Salads, Sandwiches and Chafing-Dish Dainties Part 31

8 drops of tobasco sauce.

_Method._--Melt the b.u.t.ter in the blazer and toss about in it the macaroni and fish; add the seasonings and the tomato puree, which should be well reduced. Serve when thoroughly heated.

=Rechauffe of Fish, No. 2.=

INGREDIENTS.

1 pint of cooked fish, flaked and seasoned.

1/4 a cup of b.u.t.ter.

1/4 a cup of flour.

1 cup of fish stock.

1 cup of cream and milk combined.

1/2 a teaspoonful of salt, if needed.

1 teaspoonful of anchovy paste.

1/2 a teaspoonful of paprica.

2 tablespoonfuls of oil.

2 tablespoonfuls of lemon juice.

1 tablespoonful of chopped parsley.

_Method._--Marinate the fish while hot with salt, pepper, oil and lemon juice, adding, also, a few drops of onion juice, if desired. At serving-time make a sauce of the b.u.t.ter, flour, salt, paprica, stock and cream; add the paste and the fish, and, when the fish is thoroughly heated, turn down the flame of the lamp or set the blazer into hot water. Sprinkle with the parsley and serve.

=Sardines on Toast.=

Melt two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter in the blazer; add two tablespoonfuls of flour and a dash of paprica, and stir until smooth and browned a little; then add half a cup of stock and half a cup of sherry; stir until thickened, then let simmer a few minutes, and add nearly a cup of sardines, from which the bones and skin have been removed and the flesh separated into small pieces. Let stand until very hot.

CHEESE CONFECTIONS.

You must eat no cheese . . . it breeds melancholy.

--_B. Jonson._

Art thou come? Why my cheese, my digestion!

--_Troilus and Cressida._

Cheese is probably the most popular article served from the chafing-dish. What possessor of a chafing-dish has not concocted a rarebit--and the best one ever made? Were you ever present when the process of evolving a rarebit was in progress and half the guests were not disappointed in the seasoning? For perfection in this toothsome dish, mustard is demanded by some; by others the use of this biting condiment is considered a lapse in culinary taste. The consensus of opinion, however, is in favor of paprica; and, theoretically, Mattieu Williams considers bicarbonate of soda to be demanded, not for the sake of seasoning, but as an aid to digestion.

As regards the digestibility of cheese, and, consequently, its adaptability to midnight suppers, opinions differ widely. Dr. Hoy, an excellent authority on diet, calls cheese a concentrated meat, a tissue builder,--but not itself a tissue, and so without waste elements,--a condensed, compact food product, and indigestible on account of its very compactness. Still, when the caseine, or curd, is softened and broken up by the addition of liquid and gentle heat, it is rendered more digestible; and cheese so prepared may be for some, if taken with no other nitrogenous food, an acceptable and easily digested article of diet.

=Welsh Rarebit.=

INGREDIENTS.

1 tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter.

1/2 a pound of cheese, cut fine or grated.

1/4 a teaspoonful of salt.

A dash of paprica.

1/2 a cup of cream.

The beaten yolks of 2 eggs.

_Method._--Melt the b.u.t.ter, add the cheese and seasonings, and stir until melted; then add the eggs, diluted with the cream, and stir until smooth and slightly thickened. _Do not allow the mixture to boil_ at any time in the cooking; if necessary, cook over hot water. Serve on thin crackers, hot shredded-wheat or granose biscuit, or on bread toasted on but one side, placing the rarebit on the untoasted side.

=Welsh Rarebit, No. 2.=

INGREDIENTS.

1 tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter.

1/2 a teaspoonful of cornstarch.

1/2 a cup of thin cream.

1/2 a pound of mild cheese.

1/4 a teaspoonful of salt.

1/2 a saltspoonful of mustard.

A few grains of cayenne.

_Method._--Melt the b.u.t.ter; add to it the cream in which the cornstarch has been stirred. Let cook two minutes, and add the cheese broken into bits. Stir until the cheese is melted and the mixture perfectly smooth.

Add the salt, mustard and paprica, and serve at once as above.

=Welsh Rarebit with Ale.=

INGREDIENTS.

1 tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter.

Generous 1/2 a pound of soft American cheese, broken into bits.

1/3 a teaspoonful of salt.

1 teaspoonful of mustard.

A few grains of cayenne.

1/2 a cup of ale.

1 egg.

_Method._--Put the b.u.t.ter into the chafing-dish (using the bath); when melted, add the cheese and ale. Mix the salt, mustard and cayenne, add the egg, and beat thoroughly. When the cheese is melted, add the egg mixture and let cook until it thickens. Serve as before.

=Halibut Rarebit.=

Marinate a cup of cooked halibut, flaked, with one tablespoonful of olive oil, a few drops of onion juice, one tablespoonful of lemon juice, one-fourth a teaspoonful of salt and a dash of paprica. Make a sauce of two tablespoonfuls, each, of b.u.t.ter and flour, one-fourth a teaspoonful of salt and half a cup, each, of chicken stock and cream. Add two-thirds a cup of grated cheese and the halibut. Serve, as soon as the fish is hot and the cheese melted, on the untoasted side of bread toasted on one side.

=Oyster Rarebit.=

Clean and remove the hard muscles from half a pint of oysters; parboil the oysters in the chafing-dish in their own liquor until their edges curl, then remove to a hot bowl. Put one tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, half a pound of cheese broken in small bits, one-fourth a teaspoonful, each, of salt and mustard and a few grains of cayenne into the chafing-dish.

While the cheese is melting, beat two eggs slightly, and add to them the oyster liquor; mix this gradually with the melted cheese, add the oysters, and turn at once over hot toast.