The author offers a witty, practical guide to using a portable chafing dish for small-scale, economical, and convivial cooking, tracing its history and arguing for its utility to bachelors, couples, picnickers and invalids. Practical chapters cover preliminaries, soups, fish, meat and poultry, vegetables, eggs and savouries, sauces, sweets and table amenities, blending recipes with tips on economy, hygiene, simple flavours, and imaginative but restrained seasoning. Emphasis falls on quick, clean parlour cooking that preserves natural tastes, avoids over-elaboration or heavy condiments, and adapts to informal suppers and experiments. Anecdote and culinary opinion enliven instructions, while warnings about indigestion and over-spicing stress moderation and clarity of flavour.