Chaffing Dish - Chafing Dishes

A chaffing dish is the metal container used by caterers to serve food during the buffet service. The chaffing dish also preserves the heat of the food during service. At a catered event, serving unintended cold food is not an option, so chaffing dishes allow for speedy efficient service and hot food.
The caterer would first fill the chaffing dish with water only to a certain amount, then lights a small fire underneath the dish which will eventually boil the water. As the water heats and begins to make steam, it will reheat the food which is in another deep dish tray sitting a certain height above the water. The food is then covered to catch the heat. The food that has been placed in a chaffing dish for service is usually right out of the stove, so it is easy to maintain the temperature. Chaffing dishes hold large quantities of food to serve a certain amount of people, so it helps if the food is already hot and then maintained in the chaffing dish. During the buffet service, the wait staff will then uncover certain sections of the chaffing dish to serve the guests. Chaffing dishes can be used to hold:

• Slices of meat such as: beef, pork, chicken, lamb
• Potatoes
• Vegetables
• Desserts such as cobbler
• Rice
• Casseroles

The chaffing dish not only allows for the servers to easily access the food but the guests as well, especially when the buffet is unattended. Guests are free to help themselves because they can easily uncover the food when they need to serve their plates. When the food needs to be refilled, the server can just remove the food pan to be refilled and then place it back when ready. The chaffing dish acts as both a food warmer and a serving dish and is most commonly used in a buffet setup. Chaffing dishes can be ornately decorated or very plain and simple. They are often times brushed chrome but can be gold plated as well. Chaffing dishes could also add a certain element of surprise in terms of the food selection because the guests can’t see everything that they will be eating a first. Chaffing dishes make for a nice visual.