Thoughts from the 1890 On the Chafing Dish, compliments of the Rogers Smith & Co. Silversmiths -- who apparently made these gorgeous Art Nouveau silverware pieces:
In twenty minutes, or at the longest, half an hour, at a small table —set either in the pantry or in a corner of the dining room— upon which is placed the chafing-dish or the blazer, one can prepare any of the following receipts....The change from the cumbersome range in the kitchen to the petite silver Chafinor-Dish on the dining table illustrates forcibly the advance in civilization. The delectable dishes which can be prepared by host or hostess without trouble, discomfort, and with slight preparation are numerous....
And a return to the wonderful 1905 Cult of the Chafing Dish for an interesting look at lifestyles of the time:
The same wonderful writer gives a history:
To bachelors, male and female, in chambers, lodgings, diggings, and the like, in fact to all who "batch"; to young couples with a taste for theatres, concerts, and homely late suppers; to yachtsmen, shooting-parties, and picnickers; to inventive artists who yearn for fame in the evolution of a new entree; to invalids, night workers, actors and stockbrokers, the Chafing Dish is a welcome friend and companion....Our mitigated thanks are due to America for its comparatively recent reintroduction, for until quite lately, in Great Britain, its use was practically limited to the cooking of cheese on the table....[Even] if the Americans are vague in their French nomenclature, unorthodox in their sauces, eclectic in their flavourings, and over-lavish in their condiments, yet they have at any rate brought parlour cooking to a point where it may gracefully be accepted as an added pleasure to life.
Mrs. Rorer's 1896 (1898? it's hard to see) How to Use the Chafing Dish gives insights into meal planning -- and help! -- of the time:
It is quite erroneous to imagine that the Chafing Dish is an American invention. Nothing of the sort. The earliest trace of it is more than a quarter of a thousand years old. "Le Cuisinier Frangais," by Sieur Francois Pierre de la Varenne, Escuyer de Cuisine de Monsieur le Marquis d'Uxelles, published in Paris in 1652, contains a recipe for Champignons a l'Olivier, in which the use of a Rechaut is recommended. A translation of this work, termed " The French Cook," was published in London in 1653, and the selfsame recipe of Mushrooms after the Oliver contains the injunction to use a Chafing Dish; moreover, the frontispiece, a charmingly executed drawing, shows a man-cook in his kitchen, surrounded by the implements of his art; and on the table a Chafing Dish, much akin to our latter-day variety, is burning merrily. This was in 1653....
To the housewife who keeps but one maid, [the chafing dish] is indeed a helping hand. The Monday lunch or supper is quickly gotten without the use of stove or kitchen; and so again on maid's day out; [and] the Sunday night supper; and the still more fashionable 12:00 Sunday breakfast. This latter, by the way, is the most sensible of all the recent fads....