When the old Ritz was the new Ritz, and Irene and Vernon Castle danced in the Crystal Room, and the orchestra at dinner played the new melodies from Naughty Marietta… that was an era of unhurried dinners and leisurely suppers, of flawless meals flawlessly served. Theodore, maître d'hôtel of beloved memory, personally saw to the finishing of sauces, the serving flourishes, the little niceties for which there was time in those days. He was like a stage director, and his waiters were like talented actors, deftly handling their roles under his skilled eye. It was not a small-scale operation, for it was not unusual for us to serve more than a thousand covers at dinner and at supper after the theater and the Opera. Yet Theodore would never have dreamed of allowing a lobster Newberg or terrapin Maryland or crêpes Suzette to be served in his dining rooms except from a chafing dish.
The kitchen of the old Ritz had more than one hundred chafing dishes, of all sizes, and each one of them saw use several times every evening. The shining copper pans, reflecting the flickering blue flame beneath, and the candlelight on the table always seemed to say: “Here is savoir faire.” The gourmet who was served a portion of caneton à la rouennaise, enticingly hot under the cover of the blazer pan. may have appreciated the picturesque charm of the chafing dish more than its utilitarian aspects, but behind the scenes we leaned heavily on the chafing dish because it is so practical and so convenient. This is as true for the hostess who entertains a group of friends at home as it is for the chef and maître d'hôtel in a great restaurant.
The Ritz did not ordinarily undertake outside catering assignments, but there were two occasions on which I, as chef, worked with the maître d'hôtel, whose responsibility service ordinarily is, to stage elaborate parties outside the hotel. Then our chafing dishes were absolute necessities.
Judge Gary was the host at one of these parties, and the guest of honor was Queen Marie of Romania, whose visit to New York enlivened the social season after the first of the World Wars. The Judge's magnificent home stood where the Hotel Pierre does now, one of the finest old houses in New York. The Judge was an habitué of the Ritz and so valued a guest that we could not refuse his request. It was no easy task for me to supervise all the preliminary preparation at the hotel, cooking and packing, and to make sure at the same time that all the last-minute cooking in the kitchen at the house on Fifth Avenue was under control. Without our battery of chafing dishes we would never have been able to provide the fond and service the Judge and his guests expected. That supper was the most brilliant event of the social season that year.
Whitelaw Reid was another special guest who asked for and received this catering service from the Ritz. Mr. Reid's house occupied the block on Madison Avenue opposite Saint Patrick's Cathedral, and he gave fabulous parties there. Dishes of lobster, chicken, sweetbreads and mushrooms, all of them sauced, had to be kept hot over a long period of serving—the chefs stationed at the buffer table served everything hot and fragrant from the indispensable chafing dishes.
At private parties and in the hotel dining rooms the Ritz's service was Continental, exactly like the service at the Ritz Hotels in London and Paris. Roasted meat was served from a tortue, a huge platter with deep pockets to hold the sauce and garnishes. The platter is kept hot over hot water and is covered with an enormous silver dome that makes it look like a turtle, or tortue. The tortue is mounted on legs with casters, to be rolled to the guest's table. The gentleman in charge of the tortue is a trancheur, a man who has had some training as a chef and some as a maître d'hôtel. He is always very competent and as skillful with a knife as a surgeon.
Dishes to be served with sauce are served Continental fashion in two different ways. A delicate sauce that might curdle is served in a chafing dish because the lower pan of hot water protects it from excessive heat. Foods that can stand the direct heat of the flame without curdling or toughening are kept hot on réchauds, small copper and brass table heaters. These refinements of serving are not seen often today. There are still some restaurants which use chafing dishes and réchauds, but when you see a tortue rolled to your table and the roast carved to order, then you know you are in a restaurant of genuine distinction. And you will remark the superior flavor and succulence of meat that is freshly sliced and served without delay.
