughly. Add a generous teaspoonful of salt, a saltspoonful of white pepper, a dash of black pepper and one pint of cream. Butter twelve small moulds and ornament them with truffles. Fill with the chicken mixture, cover with buttered paper, and steam twenty minutes. Or, put in a pan of boiling water and cook in a moderate oven till the centres are firm. Serve with mushroom or bechamel sauce. These can be cooked and left in the moulds and then reheated. It will take about fifteen minutes to reheat.

Egg Timbales.

Beat six eggs without separating, add a scant teaspoonful of salt, a dash of pepper, a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, twenty drops of onion juice and one cup and a half of rich milk. Stir till well mixed. Butter small-sized timbale moulds and fill two-thirds full with the mixture. Place moulds in the blazer, pour boiling water about them three-fourths to the tops of the moulds, and let cook about twenty minutes, or till the centres are firm; turn out of the moulds on to a warm platter, and pour about them a thin bread sauce.

BREAD SAUCE.

To one pint of milk add half a cup of fine, stale bread crumbs, a small onion with six cloves stuck in it, half a teaspoonful of salt and a few grains of cayenne. Cook in the double boiler for about an hour; stir occasionally. Remove the onion, beat well, and add one tablespoonful of butter. Put one tablespoonful of butter over the fire in a small saucepan; when hot add two-thirds a cup of rather coarse bread crumbs; stir over a hot fire till they are brown and crisp. Sprinkle over the timbales and sauce. Add a sprig of parsley to the top of each timbale.

Pan=Broiling.

Chops, birds, venison, hamburg, sirloin and other steaks, even spring chickens, may be cooked successfully in the chafing-dish; but they are not the dishes upon which an amateur should begin his experiments. Heat the blazer very hot, brush over the surface with a brush dipped in olive oil (or use a butter-ball and a fork), lay in the article to be cooked, sear upon one side, turn and sear upon the other; repeat, turning and cooking until done to taste; five minutes will suffice for small lamb chops. Serve with

MaÎtre d'HÔtel Butter.

Beat four tablespoonfuls of butter to a cream; add half a teaspoonful of salt and a few grains of pepper, also one tablespoonful of parsley, chopped very fine, and one tablespoonful of lemon juice, very slowly.

Fillets of Beef, Mushroom Sauce.

Have half a dozen slices cut crosswise from a neatly trimmed fillet of beef. The slices may be cut of any thickness desired, but from half to three-fourths an inch is preferable for chafing-dish cookery. Melt two tablespoonfuls of butter in a hot blazer; lay in the meat, and cook four or five minutes, turning every ten seconds. The heat should be well maintained throughout the cooking. Season with salt when half cooked. In another blazer make a cup of brown sauce; brown two tablespoonfuls of butter, add four tablespoonfuls of flour, and, when this is well browned, add half a cup of very rich brown stock and half a cup of liquid from the mushroom can. Season to taste with Kitchen Bouquet, salt, and a few drops of tabasco sauce, then add half a bottle of mushrooms, cut in halves. Serve as soon as the mushrooms are hot.

Fillets of Lamb, Cherry Sauce.

For the fillets use either the fillet from the loin or the top of a "best end of a loin" boned. Cut the meat in slices or rounds, and sautÉ in hot butter in the blazer. Season with salt and pepper and pour into the blazer half a cup of maraschino cherries with half a cup of the liquid from the bottle. Candied cherries that have stood half an hour in half a cup of boiling water, on the back of the range, and then mixed with half a cup of sherry wine, may be used in place of the maraschino cherries. This sauce may also be used with fillets of beef or young turkey.

Ham Timbales.

Method.—Take the bread crumbs from the centre of a stale loaf. Pass the cooked yolks of eggs through a sieve. Add the ham, crumbs, yolks, salt and tabasco to the raw eggs beaten and mixed with the milk. When thoroughly mixed turn into timbale moulds very carefully buttered. Fit papers into the bottoms of the moulds before buttering. Set these in the blazer, surround with hot water, letting it come half way to the top of the moulds. Heat the water to the boiling-point, then set the blazer into the hot-water pan partly filled with boiling water, cover and cook until the mixture is firm in the centre. Serve, turned from the moulds, with cream or tomato sauce, flavored with onion, or with peas heated in a cream sauce.

Fillets of Chicken.

