int 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.

When the joint to be roasted is thicker at one end than the other, place
the spit slanting, with the thickest part nearest the fire.

Do not put meat too near the fire at first; the larger the joint, the
farther it must be kept from the fire: if once it gets scorched, the
outside will become hard, and acquire a disagreeable, empyreumatic
taste; and the fire being prevented from penetrating into it, the meat
will appear done before it is little more than half-done, besides losing
the pale brown colour, which it is the beauty of roasted meat to have.

From 14 to 10 inches is the usual distance at which meat is put from the
grate, when first put down. It is extremely difficult to offer any thing
like an accurate general rule for this, it depends so much upon the size
of the fire, and of that of the thing to be roasted.

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.

If you wish your jack to go well, keep it as clean as possible, oil it,
and then wipe it: if the oil is not wiped off again it will gather dust;
to prevent this, as soon as you have done roasting, cover it up. Never
leave the winders on while the jack is going round, unless you do it, as
Swift says, "that it may fly off, and knock those troublesome servants
on the head who will be crowding round your kitchen fire."

Be very careful to place the dripping-pan at such a distance from the
fire as just to catch the drippings: if it is too near, the ashes will
fall into it, and spoil the drippings[76-*] (which we shall hereafter
show will occasionally be found an excellent substitute for butter or
lard). To clarify drippings, see (No. 83,) and pease and dripping soup
(No. 229), savoury an