254 



On the Construction of Kitchen 



known, and, if possible, to bring it into use in this 

 country. The roaster in the kitchen of the Military 

 Academy at Munich had been in daily use more than 

 eight years; and many others in imitation of it, which 

 had been put up in private families in Bavaria and 

 other parts of Germany, and in Switzerland, had been 

 found to answer perfectly well ; and as that in the 

 kitchen of the Foundling Hospital in London had 

 likewise, during the experience of two years, been found 

 to perform to the entire satisfaction of those who have 

 the direction of that noble institution, I was justified in 

 concluding that, wherever the experiment had failed, it 

 must have been owing to mismanagement. And I was 

 the more anxious to get this contrivance brought into 

 general use, as I was perfectly convinced that meat 

 roasted by this new process is not merely as good, but 

 decidedly better; that is to say, more delicate, more 

 juicy, more savoury, and higher flavoured, than when 

 roasted in the common way, on a spit, before an 

 open fire. 



A real improvement in the art of cookery, which 

 unites the advantage of economy with wholesomeness, 

 and an increase of enjoyment in eating, appeared to me 

 to be very interesting; and I attended to the subject 

 with all that zeal and perseverance which a conviction 

 of its importance naturally inspired. 



On my return to this country, in the autumn of the 

 year 1 798, one of the first things I undertook in the 

 prosecution of my favourite pursuit was to engage an 

 ingenious tradesman, who lives in a part of the town 

 which is much frequented (Mr. Summers, ironmonger, 

 of New Bond Street), to put up a roaster in his own 

 kitchen ; to instruct his cook in the management of it ; 