Remove the breast from a plump and tender chicken and separate from the bone and skin. Detach the small fillets, then cut each side into two or three lengthwise slices the size of the small fillets. Keep covered closely until ready to cook. Heat the blazer very hot, butter slightly, and in it lay the fillets and sprinkle with the juice of half a lemon, salt and white pepper; add, also, one-third a cup of chicken stock and a tablespoonful of sherry. Cover and let cook about ten minutes. In the meantime prepare a sauce in a second chafing-dish, using two tablespoonfuls, each, of butter and flour, a dash of salt and pepper, and one cup of stock, in making which a small piece of ham or bacon was used. Add also a tablespoonful of mushroom or tomato catsup and a tablespoonful of sherry wine.

Mutton RÉchauffÉ.

Melt three tablespoonfuls of butter in the blazer and sautÉ in this a tablespoonful, each, of green pepper and onion, chopped fine; add three tablespoonfuls of flour and half a teaspoonful of salt, and stir and cook until frothy; then add, gradually, one cup of brown stock and half a cup of tomato purÉe (cooked tomato strained). Let boil two or three minutes, then set over hot water and stir in one cup of cold roast mutton cut in strips or cubes, and half a cup of cooked macaroni, blanched and drained. Two or three mushrooms or a tablespoonful of mushroom catsup improves this dish.

Baba or Wine Cake.

This cake may be made some days in advance, and when wished reheated in a sauce made in the chafing-dish. Baba is baked in a large mould and cut in slices, or in individual cylindrical or baba moulds.

Baba.

• 1 lb. of flour.
• 1 cake of compressed yeast.
• ½ a cup of water.
• 10 oz. of butter (1¼ cups).
• ¼ a teaspoonful of salt.
• ½ a cup of sugar.
• 8 eggs.
• ½ a cup of currants, sultanas or sliced citron.

Method.—Make a sponge of the yeast, softened in the water, and flour to knead. Knead the little ball of dough until elastic, and put into a small saucepan of lukewarm water. Meanwhile add the butter, sugar, salt and three of the eggs to the rest of the flour, and beat with the hand until all are evenly blended; then add the rest of the eggs, one after another. When the ball of dough rises to the top of the water and is light, remove from the water with a skimmer and beat it into the egg paste; beat for some minutes, then beat in the fruit. Turn the mixture into the mould or moulds, leaving room for the cake to double in bulk. Let rise in a temperature of 68° F. When nearly doubled in bulk, bake from twenty to fifty minutes.

Sauce for Baba.

Let two cups of sugar and one cup of water boil in the blazer about six minutes, then add one-fourth a cup, or more, of maraschino, rum or sherry wine. Lay the baba, sliced or in individual forms, into the hot syrup and let stand a few minutes, basting the cake with the syrup. When hot, serve with or without whipped cream. Half a cup of apricot or quince marmalade may be added with the wine.

Fig Toast.

Wash carefully and cook in boiling water half a pound of pulled figs until tender; add one fourth a cup of sugar and the grated rind and juice of half a lemon. Cook until the syrup is well reduced. Cut the crust from a thick slice of bread and sautÉ to a golden brown, first on one side, then on the other, in two tablespoonfuls of hot butter. Drain the bread on soft paper; then heap the figs upon it, cover with two-thirds a cup of thick cream and a scant fourth a cup of sugar, beaten until stiff. Serve at once. Prunes, apricots, peaches, pears, or strawberry preserves, may be prepared in the same manner. If preserves be used, omit the sugar from the cream. Sponge cake may be used in the place of bread.

Pineapple Sponge.

Heat one pint of grated pineapple over hot water, sprinkle into it one-third a cup of fine tapioca (a quick-cooking kind), mixed with two-thirds a cup of sugar, and half a teaspoonful of salt; when the tapioca is transparent, add the juice of a lemon, and fold in the whites of two eggs, beaten until dry. Serve with cream and sugar.

Tapioca=and=Banana Sponge.

Sprinkle half a cup of tapioca and two-thirds a cup of sugar into one pint of boiling water; add half a teaspoonful of salt and cook over hot water, stirring occasionally. When the tapioca is transparent, add the juice of two lemons, and fold in the whites of two eggs, beaten until dry. Serve spread over sliced bananas, with cream and sugar, or with a cold boiled custard, previously made. This dish may be prepared with canned peaches, apricots or quinces, using the juice of the fruit instead of water.

---

Method.—Take the bread crumbs from the centre of a stale loaf. Pass the cooked yolks of eggs through a sieve. Add the ham, crumbs, yolks, salt and tabasco to the raw eggs beaten and mixed with the milk. When thoroughly mixed turn into timbale moulds very carefully buttered. Fit papers into the bottoms of the moulds before buttering. Set these in the blazer, surround with hot water, letting it come half way to the top of the moulds. Heat the water to the boiling-point, then set the blazer into the hot-water pan partly filled with boiling water, cover and cook until the mixture is firm in the centre. Serve, turned from the moulds, with cream or tomato sauce, flavored with onion, or with peas heated in a cream sauce.

