Broiling

Broiling is a convenient and expeditious mode of cooking small pieces of meat, by laying them on a gridiron over a bright fire, or even on the coals themselves. This is perhaps the most primitive mode of preparing meat for eating, as may be supposed from the great ease and simplicity with which the operation is managed. Broiling is, in fact, a quicker sort of roasting. The albumen of the outside being sealed up at once, the meat is cooked in its own juices and rendered extremely nutritious. But to broil meat so as to preserve its odour, juice, and fat, requires care. The fire should be perfectly clear. Just before setting the gridiron over, some salt should be sprinkled on it to prevent the flare. The gridiron should be perfectly clean, and warmed and greased with suet before using. The meat should never be touched with a fork, but turned rapidly with the broiling tongs. In large ranges there should be a broiling stove, and an apparatus for broiling suited to it; by this the heat of the fire can be easily regulated. But for all ordinary purposes, a fire of charcoal, or of common coal, and a grooved gridiron, to preserve the gravy, is all that is necessary. Sometimes a gridiron is used to hang before the fire, when a dinner is being dressed and the top of the fire occupied; this is convenient, but it is an inferior way of cooking, the meat being roasted rather than broiled.