The famous hotels in Europe had certain specialties as well as details of service that never became quite so popular in this country. In Paris, small game birds were served in the chafing dish with great ceremony. I can still see in my mind's eye that most famous of all maîtres d'hôtel, Olivier of the Paris Ritz, unobtrusively watching a waiter flamber a bécasse au fumet with fine cognac, casually walking by the table to make sure that the sauce was just right and would not boil and curdle. How many thousands of bécasses were served in the dining room of that hotel on the place Vendôme! This is how they were prepared.
Bécasses an Fumet (Woodcock Flamed in Brandy)
Bécasses are not usually cleaned like other birds but are cooked with the intestines intact. Season the birds with salt and spread them generously with butter. Roast in a hot oven (450° F.) for about 10 minutes. The meat should be done but not too well done; it should appear rather pink.
Remove the legs and breasts and arrange them in a chafing dish, the legs at the bottom. Spread the breasts with a little melted butter and cover the pan. The water in the lower pan should be hot but not boiling. Chop up the carcasses finely, replace in the roasting pan, and pour over them 2 ounces of brandy. Mix well and rub through a fine sieve.
Add 2 tablespoons of the strained pan juices to enough rouennaise (see page 38) to spread small triangles of toast for garnishing the dish. To the remaining pan juices add an equal quantity of game or poultry gravy and a few drops of lemon juice to make a sauce.
Sprinkle the legs and breasts with cognac and ignite. Pour over them the sauce made from the carcasses and arrange the toast spread with the rouennaise combination around the edges of the dish. Two birds will serve four persons.
Another favorite game dish which we frequently made in Paris was canard à la rouennaise. For this, another special piece of equipment is needed which is usually seen in the first-class Continental restaurants—the duck press. This is a device with a large wheel at the top, operated by the headwaiter or the trancheur, which squeezes out the blood and juice from the bird. After the duck is cooked in the kitchen, it is sent to the dining room to be carved and the carcass to be prepared for releasing the blood and juice to finish the sauce—an operation which gourmets love to watch.
Canard à la Rouennaise (Duck Rouennaise)
Clean a plump, tender duck, stuff with rouennaise (see below), and roast in a hot oven (450° F.) for about 18 to 20 minutes, depending on the size of the duck. Wild duck should always be rare. If it is a tender duck, cut off the legs and broil them for a few minutes because they require more cooking than the breast. Remove the rouennaise stuffing and place it in the center of a chafing dish. On opposite sides place the legs, cut in two pieces, and on the oilier two sides the breasts, thinly sliced.
Chop up the carcass finely (and also the legs if they were too tough to broil), add 2 ounces of cognac and a few drops of lemon juice, and press all together in a duck press. Have a separate heater, a réchaud, ready near the chafing dish and pour on it a small pan containing about ½ cup of sauce rouennaise. Add to this the cognac flavored juice pressed out of the duck carcass. Correct the seasoning.
The duck in the chafing dish should be very hot. Be sure that the water in the lower pan of the chafing dish is kept hot but never boiling, or it is liable to toughen the delicately cooked meat of the bird. Sprinkle it with a little cognac and then pour a little of the sauce rauennaise over it. Put the remaining sauce in a separate serving dish. Serve each person with some of the duck and rouennaise paste and pass the sauce.
Rouennaise
Heat well 2 tablespoons rendered salt pork fat. Add 1 cup chicken or duck livers, a pinch of thyme, 1 bay leaf, 1 teaspoon salt, and a little pepper. Cook for 3 or 4 minutes over a hot fire. Add 3 tablespoons cognac or sherry. Mix all together, pounding well, and rub through a sieve to make a paste.
Sauce Rouennaise (For Duck)
Put 4 ounces of red wine in a saucepan with 5 peppercorns, 1 small bay leaf, a small sprinkling of thyme, and 1 teaspoon chopped shallot or onion. Bring to a boil and cook until reduced to one third the original quantity. Add 2 or 3 tablespoons brown sauce or good gravy or 1 tablespoon beef extract, bring to a boil, and remove from the heat. Add 2 or 3 duck livers, finely chopped, mix in well, and rub the sauce through a fine sieve. The blood and juice from the duck press may be combined with this and poured over the sliced duck in the chafing dish.
