Chafing dish

Achafing dishis a metal cooking or serving pan on a stand with analcohol burnerholdingchafing fuelbelow it. It is used for cooking at table, notably ingueridon service, or as afood warmerfor keeping dishes at a buffet warm.
Historically, a chafing dish (from the Frenchchauffer, "to make warm") is a kind of portable grate raised on a tripod, originally heated withcharcoalin abrazier,and used for foods that require gentle cooking, away from the "fierce" heat of direct flames. The chafing dish could be used at table or provided with a cover for keeping food warm on abuffet. Double dishes that provide a protective water jacket are known asbains-marieand help keep delicate foods, such as fish, warm while preventing overcooking.
The Roman politician and writerCicerodescribed a "kind of saucepan of Corinthian brass", writing "This simple and ingenious vessel possesses a double bottom, the upper one holds the light delicacies . . . and the fire is lit underneath".
Fragments of ceramic chafing dishes are common in the archaeology of medieval city sites, such asYork, England.Chafing dishes in the form of charcoal-burning braziers are familiar in 17th-century American inventories almost from the start.François Pierre La Varenne,Le Cuisinier françois(Paris, 1652) mentions the use of aréchautin a recipe forchampignons à l'olivier.In describing the Velazquezgenrepainting (illustration), sometimes art historians not handy in the kitchen describe her asfryingeggs in her earthenware dish.In 1520,Hernán Cortésreported toCharles Vthe manner in whichMontezumawas served meals inTenochtitlan:
In England silver braziers without handles, upon which a dish would be set, are mentioned in the reign ofQueen Anne; wooden balls kept the heat of the charcoal in the pierced container from being transferred to the table surface.Dish-crosses and the chafing dish with a handle were introductions of the reign ofGeorge II.In the American colonies, "One chafing dish" was inventoried among the silver atAbraham de Peyster's death in New York, 1728, though only two colonial New York examples are known to survive.
In a light form and heated over a spirit lamp, a chafing dish could also be  used for cooking various dainty dishes at table—of fish, cream, eggs or cheese—for which silver chafing dishes with fine heat-insulating wooden handles were made in the late 19th century, when "chafing-dish suppers" became fashionable, even in households where a kitchen maid prepared all the ingredients beforehand. Specialized chafing-dish cookbooks appeared from the 1880s. A book of chafing-dish recipes printed for the silversmiths,Gorham Manufacturing Co.in New York, (2nd edition, 1894), featured a brief history of chafing dishes, followed by proper instruction for use, suggesting its novelty.Fannie Farmer'sChafing Dish Possibilitieswas published in Boston in 1898.
Modern chafing dishes are made of light metal or ceramic casseroles with handles. Standard uses of a chafing-dish in restaurants are finishing the sauces of dishes such aspressed duckandfettuccine Alfredoor in presentingflambédishes such ascrêpes SuzetteandSteak Diane. In homes, it can be used to prepare and present dishes at table which must be kept hot, notablyWelsh rarebitandcheese fondue. The home version sometimes includes a cover.
Home and restaurant chafing dishes have gone in and out of fashion,notably in the 1940s,1960s,and 1970s.
In institutional and catering use, chafing dishes often consist of large, covered rectangular pans, sometimes disposable, held in a rack or frame over water heated by an alcohol burner as a kind of steam table for keeping food warm at abuffet. They are not used for cooking or reheating food.