The origin of the chafing dish dates back to the period of unwritten history. Its use was common at least two thousand years ago. Like the brazier, chafing dishes were once made of bronze and rested on the floor. As occasion demanded they were carried from room to room by means of handles on the sides. The authepsa of the Greeks and Romans - a saucepan of Corinthian brass - was also a species of chafing dish, having several features of the modern chafing dish. All of these appliances were a combination of saucepan and heat generator, though the authepsa was probably used simply to heat water or to keep it hot. Formerly the heat was supplied by live wood coals or the flame of burning oil. The ancient dishes were intended for gentle cooking or simmering, and for keeping hot food that had been cooked by other means. This is the rightful province of the modern chafing dish and all other cooking, save that of a gentle simmering, should be left for some more appropriate utensil.

This degree of heat, that of simmering, is well adapted to the cooking of eggs, oysters, and cheese, and the reheating of cooked materials in a sauce, the sauce having been first made in the blazer of the chafing dish.

The blazer, a hot-water pan and a lamp are the indispensable parts of the chafing dish - the hot-water pan is sometimes, though erroneously, omitted. A tray upon which the dish may rest, while the lamp is lighted, insures the tablecloth against fire from below. Light wooden spoons, shaped from French apple tree or olive wood, and highly polished, are light and noiseless, and thus suitable for dining-room cookery. The bowls of such spoons being very small, silver forks and spoons, designed especially for serving, are called into requisition when the cooking has been completed.

Often young people, whose experience in cooking is limited, inquire, How are we to know when to use the hot-water pan? To the amateur cook, who is desirous of making a success of chafing-dish cookery, we would suggest the perusal of Chapter II. They will then readily understand that if roux is to be made for the thickening of a sauce, the blazer should be set directly over the flame, in order to secure the strong heat necessary to cook starch. Also that, if eggs are to be added to a mixture, or if milk is to be heated or cheese melted, the hot-water pan should be in place, to temper the heat ever inimical to the digestibility of nitrogeneous substances.

Fuel

When alcohol is to be used in the lamp of the chafing dish the best is none to good and, in the end, is the cheapest.

With the ordinary chafing-dish lamp, in which the alcohol is burned in a cup filled with asbestos stone, covered with a wire netting, the alcohol is turned into the lamp through a central opening. As soon as the lamp is filled, the cap covering this opening should be fitted in place and kept in place until the alcohol is consumed, otherwise it is impossible to control the flame. The filler is a desirable utensil, when the alcohol needs be renewed. The lamp usually holds about one fourth cup; this, if of good quality, will burn about half an hour. A similar fuel in solid form is now prepared for this use. Any make of chafing dish may be heated with gas or electricity, if it be connected with the supply. A gas burner or an electric stove may be fitted inside the frame of the chafing dish, then with rubber tubing for gas, or flexible cord for electricity, the frame may be connected with the supply that is used for lighting the room. At stores, where gas appliances are on sale, may be found portable frames fitted with gas burners and with rubber tubing attached, upon which the hot-water pan or blazer is set for cooking.

Unless gas or electricity be the fuel, chafing-dish cookery consumes much time and is not adapted to general use; but the sick room, the Sunday night tea, and the means for diversion on a stormy day, to say nothing of the little "snack" after "the play", will afford abundant opportunities in which to test the virtues of many a dish that, eaten at its best, should be served the instant it is perfectly cooked.

As the chafing dish stands very high above the ordinary diningroom table, the first requisite to ease in cooking is a chair with a rather high seat. Also a hassock beneath the table for the feet is convenient for her who keeps watch over the contents of the blazer. As this meal is often prepared and served without the assistance of a maid, everything should be in readiness beforehand; and, when space allows, the greater part of the food for the meal may be in place while the cooking is going on. A tray holding the cups, spoons, etc., needed in cooking is a convenience on the dining table, but when this necessitates a crowded table, a small table at the left of the "cook" maybe drawn upon for this purpose. If this be upon casters, it may be wheeled aside after the hot course from the chafing-dish has been disposed of, and thus is made a comparatively easy solution of the problem of soiled dishes on the table. Hors d'oeuvres, substantial or otherwise, according to the occasion, form a fitting first course of the chafing-dish meal and take up the time while the cooking is going on.