Fire-places and Kitchen Utensils. 277 



boiled, may be prepared at the same time in the 

 same roaster, without any mixture whatever of tastes. 

 A respectable friend of mine who first made the ex- 

 periment, and who has since repeated it several times, 

 has assured me of this curious fact. It may, perhaps, 

 in time turn out to be an important discovery. A 

 simple and economical contrivance, by means of which 

 all the different processes of cookery could be carried 

 on at the same time and by one small fire, would, no 

 doubt, be a valuable acquisition. 



It is very certain that roasters will either bake or 

 roast separately in the highest possible perfection ; and 

 it is not improbable that, with certain precautions in 

 the management of them, they may be made to per- 

 form those two processes at the same time, in such a 

 manner as to give general satisfaction. When roasters 

 are designed for roasting and baking at the same time, 

 they should be made sufficiently large to admit of a 

 shelf above the meat, on which the things to be baked 

 should be placed. I am told that above half the roasters 

 lately put up in London are so constructed, and that 

 they are frequently made to roast and bake at the same 

 time. I shall take another opportunity of enlarging on 

 the utility of this contrivance. 



There is a precaution to be taken in opening the 

 door of a roaster, when meat is roasting in it, which 

 ought never to be neglected ; that is, to open the steam- 

 tube and both the blowpipes, for about a quarter of a 

 minute, or while a person can count fifteen or twenty, 

 before the door of the roaster be thrown open. This 

 will drive away the steam and vapour out of the roaster, 

 which otherwise would not fail to come into the room 

 as often as the door of the roaster is opened. 



