There are two modes of roasting: one is to use a tin Kitchen before an
open fire, and the other and more common way is to use a very hot
oven. The former gives the more delicious favor, but the second is not
by any means a poor way, if the meat is put on a rack, and basted
constantly when in the oven. A large piece is best for roasting, this
being especially true of beef. When meat is cooked in a tin kitchen it
requires more time, because the heat is not equally distributed, as it
is in the oven.
To prepare for roasting: Wipe the meat with a wet towel. Dredge on all
sides with salt, pepper and flour; and if the kitchen is used, dredge
the flour into that. Run the spit through the centre of the meat, and
place very near the fire at first, turning as it browns. When the
flour in the kitchen is browned, add a pint of hot water, and baste
frequently with it, dredging with salt and flour after each basting.
Roast a piece of beef weighing eight pounds fifty minutes, if to be
rare, but if to be medium, roast one hour and a quarter, and ten
minutes for each additional pound.
Roasting in the Oven.
Prepare the meat as before. Have a rack that will fit loosely into the
baking-pan. Cover the bottom of the pan rather lightly with flour, put
in rack, and then meat Place in a very hot oven for a few minutes, to
brown the flour in the pan, and then add hot water enough to cover the
bottom of the pan. Close the oven; and in about ten minutes, open, and
baste the meat with the gravy. Dredge with salt, pepper and flour. Do
this every fifteen minutes; and as soon as one side of the meat is
brown, turn, and brown the other. Make gravy as before. Allow a
quarter of an hour less in the oven than in the tin kitchen. The heat
for roasting must be very great at first, to harden the albumen, and
thus keep in the juices. After the meat is crusted over it is not
necessary to keep up so great a heat, but for rare meats the heat
must, of course, be greater than for those that are to be well done.
The kitchen can be drawn back a little distance from the fire and the
drafts closed. Putting salt on fresh meat draws out the juices, but by
using flour a paste is formed, which, keeps in all the juices and also
enriches and browns the piece. Never roast meat without having a rack
in the pan. If meat is put into the water in the pan it becomes soggy
and looses its flavor. A meat rack costs not more than thirty or forty
cents, and the improvement in the looks and flavor of a piece of meat
is enough to pay for it in one roasting. The time given for roasting a
piece of beef is for rib roasts and sirloin. The same weight in the
face or the back of the rump will require twenty minutes longer, as
the meat on these cuts is in a very compact form. If a saddle or loin
of mutton is to be roasted, cook the same time as beef if the weight
is the same; but if a leg is to be roasted, one hour and a quarter is
the time. Lamb should be cooked an hour and a half; veal, two hours
and three-quarters; pork, three hours and a quarter. Ten minutes
before dishing the dinner turn the gravy into a sauce-pan, skim off
all the fat, and set on the stove. Let it come to a boil; then stir in
one table-spoonful of flour, mixed with half a cupful of cold water.
Season with salt and pepper, and cook two minutes. Serve the meat on a
hot dish and the gravy in a hot tureen.
Boiled Rib Roast.
Either have the butcher remove the bones, or do it your-self by
slipping a sharp knife between the flesh and bones--a simple matter
with almost any kind of meat. Roll up the piece and tie with strong
twine. Treat the same as plain roast beef, giving the same time as if
it were a piece of rump (one hour and a half for eight pounds), as the
form it is now in does not readily admit the heat to all parts. This
piece of beef can be larded before roasting, or it can be larded and
braised. Serve with tomato or horse-radish sauce.
Roast Beef, with Yorkshire Pudding.
A rib or sirloin roast should be prepared as directed for roasting.
When within three-quarters of an hour of being done, have the pudding
made. Butter a pan like that in which the meat is being cooked, and
pour in the batter. Put the rack across the pan, not in it. Place the
meat on the rack, return to the oven, and cook forty-five minutes. If
you have only one pan, take up the meat, pour off the gravy and put in
the pudding. Cut in squares, and garnish the beef with these. Another
method is to have a pan that has squares stamped in it. This gives
even squares and crust on all the edges, which baking in the flat pan
does not. When the meat is roasted in the tin-kitchen, let the pudding
bake in the oven for half an hour, and then place it under the meat to
catch the drippings.
For the Yorkshire pudding, one pint of milk, two-thirds of a cupful of
flour, three eggs and one scant teaspoonful of salt will be needed.
Beat the eggs very light. Add salt and milk, and then pour about half
a cupful of the mixture upon the flour; and when perfectly smooth, add
the remainder. This makes a small pudding--about enough for six
persons. Serve it hot.
Fillet of Veal, Roasted.
About eight or ten pounds of the fillet, ham force-meat (see rule for
force-meat), half a cupful of butter, half a teaspoonful of pepper,
two table-spoonfuls of salt, two lemons, half a pound of salt pork.
Rub the salt and pepper into the veal; then fill the cavity, from
which the bone was taken, with the force-meat. Skewer and tie the
fillet into a round shape. Cut the pork in thin slices, and put half
of these on a tin sheet that will fit into the dripping pan; place
this in the pan, and the fillet on it. Cover the veal with the
remainder of the pork. Put hot water enough in the pan to just cover
the bottom, and place in the oven. Bake slowly for four hours, basting
frequently with the gravy in the pan, and with salt, pepper and flour.
As the water in the pan cooks away, it must be renewed, remembering to
have only enough to keep the meat and pan from burning. After it has
been cooking three hours, take the pork from the top of the fillet,
spread the top thickly with butter and dredge with flour. Repeat this
after thirty minutes, and then brown handsomely. Put the remainder of
the butter, which should be about three table-spoonfuls, in a sauce-
pan, and when hot, add two heaping table-spoonfuls of flour, and stir
until dark brown. Add to it half a pint of stock or water; stir a
minute, and set back where it will keep warm, but not cook. Now take
up the fillet, and skim all the fat off of the gravy; add water enough
to make half a pint of gravy, also the sauce just made. Let this boil
up, and add the juice of half a lemon, and more salt and pepper, if
needed. Strain, and pour around the fillet. Garnish the dish with
potato puffs and slices of lemon.
Roast Ham.
Prepare the ham as for boiling, and if it is of good size (say ten
pounds), boil three hours. Remove the skin, and put the ham in a
baking pan. Let it cook two hours in a moderate oven. Serve with
champagne sauce.