Roasting

“ If the thing to be roasted be thin and tender, the fire should be little and brisk: when you have a large joint to roast, make up a sound, strong fire, equally good in every part of the grate, or your meat cannot be equally roasted, nor have that uniform colour which constitutes the beauty of good roasting.
Give the fire a good stirring before you lay the joint down; examine it from time to time while the spit is going round; keep it clear at the bottom, and take care there are no smoky coals in the front, which will spoil the look and taste of the meat, and hinder it from roasting evenly. ”

“ For roasting, it should hang as long as it will keep, the hind quarter especially, but not so as to taint; for, whatever fashion may authorize, putrid juices ought not to be conveyed into the stomach. ”

“ But only the pale-roasted varieties should be taken, as the roasting develops the poisonous, irritating properties. There is always danger in the roasting of grains or berries on account of the new substances that may be developed. ”

“ For roasting, an American roaster, which can be placed in the oven and requires no attention for basting, is necessary. If there is a close range, the earthenware French casseroles and marmites are nicer than saucepans. ”

“ The simplicity of roasting is so generally known by all classes of cooks that but very little attention is often paid to it; the simplicity of the arrangement for roasting being such as with many to leave it to attend to itself ”

“ Roast, rōst, v.t. to cook before a fire, or in an oven: to expose a person to ridicule: to parch by exposure to heat: to heat to excess: to dissipate the volatile parts of by heat.—n. that which is roasted.—ns. Roas′ter, anything suitable for roasting: a furnace used in making ball soda; Roas′ter-slag, slag from the fifth stage of copper-smelting; Roas′ting; Roas′ting-cyl′inder, a furnace for roasting ore; Roas′ting-ear, an ear of maize fit for roasting; Roas′ting-jack, an apparatus for turning the spit on which meat is roasted ”

“ In roasting meat, it is a very good way to put a little salt and water into the dripping pan, and baste 22for a little while with it before it be done with its own fat or dripping. When dry, dust it with flour, and baste as usual.
Time, distance, basting often, and a clear fire, of a proper size for what is required, are the first articles of a good cook’s attention in roasting.
Old meats do not require so much dressing as young: not that they are sooner done, but they can be eaten with the gravy more in. ”

“ By many, roasting is condemned as an extravagant method of cooking. Undoubtedly meat loses considerably in weight when roasted, but there is no real loss; the melted fat remains as dripping; any meat juice which escapes coagulates and forms the basis of the gravy, and by the evaporation of water, to which the greater part of the loss is due, the nutritives of the meat have simply become more concentrated. The consumption of coal in roasting is not excessive when the fire is properly built up. ”

“ The most economical cuts of beef for roasting are the shoulder, the face of the rump, and the chuck ribs; they are all of good flavor and fairly tender. When ordering a shoulder roast, have an inch slice cut off to broil. The chuck roast should be ordered boned and rolled, and the bones sent with it. Wipe beef with cheesecloth, place skin side down on a rack in a roasting pan suitable for the size of the roast; dust with salt and pepper, dredge with flour, and cook in a hot oven, basting every ten minutes. When half roasted, turn over, dredge with flour, and finish cooking. ”

“ The roaster must judge of the amount of heat required for the adequate roasting of different qualities, and while that is variable, the range of roasting temperature proper for individual kinds is only narrow. In continental countries it is the practice to roast in small quantities, and thus the whole charge is well under the control of the roaster ”

“ After they have been properly rolled, the leaves are spread on trays, and exposed to the sun and air for several hours, and then they are once more roasted. The second roasting is milder than the first, and is done over a slower fire; and afterward the leaves are rolled again, to make sure that none of them have become spread out. For the black tea the roasting is done in a shallow pan, the same as the first; but the green teas are put in a deep pan, and subjected to a very high heat. ”