These game dishes were popular at the London Ritz, but even more popular there were the curries. In those days, before 1910, many very distinguished Englishmen held positions of importance out in India and other countries Of Britain's Eastern Empire. When they came home on furlough or returned to England, they were curry enthusiasts. And they demanded the real thing and would accept no provincial adaptations. We had a Hindu chef who was hired to come in one day each week to make and serve chicken curry and a second day for lamb curry. No one but the special curry chef was allowed to touch the curries.
This curried chicken is a particularly good choice as the pièce de résistance because it is prepared without removing the meat from the bones:
Chicken Sauté with Curried Cream Sauce
Clean and singe a 3- to 3 ½-pound spring chicken and cut it up as for fricassee, that is, into 2 legs, 2 second joints, 2 wings, 2 breasts, and the back. Season with salt and a little pepper. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a skillet and arrange the chicken in it. Add 3 tablespoons finely chopped onion. Cover the pan and cook slowly over a low heat or at the side of the range for 10 minutes until the onions are soft. Add 2 ounces of brandy and 1 tablespoon curry powder and mix well. Add 2 cups heavy cream, bring to a boil, and cook over low heat for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the chicken is tender. Test it by inserting a sharp-tined fork in the second joint. When the fork is withdrawn, the juice which follows is clear with no pink tinge if the bird is cooked. Remove the pieces of chicken to the chafing dish.
Reduce the liquid in the pan to a smooth sauce about as thick as a medium cream sauce. If necessary, thicken by adding 1 tablespoon butter creamed with ½ teaspoon Hour, swirling it into the pan in a circular motion. Correct the seasoning and pass the sauce through a fine sieve over the chicken in the chafing dish. Keep the water in the lower pan very hot but not boiling. Serve with fluffy rice.
If you wish to use leftover cooked thicken or turkey with a curry sauce, instead of making an authentic curry by cooking the bird with the curry, here is a good method;
Chicken or Turkey à I'lndienne
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a saucepan, add 1 tablespoon finely chopped onion, and cook until the onion is soft but not brown. Add 1 small bay leaf, a little thyme, and 1 tablespoon curry powder. Mix well. Add ¼ cup white stock and bring to a boil. Add 1 ½ cups velouté or cream sauce and cook for 10 to 15 minutes. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve. Add ½ cup sweet cream and bring again to a boil. Correct the seasoning with salt. Arrange 1 ½ to 2 cups sliced cooked chicken or turkey in the top pan of the chafing dish and pour the hot sauce over it. Have thee water very hot underneath the pan. Serve with rice.
Most of these dishes are prepared in the kitchen, and the chafing dish is used for serving comme il faut or, perhaps, for giving the finishing touch of cognac or butter or egg yolk. The convenience and charm of the chafing dish in the dining room are unsurpassed in serving many foods, One may, of course, actually cook at the table in the chafing dish, but these dishes have the initial cooking done in the kitchen. In the case of crêpes Suzette there is a special pan that is used on a réchaud, but the chafing dish can be used. Any dish that is flambéed, such as crêpes Suzette or bécasse au fumet or poularde flambée Souvaroff, should always be lighted in front of the guests. I might remind those who are contemplating the purchase of a chafing dish that they come in more than one size. So it might be well to consider whether the chafing dish is to be used for diners intimes or for large buffet supper parties.
Not everything can be served from the chafing dish. Not, for example, broiled meat like beef filet or lamb chops. As soon as broiled meat is covered, steam settles on it, and it becomes unappetizing and toughened. Nor should a sauce containing egg yolks he allowed to remain in the blazer pan with water boiling beneath. If it is necessary to hold a dish of this kind very long, the egg yolks should be added just before serving.
Sliced Chicken, Paprika Sauce
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a saucepan, add 1 tablespoon finely chopped onion, and cook until golden. Add 2 tablespoons paprika and mix well, Add 1 cup sweet cream gradually, mixing well, and cook, stirring, for about 10 minutes. Add 1 cup Cream sauce or 6 tablespoons velouté to thicken it. Correct the seasoning with salt.
