Cassell's dictionary of cookery

The proper thing with which you should turn or test a chop or steak is a pair of cooking tongs made specially for the purpose. Whatever you do, however, do not cut it to look at it, for in this case you sacrifice all the first principles of cookery, and commit that most deadly sin for a cook, viz., you let out the gravy. Suppose, therefore, you pinch the steak with the tongs, or press it with the side of a fork on the gridiron, and it feels spongy ; this means that the inside is not simply red but blue, and that, therefore, it requires a little longer cooking. Suppose, however, it feels firm, not hard ; this means it is done, and the outside appearance of being black, which, for fear of being misunderstood, we will call being well browned, like the outside of a well-roasted sirloin of beef, should for this very reason have been acquired early in the cooking, as any further attempt to obtain colour would be attended with the risk of over-cooking and, consequently, drying up the meat. There are many things best cooked on the gridiron besides chops and steaks ; for instance, kidneys, mushrooms, tomatoes, bloaters, &c. ; but we would here mention one case of the use of the gridiron, not perhaps generally known, and that is of cooking substances wrapped up in oiled paper ; for instance, a slice of salmon grilled. It is, of course, at once apparent that a clear fire is here indispensable. Should any blaze exist, the paper would catch fire, and there would be an end of the attempt. The principles of cookmg, however, are here very clearly exemplified. Why should the slice of salmon be wrapped up in this oiled paper 1 Simply for the good old reason of keeping in the flavour. Just as in cooking mutton cutlets en papillate, all the flavour that would otherwise escape is by this means kept in the meat. To grill, therefore, properly, it is requisite that the cook should possess patience. It is no use placing a chop on a gridiron, and leaving it to look after itself for a few minutes. It may, for instance, stick to the gridiron a few seconds^ after it is put down; and the smaller the fire and the gridiron, the more likely is this to occur. To obviate this possible contingency, a push, if only to move the chop an eighth of an inch, is requisite. Again, if the chop appears to be cooking slowly, lower the gridiron to the fire ; on the other hand, if it appears to be doing too fast, raise the giidiron ; and, as we have before suggested, if the browning process does not take place as it should, make a flame by means of throwing in a little piece of fat or a little dripping. In serving up a chop or steak, it should be borne in mind that, like a soufflé, it should be sent up directly. A mutton chop to taste right should burn your mouth. This principle is well recognised in some of our public restaurants which possess their "grill room." You cannot warm up a chop or steak any more than you can warm up an omelet. In removing the chop from the gridiron, especially if it be in a flaring state, take care to let it rest for a few seconds in mid-air to let the fat drop from it, as, should it be placed on the dish just as it is, a little of the fat will run off it and give a greasy appearance to the dish that is for from desirable. Of course, too.