a gentle blow of the rolling-pin, break the bones that they
may remain so.

CHAPTER VIII.

ROASTING.

IN spite of Brillat-Savarin's maxim that one may become a cook, but must
be born a _rotisseur_, I am inclined to think one may also, by
remembering one or two things, become a very good "roaster" (to
translate the untranslatable), especially in our day, when the oven has
taken the place of the spit, although a great deal of meat is spoiled in
roasting; a loin of lamb or piece of beef, that comes to the table so
pale that you can't tell whether it has been boiled or merely wilted in
the oven, is an aggravation so familiar, that a rich brown, well-roasted
joint is generally a surprise. Perhaps the cook will tell you she has
had the "hottest kind of an oven;" but then she has probably also had a
well of water underneath it, the vapor from which, arising all the time,
has effectually soddened the meat, and checked the browning. The surface
of roast meat should be covered with a rich glaze, scientifically called
"osma-zone." That the meat may be thus glazed, it should always go into
a _hot_ oven, so that, as the gravy exudes, it may congeal on the
outside, thus sealing up the pores. The general plan, however, is to put
meat into a warm oven an hour or two earlier than it should go, with a
quantity of water and flour underneath it. The result in hot weather I
have known to be very disagreeable, the tepid oven having, in fact,
given a stale taste to the joint before it began to cook, and it at all
times results in flavorless, tough meat. There is no time saved, either,
in putting the meat in while the oven is yet cool. Heat up the oven till
it is quite brisk, then put the meat in a pan, in which, if it is fat,
you require _no water_; if very lean, you may put half a teacup, just
enough to prevent the pan burning; you may rub a little flour over the
joint or not, as you please, but never more than the surface moisture
absorbs; have no clinging particles of flour upon the joint, neither put
salt nor pepper upon the meat before it goes into the oven; salt draws
out the gravy, which it is your object to keep in, and the flavor of
pepper is entirely changed by the parching it undergoes when on the
surface of the meat, the odor of scorched pepper, while cooking, being
very offensive to refined nostrils. This does not occur when pepper is
not on the surface; for the _inside_ of birds, in stuffing, and in meat
pies it is i