The Cook's Oracle; and Housekeeper's Manual Part 12

"A goose prepared the same as for roasting, taking care to have it on a stand, and when half done to turn the other side upwards. A duck the same.

"A b.u.t.tock of beef the following way is particularly fine. After it has been in salt about a week, to be well washed, and put into a brown earthen pan with a pint of water; cover the pan tight with two or three thicknesses of cap or foolscap paper: never cover any thing that is to be baked with brown paper, the pitch and tar that is in brown paper will give the meat a smoky, bad taste: give it four or five hours in a moderately heated oven.

"A ham (if not too old) put in soak for an hour, taken out and wiped, a crust made sufficient to cover it all over, and baked in a moderately heated oven, cuts fuller of gravy, and of a finer flavour, than a boiled one. I have been in the habit of baking small cod-fish, haddock, and mackerel, with a dust of flour, and some bits of b.u.t.ter put on them; eels, when large and stuffed; herrings and sprats, in a brown pan, with vinegar and a little spice, and tied over with paper. A hare, prepared the same as for roasting, with a few pieces of b.u.t.ter, and a little drop of milk put into the dish, and basted several times, will be found nearly equal to roasting; or cut it up, season it properly, put it into a jar or pan, and cover it over and bake it in a moderate oven for about three hours. In the same manner, I have been in the habit of baking legs and s.h.i.+ns of beef, ox cheeks, &c. prepared with a seasoning of onions, turnips, &c.: they will take about four hours: let them stand till cold, to skim off the fat; then warm it up all together, or part, as you may want it.

"All these I have been in the habit of baking for the first families.

"The time each of the above articles should take depends much upon the state of the oven, and I do consider the baker a sufficient judge; if they are sent to him in time, he must be very neglectful if they are not ready at the time they are ordered."

For receipts for making bread, French rolls, m.u.f.fins, crumpets, Sally Lunn, &c., see the Appendix.

FOOTNOTES:

[66-*] "The process by which food is most commonly prepared for the table, BOILING, is so familiar to every one, and its effects are so uniform, and apparently so simple, that few, I believe, have taken the trouble to inquire _how_ or _in what manner_ those effects are produced; and whether any, and what improvements in that branch of cookery are possible. So little has this matter been an object of inquiry, that few, very few indeed, I believe, among the _millions of persons_ who for so many ages have been _daily_ employed in this process, have ever given themselves the trouble to bestow one serious thought on the subject.

"_Boiling_ cannot be carried on without a very great expense of fuel; but any boiling-hot liquid (by using proper means for confining the heat) may be kept _boiling-hot_ for any length of time almost without any expense of fuel at all.

"_The waste of fuel_ in culinary processes, which arises from making liquids boil _unnecessarily_, or when nothing more would be necessary than to keep them _boiling-hot_, is enormous; I have not a doubt but that much more than half the fuel used in all the kitchens, public and private, in the whole world, is wasted precisely in this manner.

"But the evil does not stop here. This unscientific and slovenly manner of cooking renders the process much more laborious and troublesome than otherwise it would be; and, (what by many will be considered of more importance than either the waste of fuel or the increase of labour to the cook) the food is rendered less savoury, and very probably less nouris.h.i.+ng and less wholesome.

"It is natural to suppose that many of the finer and more volatile parts of food (those which are best calculated to act on the organs of taste), must be carried off with the steam when the boiling is violent."--_Count_ RUMFORD'S 10th Essay, pp. 3, 6.

[67-*] If, unfortunately, this should happen, the cook must carefully take it off when she dishes up, either with a clean sponge or a paste-brush.

[67-+] Cooks, however, as well as doctors, disagree; for some say, that "all sorts of fresh meat should be put in when the water boils." I prefer the above method for the reason given; gentle stewing renders meat, &c. tender, and still leaves it sapid and nutritive.

[71-*] The diminution of weight by boiling and roasting is not all lost, the FAT SKIMMINGS and the DRIPPINGS, nicely clarified, will well supply the place of lard and for frying. See No. 83, and the receipt for CHEAP SOUP (No. 229).

