Roasting used to be done before an open fire, and before the invention of cook-stoves and ranges was a very important branch of the culinary art. The oper- ation was performed by placing the fish, fowl, or piece of meat to be roasted before an open fire, at the proper distance therefrom, on what was called a "spit," which was turned frequently while the article being roasted was vigorously basted with water or gravy, to keep it from burning. To our ancestors who roasted in this manner, and baked in a clay or brick oven, built es- pecially for the purpose, or, as was generally the case, baked in an iron bake kettle, or "Dutch oven," by placing coals beneath it and coals on the lid, the words roasting and baking had different meanings. In her book on * ' Practical Cookery ' ' Mrs. Henderson says : * * Beef, mutton, turkeys, ducks, or birds, in fact, every kind of meat, is tenfold better roasted than baked," and old people who were in early life accus- tomed to the open-fire method of roasting, stoutly con- tend that all articles so cooked are far tenderer, juicier, and sweeter than those cooked in the closed oven of a stove or range. But since there is no probability of the practical cook-stove and range of the present day being discarded for the poetic brick oven and open fireplace of 46 Baking. 47 the past, it is useless to advance arguments either for or against the old-time methods of roasting and baking. The cook-stove and range have come to stay, and roast- ing and baking are processes so similar nowadays that the distinction between the two processes is, for prac- tical purposes, a ' ' distinction without a difference. ' ' Moreover, people have got so in the habit of using the -terms baking and roasting indiscriminately when speaking of the cooking offish, fowl, meats, vegetables, fruit, etc., in ovens of stoves and ranges, that no misapprehension arises from such use of the words ; and, as there is es- sentially no difference in the results, it matters very little whether we call this process of cooking food in the oven roasting or baking. It is quite as important to know how to bake properly as it is to know how to prepare properly, or make ready for baking, the different articles of food that must undergo the process of baking in their preparation for the table ; and the anticipated results that should legitimately fol- low the careful mixing and seasoning of dishes are often defeated by ignorant or careless baking. Many a good thing is spoiled in the oven, and probably as much food is ruined by being improperly baked as by being im- properly prepared. To become skilful in baking one must know the tem- perature required for baking different articles of food, and also the method of applying the heat. For example : the temperature for baking bread should be at least 375 degrees ; for roasting beef, lamb, mutton, veal, and other meats that have had their cut surfaces seared, it should be about the same ; for roasting poultry and 48 The Art of Cookery.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Roasting used to be done before an open fire, and before the invention of cook-stoves and ranges was a very important branch of the culinary art. The operation was performed by placing the fish, fowl, or piece of meat to be roasted before an open fire, at the proper distance therefrom, on what was called a "spit," which was turned frequently while the article being roasted was vigorously basted with water or gravy, to keep it from burning. To our ancestors who roasted in this manner, and baked in a clay or brick oven, built especially for the purpose, or, as was generally the case, baked in an iron bake kettle, or "Dutch oven," by placing coals beneath it and coals on the lid, the words roasting and baking had different meanings. In her book on * ' Practical Cookery ' ' Mrs. Henderson says : * * Beef, mutton, turkeys, ducks, or birds, in fact, every kind of meat, is tenfold better roasted than baked," and old people who were in early life accustomed to the open-fire method of roasting, stoutly contend that all articles so cooked are far tenderer, juicier, and sweeter than those cooked in the closed oven of a stove or range. But since there is no probability of the practical cook-stove and range of the present day being discarded for the poetic brick oven and open fireplace of Baking. 47 the past, it is useless to advance arguments either for or against the old-time methods of roasting and baking. The cook-stove and range have come to stay, and roasting and baking are processes so similar nowadays that the distinction between the two processes is, for practical purposes, a ' ' distinction without a difference. ' ' Moreover, people have got so in the habit of using the -terms baking and roasting indiscriminately when speaking of the cooking offish, fowl, meats, vegetables, fruit, etc., in ovens of stoves and ranges, that no misapprehension arises from such use of the words ; and, as there is essentially no difference in the results, it matters very little whether we call this process of cooking food in the oven roasting or baking. It is quite as important to know how to bake properly as it is to know how to prepare properly, or make ready for baking, the different articles of food that must undergo the process of baking in their preparation for the table ; and the anticipated results that should legitimately follow the careful mixing and seasoning of dishes are often defeated by ignorant or careless baking. Many a good thing is spoiled in the oven, and probably as much food is ruined by being improperly baked as by being improperly prepared. To become skilful in baking one must know the temperature required for baking different articles of food, and also the method of applying the heat. For example : the temperature for baking bread should be at least 375 degrees ; for roasting beef, lamb, mutton, veal, and other meats that have had their cut surfaces seared, it should be about the same ; for roasting poultry and 48 The Art of Cookery.

The art of cookery