A guide to modern cookery

Of course, if the piece of meat under treatment is very thick, the fierceness of the fire should be proportionately abated the moment the initial process of rissoling or setting of the meat’s surface has been effected, the object being to allow the heat to penetrate the cooking body more regularly. If the fierceness of the fire were maintained, the rissoled coating on the meat would probably char, and the resulting thickness of carbon would so successfully resist the passage of any heat into the interior that, in the end, while the meat would probably be found to be completely burnt on the outside, the inside would be quite raw. If somewhat thinner pieces are in question, a quick rissoling of their surfaces over a fierce fire, and a few minutes of subsequent cooking, will be all they need. No alteration in the intensity of the fire need be sought in this case. Examples.—A rumpsteak or Chateaubriand, in order to be properly cooked, should first have its outsides rissoled on a very fierce fire with a view to preserving its juices, after which cooking may proceed over a moderate fire so as to allow of the gradual penetration of the heat into the centre of the body. Small pieces such as tournedos, small fillets, noisettes, chops, may, after the preliminary process of outside rissoling, be cooked over the same degree of heat as effected the latter, because the thickness of meat to be penetrated is less. The Care of Grills while Cooking.—Before placing the meats on the grill, baste them slightly with clarified butter, and repeat this operation frequently during the cooking process, so as to avoid the possible drying of the rissoled surfaces. Grilled red meat should always be turned by means of special tongs, and great care should be observed that its surface be not torn or pierced, lest the object of the preliminary precautions be defeated, and the contained juices escape. Time of Cooking.—This, in the case of red meats, is arrived at by the following test: if, on touching the meat with one’s finger, the former resist any pressure, it is sufficiently cooked: if it give, it is clear that in the centre, at least, the reverse is the case. The most certain sign, however, that cooking has been completed is the appearance of little beads of blood upon the rissoled surface of the meat. 259—WHITE-MEAT GRILLS That superficial rissoling which is so necessary in the case of red meats is not at all so in the case of white, for in the latter there can be no question of the concentration of juices, since these are only present in the form of albumen—that is to say, in the form of juices ‘‘in the making,’’ so to speak, which is peculiar to veal and lamb. For this kind of grills keep a moderate fire, so that the cooking and colouring of the meat may take place simultaneously. White-meat grills should be fairly often basted by means of a brush, with clarified butter, while cooking, lest their outsides dry. They are known to be cooked when the juice issuing from them is quite white. 260—FISH GRILLS Use a moderate fire with these, and only grill after having copiously sprinkled them with clarified butter or oil. Sprinkle them similarly while cooking. A grilled fish is cooked when the bones are easily separated from the meat. Except for the fatty kind, such as mackerel, red mullet, or herrings, always roll fish to be grilled in flour before sprinkling them with melted butter. The object of so doing is to give them a golden external crust, which, besides making them more sightly, keeps them from drying. 261—THE GRILLING OF PRODUCTS COATED WITH BUTTER AND BREAD-CRUMBS