Remarks On Roasting, Boiling, Etc

In roasting or baking, after the meats are properly prepared, everything depends upon having a clear fire and a clean range or stove. See that your ovens are free from ashes on top and under them, and that the fire is well raked and made up with fresh coal.

Meat and poultry, when roasting, should be basted with the drippings every fifteen or twenty minutes. If this is neglected, the outside will be hard and stringy, and difficult to carve without tearing the meat. All kinds of meat and poultry are better for being kept for several days before cooking; a leg of mutton may be hung in a cold dry place for a week in winter; beef is preferred by most persons a little rare - a leg of mutton the same; but the loin of mutton, pork, veal, poultry and birds, all require to be thoroughly cooked. Venison should be a little rare; all kinds of fish should be thoroughly cooked, as nothing is more unpalatable than underdone fish.

Meat for soup should always be put on the fire in cold water, brought gradually to the boil, then skimmed and cooked slowly as long as required, and the vessel kept covered closely. Joints or poultry for the table should be put in boiling water, and replenished with the same. Fish should be put over the fire in cold water, unless otherwise directed in the recipe for cooking it.