CHAPTER II.

ROASTING.

In all studies, it is the best practice to begin with the plainest and easiest parts; and so on, by degrees, to such as are more difficult: we, therefore, treated of plain boiling, and we now proceed to roasting: we shall then gradually unravel to our culinary students the art (and _mystery_, until developed in this work) of making, with the least trouble and expense, the most highly finished soups, sauces, and made-dishes.

Let the young cook never forget that cleanliness is the chief cardinal virtue of the kitchen; the first preparation for roasting is to take care that the spit be properly cleaned with sand and water; nothing else. When it has been well scoured with this, dry it with a clean cloth. If spits are wiped clean as soon as the meat is drawn from them, and while they are hot, a very little cleaning will be required. The less the spit is pa.s.sed through the meat the better;[74-*] and, before you spit it, joint it properly, especially necks and loins, that the carver may separate them easily and neatly, and take especial care it be evenly balanced on the spit, that its motion may be regular, and the fire operate equally on each part of it; therefore, be provided with balancing-skewers and cookholds, and see it is properly jointed.

Roasting should be done by the radiant heat of a clear, glowing fire, otherwise it is in fact _baked_: the machines the economical grate-makers call ROASTERS, are, in plain English, ovens.

Count Rumford was certainly an exact economist of fuel, when he contrived these things; and those philosophers who try all questions "according to c.o.c.ker" may vote for baked victuals; but the rational epicure, who has been accustomed to enjoy beef well roasted, will soon be convinced that the poet who wrote our national ballad at the end of this chapter, was not inspired by Sir Benjamin Thompson's cookery.

All your attention in roasting will be thrown away, if you do not take care that your meat, especially beef, has been kept long enough to be tender. See "ADVICE TO COOKS," and obs. to No. 68.

Make up the fire in time; let it be proportioned to the dinner to be dressed, and about three or four inches longer at each end than the thing to be roasted, or the ends of the meat cannot be done nice and brown.

A cook must be as particular to proportion her fire to the business she has to do, as a chemist: the degree of heat most desirable for dressing the different sorts of food ought to be attended to with the utmost precision.

The fire that is but just sufficient to receive the n.o.ble sirloin (No.

19), will parch up a lighter joint.

From half an hour to an hour before you begin to roast, prepare the fire by putting a few coals on, which will be sufficiently lighted by the time you wish to make use of your fire; between the bars, and on the top, put small or large coals, according to the bulk of the joint, and the time the fire is required to be strong; after which, throw the cinders (wetted) at the back.

Never put meat down to a burned-up fire, if you can possibly avoid it; but should the fire become fierce, place the spit at a considerable distance, and allow a little more time.

Preserve the fat,[75-*] by covering it with paper, for this purpose called "kitchen-paper," and tie it on with fine twine; pins and skewers can by no means be allowed; they are so many taps to let out the gravy: besides, the paper often starts from them and catches fire, to the great injury of the meat.

If the thing to be roasted be thin and tender, the fire should be little and brisk: when you have a large joint to roast, make up a sound, strong fire, equally good in every part of the grate, or your meat cannot be equally roasted, nor have that uniform colour which const.i.tutes the beauty of good roasting.

Give the fire a good stirring before you lay the joint down; examine it from time to time while the spit is going round; keep it clear at the bottom, and take care there are no smoky coals in the front, which will spoil the look and taste of the meat, and hinder it from roasting evenly.

When the joint to be roasted is thicker at one end than the other, place the spit slanting, with the thickest part nearest the fire.

Do not put meat too near the fire at first; the larger the joint, the farther it must be kept from the fire: if once it gets scorched, the outside will become hard, and acquire a disagreeable, empyreumatic taste; and the fire being prevented from penetrating into it, the meat will appear done before it is little more than half-done, besides losing the pale brown colour, which it is the beauty of roasted meat to have.

From 14 to 10 inches is the usual distance at which meat is put from the grate, when first put down. It is extremely difficult to offer any thing like an accurate general rule for this, it depends so much upon the size of the fire, and of that of the thing to be roasted.