Fillets of Chicken.

Remove the breast from a plump and tender chicken and separate from the bone and skin. Detach the small fillets, then cut each side into two or three lengthwise slices the size of the small fillets. Keep covered closely until ready to cook. Heat the blazer very hot, butter slightly, and in it lay the fillets and sprinkle with the juice of half a lemon, salt and white pepper; add, also, one-third a cup of chicken stock and a tablespoonful of sherry. Cover and let cook about ten minutes. In the meantime prepare a sauce in a second chafing-dish, using two tablespoonfuls, each, of butter and flour, a dash of salt and pepper, and one cup of stock, in making which a small piece of ham or bacon was used. Add also a tablespoonful of mushroom or tomato catsup and a tablespoonful of sherry wine.

Mutton RÉchauffÉ.

Melt three tablespoonfuls of butter in the blazer and sautÉ in this a tablespoonful, each, of green pepper and onion, chopped fine; add three tablespoonfuls of flour and half a teaspoonful of salt, and stir and cook until frothy; then add, gradually, one cup of brown stock and half a cup of tomato purÉe (cooked tomato strained). Let boil two or three minutes, then set over hot water and stir in one cup of cold roast mutton cut in strips or cubes, and half a cup of cooked macaroni, blanched and drained. Two or three mushrooms or a tablespoonful of mushroom catsup improves this dish.

Baba or Wine Cake.

This cake may be made some days in advance, and when wished reheated in a sauce made in the chafing-dish. Baba is baked in a large mould and cut in slices, or in individual cylindrical or baba moulds.

Baba.

• 1 lb. of flour.
• 1 cake of compressed yeast.
• ½ a cup of water.
• 10 oz. of butter (1¼ cups).
• ¼ a teaspoonful of salt.
• ½ a cup of sugar.
• 8 eggs.
• ½ a cup of currants, sultanas or sliced citron.

Method.—Make a sponge of the yeast, softened in the water, and flour to knead. Knead the little ball of dough until elastic, and put into a small saucepan of lukewarm water. Meanwhile add the butter, sugar, salt and three of the eggs to the rest of the flour, and beat with the hand until all are evenly blended; then add the rest of the eggs, one after another. When the ball of dough rises to the top of the water and is light, remove from the water with a skimmer and beat it into the egg paste; beat for some minutes, then beat in the fruit. Turn the mixture into the mould or moulds, leaving room for the cake to double in bulk. Let rise in a temperature of 68° F. When nearly doubled in bulk, bake from twenty to fifty minutes.

Sauce for Baba.

Let two cups of sugar and one cup of water boil in the blazer about six minutes, then add one-fourth a cup, or more, of maraschino, rum or sherry wine. Lay the baba, sliced or in individual forms, into the hot syrup and let stand a few minutes, basting the cake with the syrup. When hot, serve with or without whipped cream. Half a cup of apricot or quince marmalade may be added with the wine.

Fig Toast.

Wash carefully and cook in boiling water half a pound of pulled figs until tender; add one fourth a cup of sugar and the grated rind and juice of half a lemon. Cook until the syrup is well reduced. Cut the crust from a thick slice of bread and sautÉ to a golden brown, first on one side, then on the other, in two tablespoonfuls of hot butter. Drain the bread on soft paper; then heap the figs upon it, cover with two-thirds a cup of thick cream and a scant fourth a cup of sugar, beaten until stiff. Serve at once. Prunes, apricots, peaches, pears, or strawberry preserves, may be prepared in the same manner. If preserves be used, omit the sugar from the cream. Sponge cake may be used in the place of bread.

Pineapple Sponge.

Heat one pint of grated pineapple over hot water, sprinkle into it one-third a cup of fine tapioca (a quick-cooking kind), mixed with two-thirds a cup of sugar, and half a teaspoonful of salt; when the tapioca is transparent, add the juice of a lemon, and fold in the whites of two eggs, beaten until dry. Serve with cream and sugar.

Tapioca=and=Banana Sponge.

Sprinkle half a cup of tapioca and two-thirds a cup of sugar into one pint of boiling water; add half a teaspoonful of salt and cook over hot water, stirring occasionally. When the tapioca is transparent, add the juice of two lemons, and fold in the whites of two eggs, beaten until dry. Serve spread over sliced bananas, with cream and sugar, or with a cold boiled custard, previously made. This dish may be prepared with canned peaches, apricots or quinces, using the juice of the fruit instead of water.

---