Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-31
INFORMAL FEA 4
Tasty Tips for the Chafng
Dish Cook.
A RECIPE BOOKS VALUE
UTENSILS AND INGREDIENTS
WITH EVERY RECEIPT.
Heavenly Hash is a Popular chafing
Dish Mixture - Other
Palate Ticklers.
A RECIPE BOOKS VALUE
Written for The Evening Star.

Written for The Evening Star.
Conventionality is out Of place at the
chatting dish supper. But this does not
mean that a table with a trace of the dis
orderly or untidy about 1t is in any better
form than at the most serious dinner. The
host or hostess who presides over either
the impromptu or premeditated little sup
per has as much need of carefully laid
plans as has the chatelaine who entertains
at a twelve-eourSe dinner Many a man
and maid famed among their friends for
the ease with which they toss together de-
1icious rabbits and Newburgs owe their
skill to the most careful study of their art.
With every chatting dish goes an unwrit-
ten code of ethics. OF all things, an apron.
be it of the filmiest and daintiest, is out of
place. The chatting dish supper pre-sup-
poses pretty attire. So long as there is a
possibility of careless or bungling splash
and spatter to endanger either the hostess
frock or the table linen, the chatting dish
should not be used before guests. The girl
who is deft in her cookery may wear even
the most voluminous or flowing sleeve with
perfect safety.
Everything needed should be at hand
when the guests are seated. To send Tor
utensil or ingredient afterward is to COM
NIT a chatting dish solecism. The best way
to make sure in this direction is to have
book of receipts, each accompanied by lists
of utensils and ingredients needed in it's
preparation Especially If the chatting dish
is used seldom, this is a great convenience.
There should be no written receipts. Every
receipt should be carefully committed to
memory beforehand and studied until every
process is at the finger tips. Here comes
in the careless" dash of this and that, so
much admired by onlookers.
The Preliminaries.
Always use a metal tray under the lamp.
Have the lamp filled before the guests are
seated. Do all the work possible over the
kitchen stove. Sauce for cream or poul-
cite dishes, for instance, may be prepared
hours before wanted. This saves the clut-
ter of too many utensils and tedious de-
lays. If canned meats are used, the cans
should be opened and their contents turn
ed into a china bowl. A set of dainty
bowls, by the way. IS requisite for the
perfect outfit. The domesticity of a cheer
full blaze and a steaming dish added to the
merriment of an informal supper is an ex-
celIent appetizer. This perhaps accounts
for so many survivals from the deadly lob-
ster a la Newburg, which one authority
claims is fit only for the stomach of a
hardy ostrich because the wine stops the
digestion of fish. From another source
comes the paradox: Better Is midnight
supper where a Welsh rarebit Is than the
foamiest omelet and melancholy there
with"
Learn to use the blazer without the hot
water pan in the preparation of nearly
every dish. This requires practice, but IA
cilitates matters greatly. a Remember that
an unSavory concoction is no more ac-
ceptable from the chatting dish than from
the cooks frying pan, and that mussiness
is the sure foe to any meal whether for
NAL or informal. ~ T.
Heavenly Hash.-This is not a chatting
dish preparation, but it Is most refresh
ing successor for the heavy dishes of lit
tie supper. 1t should be prepared few
hours beforehand in order that its flavor
may blend. Seasonable fruits of most sorts
make appetizing mixtures. They should be
covered with a syrup of sugar and water
boiled to a hair Rum or light wine
may be added to it before it is turned over
the fruit. If liquor is not used, a blend
of orange, lemon and preserved pineapple
juice will be found, if the fruit stands in
the liquid for several hours, to have a fla
vor similar to that given by liquor. Ba-
mana, orange and pineapple, covered with
syrup and sprinkled with cocoanut, is
favorite mixture. 1t may be served in the
halved orange skins, or from pineapple
shell.
Dainty Reiish.-Spread saltines with
cream cheese and arrange on them slices
of radishes or sprinkle with minced cress.
Lobster a la Newburg.-A Newburg sauce
presupposes truf1es, mushrooms and sherry,
but very palatable presentment of the old
favorte may appear without one of these
ingredients. Still, wine is an essential, and
the woman who eschews its use would bet
ter turn her attention to other preparations.
Mace is sometimes employed to make up
the deficiency in favor. Whatever the meat
used, the preparation of the sauce is the
same. The only difficulty is the cooking of
the eggs without curdling. Cook for three
minutes two cupfuls of finely cut lobster
with a tablespoonful of salt, a dash OF
paprika, a tablespoonful of butter a
level teaspoonful of minced truffles and
tablespoonful of minced mushrooms.
Turn in a quarter of a cupful of sherry
wine and cook five or six minutes Have
the yolkS of two eggs mixed with half a
nj of and stir IT into -hp miYt11rp
Stir the mixture for several minutes while
it is heated through, but do not let it
boil The mushrooms and truffles may be
omitted.
Oyster Ragout.-Plump forty oysters by
scalding them in their own liquor. Strain
and set to one side. Mix two tablespoon
fuls of butter and two level tablespoonfuls
of flour, cooking them together without
browning for three minutes. Add two cup
fuls of oyster liquor, half can of button
mushrooms, a level teaspoonful of SALT two
tablespoonfuls of white wine and a dash
of paprika. Cook the mixture fifteen min
utes Stir in the yolks of two eggs which
have been beaten with two teaspoonfuls of
lemon juice. Add the oysters. Heat thor
oughly, but do not boil after eggs and
oysters are IN.
PEPPER Roast With Clams.-Let table,
spoonful of butter bubble in the blazer.
Add a finely chopped green pepper and two
tablespoonfuls of finely minced onion, ana
cook five minutes without DroWuihS. ineh
turn in half cupful of clam juice, salt
spoonful of salt, a dash of paprika, the
hard parts of twelve soft-shell CLAIMS chop
ped fine and the soft bodies of the CLANS
Cook another five minutes STAND the blazer
in The hot-water pan and cover it to keep
It hot Toast on an asbestos mat or a
chatting dish toaster slices or thln pIeao
Butter and serve the clanf mixture on them
chafng dish toaster slices gpt thin Dread
Fondue on Toast.-Toast six slices OF
bread and keep it hot ON plate IA the not
water pan The bread maNi be sauted IN
butter If 1t is preferred. Beat six eggs very
light and stir into them Six tablespoonfuis
of milk or cream. Season with salt ana
paprika Put tablespoonful OF butter IN
tha blazer and when ii bubbles turn in the
egg mixture Draw this from the sides 10
the center as it heats and do not let II
burn in the middle AS soon as 1T begins
grated cheese and stir until it is smooth.
Pour over the toast and serve.