and should be near the top of the fire-box. It should be made ready some time before it is needed that it may be in the proper condition at the last moment. There should be little or no flame, as that will smoke the meat. The oven damper should always be open during the broiling, that the smoke of the dripping fat, and the poisonous gases may be carried into the chimney. A bed of hard-wood coals is the best fire for broiling. Next to this is a charcoal fire. Wood gives an entirely different and better flavor to steak from that obtained by a coal fire. Some stoves for burning wood have a hearth in front into which the bright coals may be drawn for the cooking of the steak. A double wire broiler is the best utensil for broiling. Grease it with a bit of fat from the meat or with salt pork. Place the thickest part of whatever is to be cooked next to the middle of the broiler. If there is a fat edge on the steak, place this uppermost. Then, as the fat melts, it drips down over the meat, and by thus basting keeps it from becoming too dry. Hold the broiler slanting down into the fire, and if there is a blaze do not lift the broiler up into the smoke, but keep it in the flame, turning it often. Use a coarse towel to protect the hand if the heat be very great. In every form of cooking meat, where the meat is to be eaten, the juices should be retained in the meat; this is especially important in broiling, for if not retained in the meat they drip into the fire. Do not salt the meat, as salt draws out the juices. Remove the bone and part of the fat. Place the meat close to the fire. The intense heat instantly sears the albumin and fibrin on that side and starts the flow of the juices; as they become hot they rise and if the meat be cooked long on one side they will force their way through the fibres, and form little pools on the surface of the meat, which run off and drip into the fire, and so feed the fire with the best part of the meat. But by turning the meat before the juices ooze out, the other surface is brought next to the fire and seared, and the juices cannot escape in that direction, so they rise again and try to get through the top. But that being already hardened they have to stay inside the meat. As the water of the juices is converted into BROILING 197 steam by the heat, it expands and puffs the meat. If the meat be not turned often, or the broiHng be carried on too long, these watery juices will gradually ooze between the fibres to the surface and be evaporated, leaving the meat dry, leathery, and not easily digested. Meat should be broiled only long enough to loosen all the fibres and start the flow of the juices. As long as there is juice inside, the steam will cause the meat to spring up in- stantly when pressed with a knife, and when it ceases to do this the juices have begun to evaporate, and the meat shrinks. Meat when broiled properly should be pink and juicy, not raw and; purple, nor brown and dry. It should be so full of juice that when cut on the platter no other gravy will be required than its own hot savory juices.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

and should be near the top of the fire-box. It should be made ready some time before it is needed that it may be in the proper condition at the last moment. There should be little or no flame, as that will smoke the meat. The oven damper should always be open during the broiling, that the smoke of the dripping fat, and the poisonous gases may be carried into the chimney. A bed of hard-wood coals is the best fire for broiling. Next to this is a charcoal fire. Wood gives an entirely different and better flavor to steak from that obtained by a coal fire. Some stoves for burning wood have a hearth in front into which the bright coals may be drawn for the cooking of the steak. A double wire broiler is the best utensil for broiling. Grease it with a bit of fat from the meat or with salt pork. Place the thickest part of whatever is to be cooked next to the middle of the broiler. If there is a fat edge on the steak, place this uppermost. Then, as the fat melts, it drips down over the meat, and by thus basting keeps it from becoming too dry. Hold the broiler slanting down into the fire, and if there is a blaze do not lift the broiler up into the smoke, but keep it in the flame, turning it often. Use a coarse towel to protect the hand if the heat be very great. In every form of cooking meat, where the meat is to be eaten, the juices should be retained in the meat; this is especially important in broiling, for if not retained in the meat they drip into the fire. Do not salt the meat, as salt draws out the juices. Remove the bone and part of the fat. Place the meat close to the fire. The intense heat instantly sears the albumin and fibrin on that side and starts the flow of the juices; as they become hot they rise and if the meat be cooked long on one side they will force their way through the fibres, and form little pools on the surface of the meat, which run off and drip into the fire, and so feed the fire with the best part of the meat. But by turning the meat before the juices ooze out, the other surface is brought next to the fire and seared, and the juices cannot escape in that direction, so they rise again and try to get through the top. But that being already hardened they have to stay inside the meat. As the water of the juices is converted into BROILING 197 steam by the heat, it expands and puffs the meat. If the meat be not turned often, or the broiling be carried on too long, these watery juices will gradually ooze between the fibres to the surface and be evaporated, leaving the meat dry, leathery, and not easily digested. Meat should be broiled only long enough to loosen all the fibres and start the flow of the juices. As long as there is juice inside, the steam will cause the meat to spring up instantly when pressed with a knife, and when it ceases to do this the juices have begun to evaporate, and the meat shrinks. Meat when broiled properly should be pink and juicy, not raw and purple, nor brown and dry. It should be so full of juice that when cut on the platter no other gravy will be required than its own hot savory juices.

The school kitchen textbook