“ Why is our roast beef usually so insipid and unappetizing?
Sometimes the inferior quality of the meat is to blame, but more frequently our disappointment is due to the cook's indolence or the substitution of baking for roasting.
Real roasting is like broiling in so far as it requires exposure of the meat to an open fire. It differs from broiling in that it also calls for frequent basting, that is, taking up with a spoon the fat which flows from the meat and pouring it over the surface, thus aiding the initial searing in keeping in the juices, on which the Flavor depends. ”

“ Nowadays, the term roasting is almost universally applied to the action of both hot air and radiant heat. However, much of what is called roasting is in reality baking. Foods cooked in the oven of an ordinary coal or gas range are really baked, although they are said to be roasted, and a covered roasting pan is a misnomer. Food must be exposed to the air in the process of cooking if it is to be roasted in the true sense. ”

“ A general rule among cooks is to allow a quarter of an hour to each pound of the joint. Thus a joint of eight pounds will take two hours. Slow roasting adds to the tenderness and flavour of a joint, and it may be observed, that the longer a joint is kept the less time it will require in roasting.
Our roasts in England (with the single exception of a leg of mutton) are better than in France. The quality of the meat (with the exception of veal) is much better, and good English cooks excel in roasting meat and game. ”

“ The loin of veal is the best roasting piece, the breast and rack are good roasting pieces, the breast makes a good pot pie. The leg is nice for frying, and when several slices have been cut off for cutlets the remainder is nice boiled with about half a pound of salt pork. Veal for roasting should be salted and peppered, and have a little butter rubbed on it, baste it frequently, and unless the meat is very fat put a small piece of butter in the dripping pan when the meat is put down to roast. ”

“ By roasting the oil is distributed through the berry and so made soluble, while the caffeine is developed so that it may be absorbed by water. Just the right amount of roasting must be done or the essential constituents will be expelled and the bitter qualities will be made to predominate. I have said that the roasting should be done at home. It may be done in the shops, of course, but the operation there is carried on so unscientifically that the aroma is lost on the town instead of being shut up in the berry. ”

“ Meat that is roasting without first having been salted should not have a vessel be placed below it in order to catch the fats that are dripping off it, until it has been roasted to the point that it can be eaten. ”

“ ROAST VEAL The shoulder and breast of veal are best for roasting. Always buy veal that is fat and white. Prepare for the oven in the following manner: Wash and then dry; rub it well with salt, a very little ground ginger, and dredge it well with flour. Lay in roasting-pan and put slices of onion on top with a few tablespoons of goose-fat or drippings. Cover tightly and roast, allowing twenty minutes to the pound and baste frequently. Veal must be well done. When cold it slices up as nicely as turkey. ”

“ Roasting.—Take a sufficient quantity of nuts to cover the bottom of an iron pot two or three inches deep, place them on the fire to roast, stirring them constantly with the spatula that the heat may be imparted to them equally. A coffee-roasting machine would answer for this purpose admirably, taking care not to torrefy them too much, as the oil of the nut suffers thereby, and it becomes a dark brown or black, grows bitter and spoils the color of the chocolate. Musty or moldy nuts must be roasted more than the others, so as to deprive them of their bad taste and smell. ”

“ Examples: steak, English muffins, griddle cakes.
Pot Roasting is cooking in an iron kettle or earthen pot in a small amount of water, after meat has been quickly browned in a small amount of fat in the frying pan [Pg 16] or kettle. Cook slowly until very tender, with or without vegetables.
Roasting is cooking before an open fire. This method is seldom used in small households, although the baking of meats is commonly called roasting.
Sautéing is cooking in a small amount of fat in a shallow pan on top of range. Examples: sliced fish, meat, potatoes, eggs. ”

“ In the evening of that day, after completing my preparations, I supped on the remaining portions of the sloth, not suitable for preservation, roasting bits of fat on the coals and boiling the head and bones into a broth; and after swallowing the liquid I crunched the bones and sucked the marrow, feeding like some hungry carnivorous animal. ”

