"You have to keep on watching it, though," said Margaret.
"Of course you have. I told you so at the beginning."
"It begins to smell very deliciously," said Mary.
"So it does, Mary. I think broiling is one of the most perfect ways of cooking, though it is so simple and easily managed, and so quick also."
"Is it quick, mother? How long does it take? A quarter of an hour to the pound?"
"No, dear, you cannot count the time in that way, it is not safe. You must learn to know by the look and the touch of the meat whether it is done or not. This steak takes about twelve minutes you will find, but then Mary had taken care to have the fire clear and fierce, and the steak was cut evenly. Press the meat with the flat blade of a knife to find whether it is done. You will, after trying once or twice, know how it feels when it is sufficiently cooked. It should be nearly black outside and the inside should be red all the way through. There should not be a blue line of raw meat in the middle—that is quite wrong.
"I don't like red underdone meat," said Margaret. "I cannot eat it."
"A broiled steak is not red because it is under-dressed; it is red because it is full of gravy. Now our steak is done, I think. Press it with the knife that you may know how it feels."
The little girls pressed it, and looked very wise.
"The plates have been warming for such a long time, that I cannot take hold of them," said Mary.