and should be lessened, as the drippings in the pan will not brown and smoke unless the heat of the oven is too great. For roasting beef in this manner, after it has been seared, fifteen minutes should be allowed for each inch in thickness the roast may be, without regard to its width or weight. A roast of beef that is three inches in thickness will cook rare in three quarters of an hour, a roast that is six inches in thickness will cook rare in an hour and a half, and so on in about the same ratio with different sized roasts. If a roast is desired medium or well cooked, additional time must be allowed, and it can thus be cooked to suit any taste. A roast that will re- quire more than an hour to cook should be placed upon a rack or rest in the pan after it has been seared, as there will then be no danger of its becoming grease-soaked or burned, and when half done it should be turned over on the rack that both sides may be roasted alike. After the roast has been removed from the pan, if the greater portion of the drippings is carefully poured off, a de- licious gravy can be made from the brown jelly or glaze adhering to the bottom of the pan. In a little cook-book entitled "Just How" the author, Mrs. Whitney, says : ' * In roasting meat do not put it at first in a very hot oven, but have a good fire growing hotter that will make the heat brisk and sustain it after the meat is heated through. Let it heat gradually, and yield some portion of the juice for gravy, before you seal up the surface by browning. A joint of meat after being well washed and trimmed should be rubbed evenly with fine salt be- Baking. 51 fore being put to roast. Put in at first a pint of water with a teaspoonful of salt for the basting. If you follow this method carefully there will be no trouble with the gravy. ' ' It is to be hoped not. But how about the meat ? The method of roasting recommended by Mrs. Whitney is in all probability an excellent one for producing good gravy, and if the production of gravy was the object in view might pass unchallenged as a model method for making it. But is it altogether just to the roast to sacri- fice it for the sake of the gravy, when good gravy ma- terial is so easily obtained from odds and ends and tough pieces of meat? And is it not a little unfair to scientific cookery to call such a method of cooking meat roasting? For roasting meats the method adopted should be the one that preserves the juices within the meat in the most perfect manner, thus rendering it sweet, juicy, and tender. Salt and water have a tendency to extract the juices of meat and toughen it, and basting is a trouble- some, as well as a damaging, process. Why, then, should beef and mutton and lamb and such meats as are injured by salting and basting have the delicate flavor, and much of the nutrition, tortured out of them by being subjected to the operation ? Searing almost instantly coats the cut sides of a piece of meat, and prevents the escape of the juices in the process of roasting, while a firm, steady heat gently but thoroughly cooks it, thus preserving both juices and flavor. To Roast Mutton — A saddle or joint of mutton✪ To Roast Mutton should be prepared by carefully removing the outer skin, searing the cut surfaces, and roasting in the same manner 52 The Art of Cookery.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

and should be lessened, as the drippings in the pan will not brown and smoke unless the heat of the oven is too great. For roasting beef in this manner, after it has been seared, fifteen minutes should be allowed for each inch in thickness the roast may be, without regard to its width or weight. A roast of beef that is three inches in thickness will cook rare in three quarters of an hour, a roast that is six inches in thickness will cook rare in an hour and a half, and so on in about the same ratio with different sized roasts. If a roast is desired medium or well cooked, additional time must be allowed, and it can thus be cooked to suit any taste. A roast that will require more than an hour to cook should be placed upon a rack or rest in the pan after it has been seared, as there will then be no danger of its becoming grease-soaked or burned, and when half done it should be turned over on the rack that both sides may be roasted alike. After the roast has been removed from the pan, if the greater portion of the drippings is carefully poured off, a delicious gravy can be made from the brown jelly or glaze adhering to the bottom of the pan. In a little cook-book entitled "Just How" the author, Mrs. Whitney, says : ' * In roasting meat do not put it at first in a very hot oven, but have a good fire growing hotter that will make the heat brisk and sustain it after the meat is heated through. Let it heat gradually, and yield some portion of the juice for gravy, before you seal up the surface by browning. A joint of meat after being well washed and trimmed should be rubbed evenly with fine salt be- Baking. 51 fore being put to roast. Put in at first a pint of water with a teaspoonful of salt for the basting. If you follow this method carefully there will be no trouble with the gravy. ' ' It is to be hoped not. But how about the meat ? The method of roasting recommended by Mrs. Whitney is in all probability an excellent one for producing good gravy, and if the production of gravy was the object in view might pass unchallenged as a model method for making it. But is it altogether just to the roast to sacrifice it for the sake of the gravy, when good gravy material is so easily obtained from odds and ends and tough pieces of meat? And is it not a little unfair to scientific cookery to call such a method of cooking meat roasting? For roasting meats the method adopted should be the one that preserves the juices within the meat in the most perfect manner, thus rendering it sweet, juicy, and tender. Salt and water have a tendency to extract the juices of meat and toughen it, and basting is a troublesome, as well as a damaging, process. Why, then, should beef and mutton and lamb and such meats as are injured by salting and basting have the delicate flavor, and much of the nutrition, tortured out of them by being subjected to the operation ? Searing almost instantly coats the cut sides of a piece of meat, and prevents the escape of the juices in the process of roasting, while a firm, steady heat gently but thoroughly cooks it, thus preserving both juices and flavor. To Roast Mutton — A saddle or joint of mutton should be prepared by carefully removing the outer skin, searing the cut surfaces, and roasting in the same manner 52 The Art of Cookery.

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