To grill or broil is to cook over the top of a clear fire where the meat is exposed to the heat and occasional flame of the fire. This flame is caused by the fat dropping into the fire and catching alight. The common fault in grilling is that cooks are too frightened of this flare, which is the thing that makes chops and steaks of a good colour. It is quite impossible to give any time for cooking a chop or steak by grilling. It so varies with the fire and the thickness of the meat that to attempt to do so would do more harm than good.

I can only describe to you how a well-cooked chop or steak should be when done. First, nearly black outside, or, at any rate, of a very dark rich old black mahogany colour. Then when cut, the inside should be red, and yet not in the least blue or flabby in the middle. A good rump steak should have a rim of rich yellow fat to it. The steak should be served quickly on a very hot dish. Have the plates scorching hot. No gravy, no sauce, no butter, nothing, but simply the chop or steak as it is, and the meat should be hot enough to burn your mouth. When cut, about a teaspoonful of clear bright red gravy should run out into the plate. The only accompaniment should be a nice, snow white, floury potato.

It is not so easy to arrive at this pitch of perfection as you would think. First, you must have a clear fire: without this it is no use attempting to grill. The fire, too, must be good, it must not be merely the remains, though clear, of a good fire. We want a sharp, quick heat. Colour the outside of a chop or steak at once; throw little bits of fat or dripping into the fire, and make it blaze up.

Next, how to tell when it is done. Of course you must turn the chop or steak several times, but never stick a fork into it, as this would let out the gravy and ruin it.

Press the chop or steak with anything, and if it feels spongy, it shows the middle is blue. As I have said, get the outside coloured as quick as you can, and then you can slightly slacken the heat, or, at any rate, as soon as it is dark enough you need not keep on flaring. The fire often will flare of its own accord quite sufficiently from what drops from the steak, without artificial means. The chop or steak, directly it ceases to feel spongy, is done, and should be allowed to rest for one minute on a very hot plate before it is served.

In grilling fish, be careful to rub the gridiron with a piece of fat to prevent the fish sticking, which it is very apt to do. You must watch fish carefully, and move it constantly to avoid this. The only proper way to cook chops, steaks, fresh herrings, sprats, etc., is to grill them. A gridiron that has cooked fish wants a lot of cleaning.

In cooking fish, wrapped up in oiled paper, on a gridiron, you must avoid any flare. The fire must be very clear, the paper thoroughly oiled, but it must not have any oil dropping.

In grilling bones you cannot have too much flare, or too fierce a beat. What you want in this case is burnt meat - animal charcoal, in fact.

Some persons will attempt to tell you that a chop cooked in front of the fire is just the same thing as grilled on the top. This is all nonsense. They might as well tell you that an oyster out of a tin is the same as a freshly-opened native.