“ OF THE VARIOUS METHODS OF PREPARING MEAT, ROASTING is that which most effectually preserves its nutritive qualities. Meat is roasted by being exposed to the direct influence of the fire. This is done by placing the meat before an open grate, and keeping it in motion to prevent the scorching on any particular part. When meat is properly roasted, the outer layer of its albumen is coagulated, and thus presents a barrier to the exit of the juice. ”

“ Though roasting is one of the most common, and is generally considered one of the most easy and simple processes of cookery, it requires more unremitting attention to perform it perfectly well than it does to make most made-dishes. ”

“ It is probable that the cooking pot over the fire has been used side by side with roasting apparatus from the earliest times, although no doubt vessels would be required for boiling foods before roasting, in that discoveries show that the earliest method of roasting a piece of meat or a small animal was to encase it in clay and then expose it to the fire. ”

“ Roasting in the oven of ordinary coal stoves or ranges is not considered so good as roasting before an open fire; nevertheless it may be said safely that the greatest part of meat roasting is done in close ovens. It appears, from various experiments that meat roasted or baked in a close oven loses rather less of its weight than if roasted by an open fire. ”

“ The roasting is continued till the leaves give out a fragrant smell, and become quite flaccid, when they are in a fit state to be rolled. The roasting and rolling are often a third, and sometimes even a fourth time repeated, and, indeed, the process of rolling is continued until the juices can no longer be freely expressed. The leaves are then finally dried in sieves placed in drying-tubs, over a charcoal fire in a common chafing-dish. The heat dissipates much of the moisture, and the leaves begin to assume their black appearance. ”

“ He states that the roasting oven is not quite so effective as the roaster, but from its greater cheapness may be largely used. This anticipation has been realized. The modern "kitchener," which in so many forms is gradually and steadily supplanting the ancient open range, is an apparatus in which roasting in the open air before a fire is superseded by roasting in a closed chamber or roasting oven. ”

“ If they are stuffed they are subject to the same rules as have being cooked, and require salting just as any other meat to be cooked. It is customary to act stringently when roasting meat that has not been salted [12] and to refrain from always flipping over the skewer so that the blood will flow, but post facto, one need not worry. In makes no difference in all this if one wishes to eat after roasting, or if one wishes to cook it afterwards. ”

“ Unless the oven is sufficiently hot to sear the surface, the moisture, or juice, will escape into the roasting pan and the connective tissue will be toughened. A roast should be cooked in a covered roaster to retain the moisture. ”

“ When well boiled, cut into nice pieces, egg, bread crumb, and fry them of a light brown, and serve with fried onions or any piquant sauce. Is very good only boiled, and served with parsley and butter.
{67} CHAPTER VIII. ROASTING.
For roasting, meat should be kept longer than for boiling, or it will not, though ever so good, eat well. The proper length of time depends upon the state of the weather, and the age of the animal when killed, for young meat bears keeping less time than old meat. Two days of hot weather will do as much to render meat fit for the spit, as a week of cold weather. ”

“ Till some culinary philosopher shall invent a thermometer to ascertain the heat of the fire, and a graduated spit-rack to regulate the distance from it, the process of roasting is attended by so many ever-varying circumstances, that it must remain among those which can only be performed well, by frequent practice and attentive observation. ”

“ Roasting is not an economical method of cooking pieces of meat abounding in bone or tendinous matter, since the nutritious portion of these is either destroyed or rendered insoluble by the heat employed. ”

“ Roasting is usually more perfectly done at the grocers', in their rotary roasters, which give every grain its turn; but, by care and constant stirring, it can be accomplished at home. Too much boiling dissipates the delicious aroma we all know; and the best methods are considered to be those which allow no boiling, after boiling water has been poured upon it, but merely a standing, to infuse and settle. The old fashion, however, of mixing with an egg, and boiling a few minutes, makes a coffee hardly inferior in flavor. ”