Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 263 



As the meat was shut up in a confined space, which has 

 much the appearance of an oven, it was natural enough 

 to suspect that it would be rather baked than roasted; 

 but all those who have tried the experiment have found 

 that this is by no means the case. The meat is roasted, 

 and not baked ; and, however bold the assertion may 

 appear, I will venture to affirm that meat of every kind, 

 without any exception, roasted in a roaster, is better tasted, 

 higher flavoured, and much more juicy and delicate than 

 when roasted on a spit before an open fire. 



I should not have dared to have published this opin- 

 ion four years ago ; but I can with safety do it now, for 

 I can appeal for a confirmation of the fact to the results 

 of a number of decisive experiments lately made in this 

 metropolis, and by the most competent judges. 



Among many others who, during the last year, have 

 caused roasters to be put up in their kitchens, I could 

 mention one person in particular, a nobleman, distin- 

 guished as much by his ingenuity and indefatigable zeal 

 in promoting useful improvements as by his urbanity 

 and his knowledge in the art of refined cookery, who 

 had two roasters put in his house in town, and who 

 informs me that he has frequently invited company to 

 dine with him since his roasters have been in use, and 

 that the dishes prepared in them have never failed to 

 meet with marked approbation. 



In enumerating the excellences of this new implement 

 of cookery, there is one of indisputable importance, which 

 ought not to be omitted. When meat is roasted in this 

 machine, its quantity, determined by weight, is consider- 

 ably greater than if it were roasted upon a spit before a 

 fire. To ascertain this fact, two legs of mutton taken 

 from the same carcass, and made perfectly equal in 



