Much depends on the fire;—it should always be brisk and glowing, clear at the bottom, and suited to the article to be roasted.
Beef and mutton lose about one-third in roasting.
The ashes should be taken up, and the hearth made quite clean, before you begin to roast. If the fire require to be stirred during the operation, the dripping-pan must be drawn back, so that then, and at all times, it may be kept clean from cinders and dust.—Hot cinders, or live coals, dropping into the pan, make the dripping rank, and spoil it for basting.
Beef requires a strong, steady fire, which should be made up a little time previous to its being wanted. If the meat has been hung up some time, the dry outside parts must be pared off, and it must be basted, first, with a little salt and water, then well dredged with flour, and afterwards basted, continually, with the dripping; but, if the meat be frozen, it must be brought into the kitchen several hours before it is dressed.—Large joints should be kept at a good distance from the fire at first, and gradually brought nearer and nearer;—the average distance for a large joint, at a good fire, may be about ten or twelve inches, an inch or two more or less, according to circumstances: when kitchen paper, dipped in the dripping, must be tied, not skewered, over the fat parts, to prevent their being scorched. When nearly ready, the smoke will draw from the meat towards the fire; at which time the paper must be taken off, and the meat must be put nearer to the fire to brown it; it must also be sprinkled with a little salt, and well dredged again, with flour, to froth it.
It is as necessary to roast slowly as to boil slowly;—and the General Rule is to allow full a quarter of an hour to a pound for roasting with a proper fire, under ordinary circumstances, and with frequent basting. But neither beef nor mutton require to be so well done as pork, lamb, and veal.—Pork, in particular, requires to be thoroughly done. It must be basted with salt and water; and the skin or rind of the leg, loin, and spare-rib, must be scored, with a sharp knife, after it has been some time at the fire, to make it eat the better. Geese, pigs, and young pork, require a brisk fire, and should be turned quickly.
Great care should be taken in spitting the meat, that the prime part of the joint be not injured:—to balance it on the spit, cook-holds and loaded skewers are very handy.
A bottle jack is an excellent substitute for a spit, in small families, and for want of that, ten or a dozen yards of worsted, folded to a proper length, will answer the purpose very well. Meat if hung to be roasted, should have its ends changed when about half done. A good meat skreen, lined with tin, should always be set before the fire when roasting; it keeps off the cold air, renders the heat more equable, and saves coals.
After all, the above General Rule is liable to many exceptions. If the meat be fresh killed, or the weather be cold, a good joint will require half an hour longer than if the meat be tender and the weather temperate or warm.
We give the following particulars as a more certain guide to the Cook, in most cases on this important point.
Beef.—A Sirloin of about sixteen pounds, will take three hours and a half or four hours.