red a real friend of economy. All know
the relish afforded by a pancake, to say nothing of eggs and bacon,
and various kinds of fish, to which both the Saucepan and the Gridiron
are quite unsuited, because they require that which is the essence of
frying, _boiling and browning in fat_.

1028. The Spit.

The spit is a very ancient and very useful implement of cockery.
Perhaps the process of roasting stands only second in the rank of
excellence in cookery. The process is perfectly sound in its chemical
effects upon the food, while the joint is kept so immediately under
the eye of the cook, that it must be the fault of that functionary if
it does not go to the table in the highest state of perfection. The
process of roasting should be commenced very slowly, the meat being
kept a good distance from the fire, and gradually brought forward,
until it is thoroughly soaked within and browned without. The Spit has
this advantage over the Oven, and especially over the common oven,
that the meat retains its own flavour, not having to encounter the
evaporation from fifty different dishes, and that the steam from its
own substance passes entirely away, leaving the essence of the meat in
its primest condition.

[VIRTUE IS THE FAIREST OF ALL.]

1029. The Meat Hook.

The meat hook has in the present day superseded the use of the Spit in
middle class families. It is thrust into the meat, and the joint
thereby suspended before the fire. For roasting in this manner the
lintel of the mantel-piece is furnished with a brass or iron arm,
turning on pivots in a plate fastened to the lintel, and notched along
its upper edge. From this arm, which is turned back against the lintel
when not in use, the meat is hung and turned by means of a bottle-jack
or a skein of worsted, knotted in three or four places, which answers
the purpose equally well, and may be replaced by a new one when
required, at a merely nominal cost. Meat roasted in this manner should
be turned occasionally, the hook being inserted first at one end and
then at the other.

1030. The Dutch Oven.

The Dutch oven is of great utility for small dishes of various kinds,
which the Spit would spoil by the magnitude of its operations, or the
Oven destroy by the severity of its heat. It combines, in fact, the
advantages of roasting and baking, and may be adopted for comp