Chafing Dish Cookery

Hot Ham Home Style

Put 1 tablespoon chopped shallot or onion in a saucepan with 3 or 4 leaves of tarragon and 4 ounces of dry white wine. Bring to a boil and cook until reduced to about one fourth the original quantity. Add ½ cup brown sauce or gravy or 1 tablespoon meat extract mixed into ½ cup tomato purée. Cook very slowly for about 15 to 20 minutes. Add to this sauce an equal quantity of heavy sweet cream and cook slowly for about 10 minutes longer. Strain through a fine sieve, add 1 table spoon butter, and correct the seasoning with salt.

Cut enough cooked ham for 4 servings in thin slices, arrange them in a chafing dish, overlapping the slices, and pour some of the sauce over. Have the water very hot underneath. Serve the remaining sauce separately.

Crêpes Suzette is not the only dessert that is appropriate for chafing dish service. Cherries jubilee and croûte aux fruits are two worth trying. The latter is a French dessert that never failed to thrill French diplomats when Mr. Keller, for many years the Ritz-Carlton president, entertained at dinner, be cause it is a dish those sophisticated gentlemen seldom found away from home.

Crêpes Suzeltte

To make the crêpes, beat 2 eggs and 2 egg yolks. Add 2/3 cup sifted flour mixed with 1 tablespoon sugar and ¼ teaspoon salt. Add 1 ¾ cups milk and stir until smooth. Add 2 table spoons melted butter and 1 teaspoon rum or cognac. Strain through a fine sieve and let the batter stand for 2 hours.

Put just enough butter on a hot griddle or skillet to coat it and pour on a very thin layer of baiter. When the crêpe is set and brown underneath, which should take about 1 minute, turn it and cook on the other side until golden brown. The pan must be very hot because slowly cooked crêpes will be tough.

Fry the Crêpes in the kitchen, roll or fold them like a handkerchief, and place in the chafing dish. The sauce is starred in the kitchen, poured around the crêpes, and finished and flambéed in the dining room.

Prepare the orange butter for the sauce as follows: Rub 4 lumps of sugar on the skin of a large orange or use granulated sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon grated orange peel. Crush the sugar with a fork and mix with it 3 tablespoons sweet butter until smooth and creamy. To the crêpes folded in the chafing dish add 2 tablespoons sweet butter. Mix the juice of the orange, a few drops of lemon juice. and 2 glasses of curaçao. Cointreau, Bénédictine, or Grand Marnier. Mix the prepared orange butter in well. Spoon this sauce over the crépes and sprinkle with 2 glasses of warmed brandy. Ignite the brandy and serve the crepês flaming.

Cherries Jubilee

Usually the large Bing cherries that are preserved in glass jars or in cans are used. Drain the cherries, bring the juice to a boil, and reduce to about two-thirds the original quantity. Mix 1 teaspoon arrowroot or cornstarch in 1 tablespoon cold water and add. Cook for a few minutes longer and add kirsch to taste. Pour the sauce over the fruit. To flamber, sprinkle the top generously with warm brandy and ignite. Serve, as soon as the flames go out, either plain as a compote or with ice cream.

Croûte aux Fruits au Rhum (Buns and Fruit in Rum)

Toast 4 slices of brioche or sweet bun and put them in the top pan of a chafing dish over boiling water. Mix together ½ cup each fresh or cooked pineapple and pears, cut in small pieces, ½ cup fresh or cooked sweet cherries. and ½ cup orange sections. Cover the toasted brioche with the fruit and spread a little apricot sauce over the fruit.

To serve, pour 2 generous glasses of warmed rum into the chafing dish, ignite the rum, and serve the croûte aux fruits aflame to four persons.