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Sect. 2.-Utensils

47. FOR ROASTING OR BAKING, the kind of grate is of the utmost importance: it being impossible without a good one to turn out a well-dressed joint to advantage. It may be said that an open fire will always dress a joint of meat: and so it will, but not a large or small one at the choice of the cook, unless the fire is capable of being made narrow or broad, shallow or deep, according to the shape of the joint and its mode of suspension. The various kinds of kitchen-ranges will be found described at page 22; and the comparative cost of fuel, including gas, in the Economical Housekeeper. It is therefore unnecessary here to return to the subject; but the reader may be reminded that, when alluding to roasting, I mean at an open fire; and by baking, I intend the process as conducted in an iron oven attached to a grate, or in a baker's oven. Unless, therefore, any specific remarks refer to roasting or baking by gas, the above methods of cookery are always to be understood. 48. A SPIT OR HOOK for suspending the meat, with some kind of machinery for turning it, is the next in importance to the fire. Of these, the horizontal spit, worked by the smoke-jack, is the most perfect (described at page 23, and illustrated by fig. 67). In every case the article to be roasted is either suspended from above by a hook, or string tied to it, or it is transfixed by a horizontal spit (see fig. 110, A B), and kept from turning round upon it by driving the points of the slide (c) into the end; this slide travels freely upon the spit, but the shape of this being angular, and the socket of the slide fitting accurately, it cannot slip round, and consequently when pushed well into the meat it keeps it firmly fixed upon the spit. The next thing is to provide for the regular and constant rotation: this is done in the most simple way by a piece of cord, which, after it has been twisted in one direction, has a tendency to untwist itself, and so keeps up its action for a certain time, but requires constant attention. Next to this comes the bottle-jack (fig. 111 A), which, by means of common clock-work, keeps up a constant revolution of any article attached to the hook (B). The objection to this kind is, that a fire can with difficulty be made equally strong at the top and bottom, and, consequently, the joint is roasted either too much or too little in one or other of its ends. But being of a comparatively low price it is often used, and succeeds well enough for poultry, game, or small joints. The horizontal roasting apparatus (fig. 110) answers every purpose; and for a small family, not requiring large haunches of mutton or venison to be dressed, it is quite equal to the smoke-jack. The spit shown at fig. 110 is the ordinary one, which serves for joints, or for poultry or game; and one on the same principle is used also for these articles with the smoke-jack; but in addition a cradle-spit (see fig. 67) is frequently employed, so as to include certain stuffed joints in its embrace without perforating them. It is not, however, very often wanted, and may well be dispensed with. In this kind of apparatus the spit is made to revolve by clock-work at (D), wound up by a key in the same way as the bottlejack. 49. BESIDES THE SPIT AND JACK, A SCREEN must be used to prevent the loss of heat, which would otherwise occur by radiation. If a smoke-jack is used, a large screen is brought up near the fire, similar in form to fig. 110, but somewhat larger, and generally made to hold and warm the dishes and plates intended for dinner. In order to have it of the most perfect kind, it should be made of wood, which is a nonconductor of caloric, and lined with polished tin, which is a good reflector of it; but, in general, it is made of tin, and painted on the outside, which is, however, a bad plan, as the paint increases the tendency to radiate heat. If, therefore, it is not made of wood, it should be left with as much metallic polish as possible on both sides. The two forms (figs. 110 and 111) are those usually adopted, and answer the purpose exceedingly well, though not quite equal to the large screen adapted for the smoke-jack, because they do not so completely keep off all the cold draughts of air from doors and windows, and these cool the joint almost as much as the loss by radiation. 50. A DRIPPING-PAN AND BASTING-LADLE will always be necessary, the former to collect, and the latter to use the dripping upon the joint. In the dripping-pan a well (figs. 110 E, 111 E) is provided to catch the fat and gravy as they fall, the whole surface inclining to it; this well is covered with a hinged-lid, so as to keep any cinders out. The ladle is merely a long iron spoon, tinned. 51. IN THE OVEN attached to grates there is very little to describe, it being a mere chamber of iron (fig. 68) with flues conveying the heated products of the fire round it, at the will of the cook. A damper cuts off these, or otherwise; and in many grates the cook is enabled, by raking the hot coals into a chamber provided for the purpose, to increase the heat very considerably. For baking, all the steam is purposely confined; but when these ovens are used for roasting, certain ventilators are opened, and these cause a current of air, which