Canapés Lorenzo
Toast slices of bread cut in shape of horseshoes. Cream two tablespoons butter, and add one teaspoon white of egg. Spread slices of bread, rounding with Crab Mixture, cover with creamed butter, sprinkle with cheese, and brown in the oven. Serve on a napkin, ends towards centre of dish, and garnish with parsley.
Crab Mixture. Finely chop crab meat, season with salt, cayenne, and a few drops of lemon juice, then moisten with Thick White Sauce. Lobster meat may be used in place of crab meat.
Algonquin Canapés
Fry one-half tablespoon finely chopped onion, three tablespoons butter, and one-third cup chopped mushroom caps five minutes. Add two tablespoons flour, and two-thirds cup cream. Cook until mixture thickens, then add one cup finnan haddie (soaked in lukewarm water to cover forty-five minutes, then separated into flakes), two tablespoons grated cheese, and yolks two eggs slightly beaten. Season with salt and cayenne and pile on circular pieces of toasted bread. Sprinkle with grated cheese, then with buttered, soft bread crumbs, and bake until crumbs are browned. Serve at once.
CHAPTER XXXV
RECIPES FOR THE CHAFING-DISH
The chafing-dish, which, within the last few years, has gained so much favor, is by no means a utensil of modern invention, as its history may be traced to the time of Louis XIV. It finds its place on the breakfast table, when the eggs may be cooked to suit the most fastidious; on the luncheon table, when a dainty hot dish may be prepared to serve in place of the so-oft-seen cold meat; but it is made of greatest use for the cooking of late suppers, and always seems to accompany hospitality and good cheer.
It is appreciated and enjoyed by the housekeeper who does her own work, or has but one maid, as well as by the society girl who, by its use, first gains a taste for the art of cooking. The simple tin chafing-dishes may be bought for as small a sum as ninety cents, while the elaborate silver ones command as high a price as one hundred dollars. Very attractive dishes are made of granite ware, nickel, or copper. The latest patterns have the lamp with a screw adjustment to regulate the flame, and a metal tray on which to set dish, that it may be moved if necessary while hot, without danger of burnt fingers, and that it may not injure the polished table.
A chafing-dish has two pans, the under one for holding hot water, the upper one with long handle for holding food to be cooked. A blazer differs from a chafing-dish, inasmuch as it has no hot-water pan.
Wood alcohol, which is much lower in price than high-proof spirits, is generally used in chafing-dishes.