good red gravy in it. Underdone lamb will be flabby and sodden; consequently,
lamb really requires considerably more time than mutton. Lamb, too, should be
always cooked before a particularly bi-isk fire, and should be constantly basted. Just
as lamb requires more roasting than mutton, so does veal require longer roastinf>-
than beef. I think, as a I'ule, the principle will be found to be, that the closer
the meat the longer does it take to cook, whether the process be roasting, bakin"
or boiling. For instance, a leg of mutton is closer meat than a shoulder, and
consequently, supposing a leg and shoulder be the same weight, yet the former
would require longer roasting than the latter. So, too — supposing the weight
the same — would a silver-side of beef, which is very close meat indeed, take
longer to boil than an aitch-bone of beef. Yeal is, as a rule in this country, a
closer meat than beef, and requires a great deal of cooking. Underdone veal
like underdone lamb, is extremely unwholesome. Pork, again, is a white a'nd
close meat — it is almost impossible to over-roast pork. A large leg of pork
weighing twelve to sixteen pounds will take four or five hours to roast properly.
It will also be found advisable to rub the skin of the pork over with oil pi-evious
to roasting it, as otherwise the skin has a tendency to get hard and split.
There are some things that are neai'ly always overcooked, and among these
we would particularly mention geese and ducks. Cooks should recollect that geese
and diicks are hollow, and that the meat on the breast is very often only an inch
and a half deep at the outside. Too often ducks are sent to table so dried up that
the flavour is completely gone, and when carved the breast-bone is dry and white.
A large duck does not require more than three-quarters of an hour to an hour to
cook, and a good-sized goose one hour and three-quarters. In roasting poultry
the same thing holds true as in roasting meat, viz., that the closer the meat the
longer the time. This is very marked in contrasting the time it takes to roast
a goose and the time it takes to roast a turkey — the latter, in proportion, taking
nearly double the time of the former. A large turkey weighing say fourteen
poimds would require three hours and a half, whereas a large goose that size
would only require one hour and three-quarters.
In roasting all kinds of poultry and game, basting is of the vitmost importance,
as otherwise the meat is certain to be dry and flavourless.
In roasting some kinds of game it is a very common custom, especially abroad,
to fasten a piece of fat bacon over the breast, and, indeed, sometimes the bird is
sent to table with the bacon on it. Of course this is purely a matter of taste;
but to my thinking the bacon spoils the flavour of the bird. What should be
done in roasting partridges is to calculate exactly the time when they will be
wanted, and not to roast them too soon. Some cooks get nervous, and in fe^.r
of being late, absolutely get some dishes that are not wanted till quite the fijiish
of dinner ready when diimer begins. In large pai-ties, partridges should not be
put down to roast till after the soup and fish have come downstairs. The entries
invariably take a long time handing round, and then the joint has to follow.
Page 57
Presented as published in 1892. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
good red gravy in it. Underdone lamb will be flabby and sodden; consequently, lamb really requires considerably more time than mutton. Lamb, too, should be always cooked before a particularly brisk fire, and should be constantly basted. Just as lamb requires more roasting than mutton, so does veal require longer roasting than beef. I think, as a rule, the principle will be found to be, that the closer the meat the longer does it take to cook, whether the process be roasting, baking or boiling. For instance, a leg of mutton is closer meat than a shoulder, and consequently, supposing a leg and shoulder be the same weight, yet the former would require longer roasting than the latter. So, too — supposing the weight the same — would a silver-side of beef, which is very close meat indeed, take longer to boil than an aitch-bone of beef. Yeal is, as a rule in this country, a closer meat than beef, and requires a great deal of cooking. Underdone veal like underdone lamb, is extremely unwholesome. Pork, again, is a white and close meat — it is almost impossible to over-roast pork. A large leg of pork weighing twelve to sixteen pounds will take four or five hours to roast properly. It will also be found advisable to rub the skin of the pork over with oil previous to roasting it, as otherwise the skin has a tendency to get hard and split.
There are some things that are nearly always overcooked, and among these we would particularly mention geese and ducks. Cooks should recollect that geese and ducks are hollow, and that the meat on the breast is very often only an inch and a half deep at the outside. Too often ducks are sent to table so dried up that the flavour is completely gone, and when carved the breast-bone is dry and white. A large duck does not require more than three-quarters of an hour to an hour to cook, and a good-sized goose one hour and three-quarters. In roasting poultry the same thing holds true as in roasting meat, viz., that the closer the meat the longer the time. This is very marked in contrasting the time it takes to roast a goose and the time it takes to roast a turkey — the latter, in proportion, taking nearly double the time of the former. A large turkey weighing say fourteen pounds would require three hours and a half, whereas a large goose that size would only require one hour and three-quarters.
In roasting all kinds of poultry and game, basting is of the utmost importance, as otherwise the meat is certain to be dry and flavourless.
In roasting some kinds of game it is a very common custom, especially abroad, to fasten a piece of fat bacon over the breast, and, indeed, sometimes the bird is sent to table with the bacon on it. Of course this is purely a matter of taste; but to my thinking the bacon spoils the flavour of the bird. What should be done in roasting partridges is to calculate exactly the time when they will be wanted, and not to roast them too soon. Some cooks get nervous, and in fear of being late, absolutely get some dishes that are not wanted till quite the finish of dinner ready when diimer begins. In large parties, partridges should not be put down to roast till after the soup and fish have come downstairs. The entries invariably take a long time handing round, and then the joint has to follow.