Till some culinary philosopher shall invent a thermometer to ascertain the heat of the fire, and a graduated spit-rack to regulate the distance from it, the process of roasting is attended by so many ever-varying circ.u.mstances, that it must remain among those which can only be performed well, by frequent practice and attentive observation.

If you wish your jack to go well, keep it as clean as possible, oil it, and then wipe it: if the oil is not wiped off again it will gather dust; to prevent this, as soon as you have done roasting, cover it up. Never leave the winders on while the jack is going round, unless you do it, as Swift says, "that it may fly off, and knock those troublesome servants on the head who will be crowding round your kitchen fire."

Be very careful to place the dripping-pan at such a distance from the fire as just to catch the drippings: if it is too near, the ashes will fall into it, and spoil the drippings[76-*] (which we shall hereafter show will occasionally be found an excellent subst.i.tute for b.u.t.ter or lard). To clarify drippings, see (No. 83,) and pease and dripping soup (No. 229), savoury and salubrious, for only a penny per quart. If it is too far from the fire to catch them, you will not only lose your drippings, but the meat will be blackened and spoiled by the ftid smoke, which will arise when the fat falls on the live cinders.

A large dripping-pan is convenient for several purposes. It should not be less than 28 inches long and 20 inches wide, and have a covered well on the side from the fire, to collect the drippings; this will preserve them in the most delicate state: in a pan of the above size you may set fried fish, and various dishes, to keep hot.

This is one of Painter's and Hawke's contrivances, near Norfolk-street, Strand.

The time meat will take roasting will vary according to the time it has been kept, and the temperature of the weather; the same weight[77-*]

will be twenty minutes or half an hour longer in cold weather,[77-+]

than it will be in warm; and if fresh killed, than if it has been kept till it is tender.

A good meat-screen is a great saver of fuel. It should be on wheels, have a flat top, and not be less than about three feet and a half wide, and with shelves in it, about one foot deep; it will then answer all the purposes of a large Dutch oven, plate-warmer, hot hearth, &c. Some are made with a door behind: this is convenient, but the great heat they are exposed to soon shrinks the materials, and the currents of air through the cracks cannot be prevented, so they are better without the door. We have seen one, which had on the top of it a very convenient _hot closet_, which is a great acquisition in kitchens, where the dinner waits after it is dressed.

Every body knows the advantage of _slow boiling_. _Slow roasting_ is equally important.

It is difficult to give any specific rule for time; but if your fire is made as before directed, your meat-screen sufficiently large to guard what you are dressing from currents of air, and the meat is not frosted, you cannot do better than follow the old general rule of allowing rather more than a quarter of an hour to the pound; a little more or less, according to the temperature of the weather, in proportion as the piece is thick or thin, the strength of the fire, the nearness of the meat to it, and the frequency with which you baste it; the more it is basted the less time it will take, as it keeps the meat soft and mellow on the outside, and the fire acts with more force upon it.

Reckon the time, not to the hour when dinner is ordered, but to the moment the roasts will be wanted. Supposing there are a dozen people to sip soup and eat fish first, you may allow them ten or fifteen minutes for the former, and about as long for the latter, more or less, according to the temptations the "BON GOUT" of these preceding courses has to attract their attention.

When the joint is half done, remove the spit and dripping-pan back, and stir up your fire thoroughly, that it may burn clear and bright for the browning; when the steam from the meat draws towards the fire,[78-*] it is a sign of its being done enough; but you will be the best judge of that, from the time it has been down, the strength of the fire you have used, and the distance your spit has been from it.

Half an hour before your meat is done, make some gravy (_see Receipt_, No. 326); and just before you take it up, put it nearer the fire to brown it. If you wish to froth it, baste it, and dredge it with flour carefully: you cannot do this delicately nice without a very good light.

The common fault seems to be using too much flour. The meat should have a fine light varnish of froth, not the appearance of being covered with a paste. Those who are particular about the froth use b.u.t.ter instead of drippings; (see receipt to roast a turkey, No. 57)--

"And send up what you roast with relish-giving froth,"