Chafing dish

A chafing dish (from the French chauffer, "to make warm") is a kind of portable grate raised on a tripod, originally heated with charcoal in a brazier, and used for foods that require gentle cooking, away from the "fierce" heat of direct flames. The chafing dish could be used at table or provided with a cover for keeping food warm on a buffet. Double dishes that provide a protective water jacket are known as bains-marie and help keep delicate foods, such as fish, warm while preventing overcooking.

History

Fragments of ceramic chafing dishes are common in the archaeology of medieval city sites, such as York, England. Chafing dishes in the form of charcoal-burning braziers are familiar in 17th-century American inventories almost from the start. François Pierre La Varenne, Le Cuisinier françois (Paris, 1652) mentions the use of a réchaut in a recipe for champignons à l'olivier. In describing the Velasquez genre painting (illustration), sometimes art historians not handy in the kitchen describe her as frying eggs in her earthenware dish. In 1520, Hernan Cortez reported to Charles V the manner in which Montezuma was served meals in Tenochtitlan: