Veal and mutton should have a little paper put over the fat to preserve it. If not fat enough to allow for basting, a little good dripping answers as well as butter.
The cook should be careful to spit meat so as not to run the spit through the best parts; and she should observe that her spit be well cleaned before, and when she is going to serve, or a black stain appears on the meat. In many joints the spit will pass into the bones, and run along them for some distance, so as not to injure the prime of the meat; and she should have leaden skewers to enable her to balance it; for want of which, ignorant servants often are foiled in the time of serving.
In roasting meat, it is a very good way to put a little salt and water into the dripping pan, and baste for a little while with it before it be done with its own fat or dripping. When dry, dust it with flour, and baste as usual.
Time, distance, basting often, and a clear fire, of a proper size for what is required, are the first articles of a good cook’s attention in roasting.
Old meats do not require so much dressing as young: not that they are sooner done, but they can be eaten with the gravy more in.
Be careful in roasting wild fowls to keep a clear brisk fire. Roast them of a light brown, but not till their gravy runs; they loose their fine flavour if too much done. Tame fowls require more roasting: they are a long time before they are hot through, and must be often basted to keep up a froth, and it makes the colour better. Pigs and geese require a brisk fire, and to be turned quick.
Hares and rabbits require time, and care to turn the two ends to the fire, which are less likely to be done enough than the middle part.
Choose mutton by the fineness of its grain, the deep red of the flesh, and bright whiteness of the fat. For roasting, it should hang as long as it will keep, the hind quarter especially, but not so as to taint; for, whatever fashion may authorize, putrid juices ought not to be conveyed into the stomach.
Mutton, for boiling, will not look of a good colour if it has long hung. Small mutton is preferred.
Great care should be taken to preserve by paper the fat of what is roasted.