Put slices of cooked chicken or turkey meat in the chafing dish and pour the hot sauce over it. Have the water underneath boiling hot. Serve with boiled rice.
Moules Marinière (Mussels in Wine Sauce)
Clean 3 to 4 dozen mussels, scrubbing the shells very thoroughly. Place them in a saucepan with 1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot or onion and 4 to 5 ounces of white wine. Cook over a hot fire for 6 to 8 minutes, or until the shells open. Take one shell from each mussel and put the half shells with the mussels in them in the chafing dish.
Reduce the cooking liquor left in the pan to about one third the original quantity. Thicken with manié butter made by creaming together 3 table spoons butter with ½ teaspoon flour. Add this to the liquid in the pan and bring the mixture again to a boil. Cor rect the seasoning with salt. Add a little freshly ground white pepper, 1 tablespoon chopped parsley, and 1 tea spoon chopped chives. With the water in the under pan very hot, pour the sauce over the mussels in the chafing dish.
Scallops and Progs' Legs Poulette
Poach 2 cups of scallops in their own juice for 2 or 3 minutes and put them in the chafing dish. The frogs' legs have been prepared by cutting off their feel, soaking them in cold water for 1 to 2 hours, draining them, and drying them well. Clean and chop or slice ½ cup mushrooms and put them in a saucepan with 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon chopped shallot or onion. Add the frogs' legs, 3 ounces of dry white wine or a few drops of lemon juice in ¼ cup water, and the juice from the scallops. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the frogs' legs are tender. Remove them to the chafing dish with the scallops.
Cook the liquid in the pan until it is reduced to ¼ cup. Add ½ cup sweet cream, bring again to a boil, and cook for 2 or 3 minutes. Thicken with manié butter made by creaming 2 table spoons butter with 1 tablespoon flour. Add this to the sauce and bring it to a boil, stirring constantly, Correct the seasoning with salt and add a little freshly ground white pepper and 1 tablespoon chopped parsley. Turn the scallops and frogs' legs into the sauce, bring just to B boil, and return all to the chafing dish, keeping the water very hot underneath.
For a very rich sauce, omit the manié butter and add instead 1 cup cream sauce to the reduced cooking liquor. Thicken by adding 2 egg yolks beaten with a little cream or milk.
Shrimp and Crab Meal Creole
Melt 2 tablespoons butter or heat 2 tablespoons salad oil in a saucepan, add 1 onion, chopped, and cook until gold en. Add 5 or 6 mushrooms, chopped or sliced, ½ cup chopped celery. ½ cup chopped green pepper, and ¼ cup Chopped pimiento and cook for a few minutes. Add 3 cups freshly stewed or canned tomatoes, bring to a boil, and simmer for about 1 hour. Mix 1 table spoon cornstarch with 2 tablespoons cold water and add to the mixture. Cook, stirring until the mixture thickens. Correct the seasoning with salt and add a little freshly ground pepper and 1 tablespoon chopped parsley.
Add 2 pounds of shrimp, cooked and Cleaned, and 1 quart picked-over crab meat. Bring again to the boiling point and turn into a chafing dish for serving, having very hot water underneath.
Lobster Newberg
Usually the lobster is boiled in advance and the meat removed from the shells. If frozen lobster meat is used, it should be defrosted. Melt 2 table spoons butter in a saucepan and in it heat 2 cups lobster meat. Stir in 1 tablespoon flour and gradually add 1 cup cream. Stir gently until the sauce is smooth and thickened, add 3 ounces of dry sherry, and cook slowly for 5 to 10 minutes. Thicken by adding 2 egg yolks mixed with a little cream. Correct the seasoning with salt and turn the lobster into a chafing dish for serving.
Sprinkle a few drops of cognac or dry sherry over the top. Do not let the water underneath become too hot. If canned lobster is used, do not cook it in the sauce as it has already had more cooking than boiled or frozen lobster. Serve lobster Newberg on freshly made toast.
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.