[F.; ad. L. balneum Mariæ (14th c.), lit. ‘the bath of Mary,’ so called, Littré thinks, from the gentleness of this method of heating.] (See quot.)
1822. Kitchener, Cook’s Oracle, 398. ‘Bain-Marie’ is a flat vessel containing boiling water; you put all your stewpans into the water, and keep that water always very hot, but it must not boil.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, I. 280. Bain-marie, a vessel of water in which saucepans, etc. are placed to warm food, or to prepare it and some pharmaceutical preparations.
