The piece termed the sparerib is the best for roasting. Wipe the meat with a damp towel. Season it with salt, pepper, and sage, using a teaspoonful of powdered sage to four pounds of pork. Follow the directions for roast rib of beef, cooking a four or five pound roast for two hours. Any of the following named vegetables may be served with roast pork: white potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, hominy, squash, turnips, onions, etc.; and apple sauce always is desirable.
Roast Ham.
Prepare the ham the same as for boiled ham; boiling it for only three hours, however, and baking it slowly for three hours more.
BROILING.
There are several modes of broiling: over clear coals, before the coals, or under a bed of coals; also under a sheet of flame, as in a gas stove. No matter what the fuel may be or the mode of broiling, the principles are the same. A steak or chop, properly broiled, should have a thin, well browned crust. Beyond this crust the meat should be red and juicy; hardly a shade rarer at the centre than near the surface. A common mode of cooking a steak is to keep it over the coals until one side is rather well done; then turn it, and treat the other side in the same manner. The result of following this method is, that as far as the heat has penetrated the meat is hard and dry, and if the steak be thick it will be almost raw in the centre.
DOUBLE-BROILER.
If the broiling is to be done on a range have the fire very bright and clear. Open every draught, that smoke and flame may be drawn up the chimney. Place the piece of meat in the double-broiler, and hold it as near the coals as possible until the surface is brown, turning frequently. It will take three or four minutes for this. Now raise the broiler several inches above the bed of coals, and continue the cooking until the meat is done. The broiler must be turned often. A good rule is to count ten slowly, then turn the broiler. A steak or chop, cut a little more than an inch thick, will cook rare in ten minutes; if liked medium well done, it should be cooked for twelve minutes. A chicken weighing about three pounds will require slow broiling for half an hour; or the chicken may be broiled over the fire until a rich brown,—say about fifteen minutes,—then put it in a shallow pan in a moderate oven for about twenty minutes.
Veal and pork must be broiled slowly until cooked thoroughly. Chops or cutlets cut about half an inch thick will cook in twelve minutes.
Steaks and chops which, before cooking, are dredged lightly with salt, pepper, and flour, will be much richer than those cooked without any seasoning. Both steaks and chops should be served the minute they come from the fire. Season them with salt and butter. Never put them in the oven for the purpose of melting the butter. It spoils the dish. If a steak or chop must wait a little time before it is served, keep it warm, but do not add the butter until serving time.