THE CHEMISTRY OF COOKERY. 587 



maid, and parlor-maid, besides the gardener and his boy, and they dine 

 at supper-time. 



In the days of the one marchioness and the basement kitchen, these 

 citizens "of credit and renown" dined at dinner-time, and were in the 

 habit of placing a three-legged open iron triangle in a brown earthen- 

 ware dish ; then spreading a stratum of peeled potatoes on said dish, 

 and a joint of meat above, on tbe open triangular support. The com- 

 bination was carried by the marchioness to the bakehouse round the 

 corner at about 11 a.m., and brought back steaming and savory at 



1 P. M. 



This w r as not done always, but at other times, as when the con- 

 dition of the mistress's wardrobe offered no particular motive for going 

 to church, she staid at home and roasted the Sunday dinner. The 

 experience thus obtained demonstrated a material difference between 

 the flavor of the roasted and the baked meat very decidedly in favor 

 of the home-roasted. Why ? 



The principal reason was, I believe, that the baker's large bread- 

 oven contained at dinner-time a curious medley of meats mutton, 

 beef, pork, geese, veal, etc., including stuffing with sage and onions, 

 besides the possibility of a joint or two that had been hung longer than 

 was necessary for procuring tenderness. The vapors of these would 

 induce a confusion of flavors in the milder meats, fully accounting for 

 the observed superiority of the home-roasted joints. 



A little reflection on the principles already expounded will show 

 that, theoretically regarded, a given piece of meat would be better 

 roasted in a closed chamber radiating heat from all sides toward the 

 meat than it could be when suspended in front of a fire and heated 

 only on one side, while the other side was turned away to cool more 

 or less, according to the rate of rotation. 



If I agreed with the popular belief in the advantage of open-air 

 exposure to direct radiation from glowing coal, I should suggest that 

 for large joints a special roasting fire be constructed, by building an 

 upright cylinder of fire-brick, and erecting within this a smaller cylin- 

 der or grating of iron bars, so that the fuel should be placed between 

 these, and thus form an upright cylindrical ring or shirt of fire, in- 

 closed outside by the bricks, but open and glowing toward the inside 

 of the hollow cylinder, in the midst of which the meat should be sus- 

 pended to receive the radiation from all sides. 



The whole apparatus might stand under a dome, terminating in an 

 ordinary chimney, like a glass-house or a steel-maker's cementing fur- 

 nace ; or, in this respect, like those wondrous kitchens of the old 

 seraglio, to which I have already alluded, where each apartment is a 

 huge chimney, outspreading downward, so that the cooks and their 

 materials and apparatus, as well as the huge fires themselves, are all 

 under the great central chimney-shaft. 



I do not, however, recommend such an apparatus, even to the most 



