ROASTING.
IN spite of Brillat-Savarin's maxim that one may become a cook, but must
be born a _rotisseur_, I am inclined to think one may also, by
remembering one or two things, become a very good "roaster" (to
translate the untranslatable), especially in our day, when the oven has
taken the place of the spit, although a great deal of meat is spoiled in
roasting; a loin of lamb or piece of beef, that comes to the table so
pale that you can't tell whether it has been boiled or merely wilted in
the oven, is an aggravation so familiar, that a rich brown, well-roasted
joint is generally a surprise. Perhaps the cook will tell you she has
had the "hottest kind of an oven;" but then she has probably also had a
well of water underneath it, the vapor from which, arising all the time,
has effectually soddened the meat, and checked the browning. The surface
of roast meat should be covered with a rich glaze, scientifically called
"osma-zone." That the meat may be thus glazed, it should always go into
a _hot_ oven, so that, as the gravy exudes, it may congeal on the
outside, thus sealing up the pores. The general plan, however, is to put
meat into a warm oven an hour or two earlier than it should go, with a
quantity of water and flour underneath it. The result in hot weather I
have known to be very disagreeable, the tepid oven having, in fact,
given a stale taste to the joint before it began to cook, and it at all
times results in flavorless, tough meat. There is no time saved, either,
in putting the meat in while the oven is yet cool. Heat up the oven till
it is quite brisk, then put the meat in a pan, in which, if it is fat,
you require _no water_; if very lean, you may put half a teacup, just
enough to prevent the pan burning; you may rub a little flour over the
joint or not, as you please, but never more than the surface moisture
absorbs; have no clinging particles of flour upon the joint, neither put
salt nor pepper upon the meat before it goes into the oven; salt draws
out the gravy, which it is your object to keep in, and the flavor of
pepper is entirely changed by the parching it undergoes when on the
surface of the meat, the odor of scorched pepper, while cooking, being
very offensive to refined nostrils. This does not occur when pepper is
not on the surface; for the _inside_ of birds, in stuffing, and in meat
pies it is indispensable, and the flavor undergoes no change. This
remark on pepper applies also to broiling and frying. Always pepper
_after_ the article is cooked, and both for appearance and delicacy of
flavor white pepper should always be used in preference to black.
Meat, while in the oven, should be carefully turned about so that it may
brown equally, and when it has been in half the time you intend to give
it, or when the upper surface is well browned, turn it over. When it
comes out of the oven put it on a hot dish, then carefully pour off the
fat by holding the corner of the meat pan over your dripping-pan, and
very gently allowing the fat to run off; do not shake it; when you see
the thick brown sediment beginning to run too, check it; if there is
still much fat on the surface, take it off with a spoon; then pour into
the pan a little boiling water and salt, in quantity according to the
quantity of sediment or glaze in the pan, and with a spoon rub off every
speck of the dried gravy on the bottom and sides of the pan. Add no
flour, the gravy must be thick enough with its own richness. If you have
added too much water, so that it looks poor, you may always boil it down
by setting the pan on the stove for a few minutes; but it is better to
put very little water at first, and add as the richness of the gravy
allows. Now you have a rich brown gravy, instead of the thick
whitey-brown broth so often served with roast meat. Every drop of this
gravy and that from the dish should be carefully saved if left over.
Save all dripping, except from mutton or meat with which onions are
cooked, for purposes which I shall indicate in another place.
Veal and pork require to be very thoroughly cooked. For them, therefore,
the oven must not be too hot, neither must it be lukewarm, a good even
heat is best; if likely to get too brown before it is thoroughly cooked,
open the oven door.