The dinner was then brought out in trays, which, as a precaution against poison, had been sealed with the signet of the head steward before they left the kitchen, and were broken open by him again in the presence of the Shah. Here were displayed all the refinements of cookery: rice, in various shapes, smoked upon the board: first, the chilau, as white as snow; then the pilau, whit a piece of boiled lamb, smothered in the rice; then another pilau, with a baked fowl in it.