THE ART OF OPEN-HEARTH COOKING

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"Roast meats aren't what they used to be," says author Karen Hess. "Until just a century ago, turkeys and squabs and hams and other meats were roasted to golden-brown perfection in front of-not over—a blazing fire. Today, however, the art of roasting meat in this fashion has been almost totally forgotten."

Let's face it: Open-f ire cookery is most of us associate with hamburgers, hot dogs, and marsh mallows ... it's not something we take very seriously. Real cookery (or so we've come to believe) is done on the kitchen stove.

Let us not forget, however, that the kitchen range-as such-only came into general use in America a little more than 100 years ago ... and while it took the crick out of many a hardworking woman's back, the modern range did nothing for the art of cookery. In fact, it has-if anythingchanged cooking for the worse. Thanks to this one invention, the great craft of roasting (the cooking of meats before an open fire) has all but disappeared during the past century.

ROASTS VS. BAKED MEATS

Roast meat-in case you've forgotten or never known -has a lightly caramelized crust, a juicy interior, and an intensely meaty flavor ... a combination that can only come about through the artful application of direct (open fire) heat. What we call roasts today (a chunk of beef, pork, or whatever cooked-either covered or uncovered-in an oven), our great-great-grandmothers correctly called baked meats.

That we still long for the roastmeat flavors and aromas of a century ago is shown by the current popularity of hibachis and barbecue pits. The problem nowadays is that a great deal of the necessary knowledge of how to cook meats by an open Cure- has been forgotten. Today-for example-you'll frequently see meat being broiled over a fire (which causes flare-ups in the fire itself, thus giving the meat a taste of burnt fat). Correctly done, meat is roasted in front of the fire and basted with the meat's own drippings (which are caught in a pan placed below the spit). When the drippings are used in this way, they help form the roast's delicious crust. (Later, they serve as the perfect "go-together" sauce for the roasted meat.)

The roasting of meat is an art: If the heat is not intense enough, the meat's juices ooze out (taking all the flavor with them) ... while if the heat is too high, the meat's out s ide is charred before its inside is done. Likewise, the meat must be kept turning so that all its surfaces are cooked evenly ... and once the meat, has been well "seized'', the heat must be reduced so that the roast can continue to cook all the way through until it's done. The timing and extent of this heat reduction are both part of the art.

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