As a wire grid in the oven is necessary, and many housewives may not be able to try the new cooking because their ovens are not fitted with a grid, here is a very cheap and simple way of making a grid that will answer perfectly.
Get a piece of ordinary wire netting, cut it to the width of the oven, then thread through the natural edge on both sides an iron or brass rod—a curtain or stair rod will do—then place in the oven as shown in the sketch. The ends of the rods must rest on the little ledge in the oven which usually supports the iron shelf, and that will give the necessary strength and support to the grid. The total cost should not be more than twopence or threepence.
DISHING-UP.
At the end of the specified time, a peep into the oven will reveal the array of paper bags, probably well browned but not burned. If there has been the slightest smell of burning paper, it should at once be looked to and the gas reduced.
TO REMOVE THE FOOD FROM THE BAG.
Let the bag lie on a dish, take a pair of scissors and rip up one side of the bag and also one end as shown by the dotted lines. Then pull the bag away and the food will remain on the dish.
A large fish-slice should be employed to remove the bag containing the meat from the oven and place it on the hot dish ready for it. A pair of scissors should be at hand to slit open the bag, which must then be dexterously removed, leaving the nicely browned, perfectly cooked joint on the dish. There will be very little gravy, as that, of course, is the juice of the meat, and the claim of the paper-bag cookery is that it seals up the juices within the meat. On no account add water to the few spoonfuls of rich, strong gravy in the dish, for that would completely spoil the delicious flavour.
In families where much gravy is desired, it must be made separately with a little stock, browned and thickened.