223. Mind that your spit is clean, and take care that it passes through the meat as little as possible. Before it is spitted, see that the meat is jointed properly, particularly necks and loins. When on the spit it must be evenly balanced, that its motion may be regular, and all parts equally done; for this purpose, take care to be provided with balancing skewers and cookholds; a cradle spit is the best.

224. The bottle or vertical jack is an excellent instrument for roasting, better than spits for joints under forty pounds; but if you have neither of these things, as is often the case in small families, a woollen string twisted round a door key makes a good substitute. In this case a strong skewer should be passed through each end of the joint, in order that it may be conveniently turned bottom upwards, which will insure an equality of roasting and an equal distribution of the gravy. A Dutch oven is a convenient utensil for roasting small joints; but by far the best and most economical thing of the kind is, improperly, called the American oven, by which you may roast meat before a sitting-room fire, without any extra fuel, and without the slightest inconvenience to the persons occupying the apartment. This contrivance will save, in the course of a year, all the expense, and more, of its original cost, in bakings, with this additional consideration, that meat so dressed will be equal to roasted meat. Meat cooked in a common oven, to say nothing of the abstracting of the dripping by the generality of bakers, is greatly inferior, both in flavour and tenderness, to that dressed in the American oven, where the air is not confined. It is not, however, meat alone that may be dressed in the American oven. All sorts of cakes may be made in it, and indeed, all the operations of baking and roasting may be performed by it, on a limited scale, but sufficiently large for a "small family in contracted circumstances; in short, with the addition of the recent improvement, a sort of oval iron covering, we have baked bread before a parlour fire as perfectly as it could be produced by the regular process of baking; in one word, no family, whether in poor or middling circumstances, ought to be without the American oven, which may be had for a few shillings.

225. The fire for roasting should be made up in time, but it is better not to be very hot at first. The fire should, in point of size, be suited to the dinner to be dressed, and a few inches longer at each end than the article to be roasted, or the ends will not be done.

226. Never put meat down to a fierce fire, or one thoroughly burnt up, if you can possibly avoid it; but if not, you must take care and place it a considerable distance from the grate; indeed, meat should always be done slowly at first; it is impossible to roast a joint of very considerable size well under some hours. It is said that George III., who lived principally upon plain roasted and boiled joints, employed cooks who occupied four, five, or even six hours in roasting a single joint; but the result amply repaid the loss of labour and time; the meat was full of gravy, perfectly tender, and of a delicious flavour.

227. In placing paper over the fat to preserve it, never use pins or skewers; they operate as so many taps, to carry off the gravy; besides, the paper frequently starts from the skewers, and is, consequently, liable to take fire, to the great injury of both the flavour and appearance of the meat. For these reasons, always fasten on your paper with tape, twine, or any other suitable string.

228. The fire should be proportioned to the quantity of the meat intended to be roasted, as we have intimated above. For large joints make up a good strong fire, equal in every part of the grate, and well backed by cinders or small coals. Take care that the fire is bright and clear in the front. The larger the joint to be roasted, the farther it must be kept from the fire till nearly done - mind that. When you have to roast a thin and tender thing, let your fire be little and brisk.

229. When your fire is moderately good, your meat, unless very small, ought not to be put down nearer than from ten to fifteen inches off the grate; in some instances a greater distance would be preferable, but it is impossible to lay down any definite rule on this subject.

230. Slow roasting, like slow boiling, is the best, and the more slow, in reason, the better. The time usually directed to be allowed for roasting meat, where the fire is good, the meat screen sufficiently large, and the meat not frosted, is rather more than a quarter of an hour to a pound, but we take this to bo too short a time; however, the cook must judge for herself; much will depend upon the temperature of the atmosphere, etc., and more upon the degree of basting it has undergone. The more the meat is basted the less time it will take to do, for the meat is rendered soft and mellow outside, and consequently, admits the heat to act upon the inside. On the contrary, meat rendered hard on the outside by having too hot a fire, or neglecting to baste, the fire is prevented from operating upon the interior. When the meat is half done the fire should be well stirred for browning, that is, it must be made to burn brightly and clearly. When the steam begins to rise, depend upon it the meat is thoroughly done, that is, well saturated with heat, and all that goes off from the meat in evaporation is an absolute waste of its most savoury and nourishing particles.

231. A good cook will be particular to place her dripping pan so as to catch the dripping, but not the loose hot coals which may chance to fall from the fire. Your dripping pan should be large, not less than twenty-eight inches long and twenty inches broad, and should have a well-covered well on the side from the fire, to collect the dripping; "this," says Dr. Kitchiner, " will preserve it in the most delicate state."

232. Roasting and boiling-, as being the most common operations in cooking, are generally considered the most easy; this is a great error: roasting, in particular, requires unremitting attention to per-form it well, much more so than stewing, or the preparing many made dishes. A celebrated French author, in the Almanack des Gourmands, says, that "the art of roasting victuals to the precise degree, is one of the most difficult things in this world, and you may find half a thousand, good cooks sooner than one perfect roaster; five minutes on the spit, more or less, decide the goodness of this mode of cookery."