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Bottle-Jack and Screen

The usual method employed for roasting meat is to hang the bottle-jack on the movable bar placed for its reception on the front of the mantelshelf; to suspend the wheel from the jack and to hang the meat by a hook from the wheel. A screen, either entirely made of tin or lined with it, is then put in front of the fire to keep in the heat, and the jack is wound up two or three times whilst a joint is being roasted. By a modern improvement the bar can be altogether dispensed with, and the jack fastened above the screen, which is so made that the heat will be condensed as much as possible. Those who do not wish to go to the expense of a bottle-jack, but who appreciate the difference between a roasted joint and a baked one, may find an economical substitute for the bottle-jack in the chimney screw-jack, which may be fastened upon any mantelshelf when wanted, and unscrewed when done with. It requires a little more watching than the ordinary bottle-jack, but if a key be hung upon the hook with six or seven thicknesses of worsted wound round it, one end of which is fastened to the meat-hook, the twisting and untwisting of the worsted cord will cause a rotatory motion like that produced by the more expensive bottle-jack. Probable cost: Bottle-jack, from 7s. 6d. to 12s. 6d.; screen, from pound 1 10s. to pound 3 10s.; bottle-jack and screen in one, 12s. 6d. to 25s.; chimney screw-jack, 1s. 6d. to 2s.