Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 189 



appeared to them the more miraculous, as the fire under 

 the machine was gone quite out before they left the 

 kitchen in the evening to go to bed, and as they had 

 locked up the kitchen when they left it and taken away 

 the key. 



This wonderful shoulder of mutton was immediately 

 brought to me in triumph, and though I was at no great 

 loss to account for what had happened, yet it certainly 

 was quite unexpected ; and when I tasted the meat I 

 was very much surprised indeed to find it very different, 

 both in taste and flavour, from any I had ever tasted. 

 It was perfectly tender; but, though it was so much 

 done, it did not appear to be in the least sodden or 

 insipid, on the contrary, it was uncommonly savoury 

 and high flavoured. It was neither boiled nor roasted 

 nor baked. Its taste seemed to indicate the manner in 

 which it had been prepared ; that the gentle heat, to 

 which it had for so long a time been exposed, had by 

 degrees loosened the cohesion of its fibres, and concocted 

 its juices, without driving off their fine and more volatile 

 parts, and without washing away or burning and render- 

 ing rancid and empyreumatic its oils. 



Those who are most likely to give their attention to 

 this little history will perceive what a wide field it opens 

 for speculation and curious experiment. The circum- 

 stances I have related, however trifling and uninteresting 

 they may appear to many, struck me very forcibly, and 

 recalled to my mind several things of a similar nature 

 which had almost escaped my memory. They recalled 

 to my recollection the manner just described in which 

 salt-fish is cooked in America; and also the manner in 

 which samp is prepared in the same country. (See my 

 Essay on Food.) This substance, which is exceedingly 



