Always grease the gridiron well, and have it hot, before the meat is placed on it. Any thing egged and bread-crumbed should be buttered before it is broiled. Fish should be buttered and sprinkled with flour, which will prevent the skin from adhering to the gridiron. Cutlets, and in fact every thing, are more delicate buttered before broiling. A little lemon-juice is also often a nice addition. Birds, and other things which need to be halved, should be broiled, inside first.
Remember that a hot, clear fire is necessary for cooking all small articles. They should be turned often, to be cooked evenly, without being burned.
Never put a fork in the lean part of meat on the gridiron, as it allows the juice to escape.
Always cover the gridiron with a tin pan or a baking-pan. The sooner the meat is cooked without burning, the better. The pan holds the heat, and often prevents a stray line of smoke from touching the meat.
If the fire should be too hot, sprinkle salt over it.
Roasting.
There is little use to talk about roasting, as but few will attempt it, always considering it easier to bake instead. Indeed, there is so little demand in many sections for stoves and ranges suited to the purpose that they are difficult to obtain. Of course, there is no comparison between these modes of cooking. Beef, mutton, turkeys, ducks, or birds—in fact, any kind of meat is tenfold better roasted than baked. In Europe, all these articles are roasted; and people there would have great contempt for a piece of beef or a turkey baked. In New York and Philadelphia, also, at the finer establishments, the meats are generally roasted. The trouble is little greater than to bake. It is only necessary to have the range or stove constructed for roasting, and a tin screen, with a spit and jack, to place before the coals. Some of the roasters are arranged with a spring-jack. The meat is placed on the spit, and the spring wound up, which sets the meat to revolving slowly before the fire.
In roasting, the meat should at first be placed near the coals, so as to quickly harden the surface; then it should be removed back a little distance, to be cooked through, without burning. The oftener it is basted, the better it is. If the roast of meat is very large, it should be surrounded with a buttered paper.
Just before the meat is done, it should be basted with a little butter or drippings, then sprinkled with flour, and placed nearer the fire, to brown nicely, when it will take a frothy appearance.
Much depends upon the management of the fire. It should be made some time before the meat is placed for roasting, so that the coals may be bright and hot. It should also be strong enough to last, with only the addition of an occasional coal at the top. In fine establishments abroad, a grate for burning coal, charcoal, or wood is made in the kitchen, for the purpose of roasting only. This is convenient, but more expensive than roasting in ranges or stoves, where the same fire may serve for cooking every thing.