A guide to modern cookery

side of the meat, they are checked, and thereupon, absorbing the incoming heat, effect the cooking of the inner parts. Of course, if the piece of meat under treatment is very thick, the fierceness of the fire should be proportionately abated the moment the initial process of rissoling or setting of the meat’s surface has been effected, the object being to allow the heat to penetrate the cooking body more regularly. If the fierceness of the fire were maintained, the rissoled coating on the meat would probably char, and the resulting thickness of carbon would so successfully resist the passage of any heat into the interior that, in the end, while the meat would probably be found to be completely burnt on the outside, the inside would be quite raw. If somewhat thinner pieces are in question, a quick rissoling of their surfaces over a fierce fire, and a few minutes of subsequent cooking, will be all they need. No alteration in the intensity of the fire need be sought in this case. _Examples._—A rumpsteak or Châteaubriand, in order to be properly cooked, should first have its outsides rissoled on a very fierce fire with a view to preserving its juices, after which cooking may proceed over a moderate fire so as to allow of the gradual penetration of the heat into the centre of the body. Small pieces such as tournedos, small fillets, noisettes, chops, may, after the preliminary process of outside rissoling, be cooked over the same degree of heat as effected the latter, because the thickness of meat to be penetrated is less. _The Care of Grills while Cooking._—Before placing the meats on the grill, baste them slightly with clarified butter, and repeat this operation frequently during the cooking process, so as to avoid the possible drying of the rissoled surfaces. Grilled red meat should always be turned by means of special tongs, and great care should be observed that its surface be not torn or pierced, lest the object of the preliminary precautions be defeated, and the contained juices escape. _Time of Cooking._—This, in the case