ion of the surface albumen. The time
for roasting varies slightly with the kind of meat and the size of the
joint. As a rule beef and mutton require a quarter of an hour to the
pound; veal and pork about 17 minutes to the pound. To tell whether
the joint is done, press the fleshy part with a spoon; if the meat
yield easily it is done.

_Baking_ meat is in many respects objectionable, and should never be
done if any other method is available. The gradual disuse of open
grates for roasting has led to a practice of first baking and then
browning before the fire. This method completely reverses the true
order of cooking by beginning with the lowest temperature and
finishing with the highest. Baked meat has never the delicate flavour
of roast meat, nor is it so digestible. The vapours given off by the
charring of the surface cannot freely escape, and the meat is cooked
in an atmosphere charged with empyreumatic oil. A brick or earthenware
oven is preferable to iron, because the porous nature of the bricks
absorbs a good deal of the vapour. When potatoes are baked with meat,
they should always be first parboiled, because they take a longer time
to bake, and the moisture rising from the potatoes retards the process
of baking, and makes the meat sodden. A baked meat pie, though not
always very digestible, is far less objectionable than plain baked
meat. In the case of a meat pie the surfaces of the meat are protected
by a bad conductor of heat from that charring of the surface which
generates empyreumatic vapours, and the fat and gravy, gradually
rising in temperature, assist the cooking, and such cooking more
nearly resembles stewing than baking. The process may go on for a long
time after the removal of the meat from the oven, if surrounded with
flannel, or some bad conductor of heat. The Cornish pasty is the best
example of this kind of cooking. Meat, fish, game, parboiled
vegetables, apples or anything that fancy suggests, are surrounded
with a thick flour and water crust and slowly baked. When removed from
the oven, and packed in layers of flannel, the pasty will keep hot for
hours. When baked dishes contain eggs, it should be remembered that
the albumen becomes harder and more insoluble, according to the time
occupied in cooking. About the same time is required for baking as
roasting.

_Boiling_ is one of the easiest methods of cooking, but a success