A chafing dish was designed to slowly cook, or to keep warm, food served at the table, by use of an alcohol burner under the pan which would hold ‘chafing fuel’. The use of a sterling silver chafing dish in the UK is first recorded during George II’s reign, although its predecessor the silver brazier, was around from the Queen Anne period. During the Victorian period the idea of "chafing-dish suppers” became fashionable, and chafing dish cookbooks started being produced during the 1880’s.