Cassell's dictionary of cookery

have no doubt that many will remember how invariably at large dinner-parties the game is overcooked and dried up. Hare is a very dry meat, and requires a great deal of roasting. Over-roasted hare is one of the most insipid things sent to table. Yet too often hare will be found to be quite dried up. The proper form of roast hare is, that when the knife cuts into the back the meat, though not red, should be juicy; too often it will be found to be quite dry. So, too, with a roast pheasant. After the breast xlviii cassell's dictionary of cookery. has been cut, when the knife separates the wing-bone from the merry-thought, the bone where it is divided should look a little pink ; this will show that the bird has not been dried up. When Ave come to small birds, like woodcock and snipe, we must be still more careful of over -roasting, as it is a cruel thing to spoil such expensive delicacies owing to a little carelessness. It is difficult to lay down any exact time — so much depending on the fire — only be sure of one thing, and that is, baste the whole time. Snipe especially should be rather underdone. There is an old saying which cooks would do well to remember, viz., "A well-cooked snipe is one that has only flown once through the kitchen." Of course this is an extravagant way of saying how very little cooking snipe require. Of course, in serving small game, no delay should take place. Game half cold is not wortli eating — and it is apt to lose its heat veiy quickly. Some dishes have special power of retaining heat, such as Irish stew and hasty puddings. Others, seem to lose their heat quickly, and among the latter class we would especially mention roast loin of mutton, which seems to possess the power of getting cold quicker than any other joint I know. We will now go on to consider what is really another form of roasting, viz., grilling. There is perhaps no better test of a cook than a rump-steak and a boiled potato. If you can get the former black outside and red in, and the latter a floury mass as white as snow that crumbles to pieces on your plate, you may rest assured that the cook thoroughly understood his or her business. The same principles, of course, apply to grilling a chop or steak as in roasting or boiling, tlie point being as much as possible to surround the meat very quickly with a hard film to keep in the juices and flavour. For grilling it is essential, therefore, to have a perfectly clear fire, and also to place the chop or steak near the fii'e at starting. It is obvious, too, that the very first principles of cookery are overlooked if the cook is foolish enough to stick a fork into the steak or chop to turn it. By this means you commit the unpardonable crime of letting out tlie gravy. We have, however, already fully described in page xii. the principles to be observed in the use of the gridiron. It will always be found best to have one gridiron for meat and another for fish. In grilling kidneys, also, it is best to remove them every now and then, and dip them into a little hot fat if there is any handy.