ROASTING. All the apparently numerous forms of cookery may be reduced to two, viz., roasting and boiling (q.v.). In this general sense, roasting may be held to include broiling, baking, and all other processes which consist essentially in the exposure of food to the action of heat without the presence of any fluid excepting its own natural Chemistry and experience alike teach that the first application of heat in roast ing should be powerful and rapid, so as to form an external wall, by hardening the skin, and coagulating the superficial albuminous juices, and thus retain the deep-seated juices as much as possible within the meat. This external crust is usually formed in about 15 . minutes, after which the meat should be removed to a greater distance from the fire, and allowed to cook slowly. The evaporation of the internal juices may be further restrained by the free and early application of flour—a process known as dredging. The loss of weight in roasting is greater than that in boiling; but it is mainly due to the melting out of fat and the evaporation of water, while the nutritive matter remains in au easily 'digestible form in the interior. Rules for calculating the time a joint of given weight
requires for roasting, are given in all the ordinary cookery-books. Unless the roasting is continued long enough, those parts which are nearest the center do not become hot 'enough to allow the albuminous matters to coagulate, and hence they appear red, juicy, and underdone, as it is commonly called. The exact nature of the chemical changes which occasion the peculiarly agreeable odor of roasted meat is still unknown.
ROB, the Spanish name of a conserve of fruits. It is derived from the Arabic roob, signifying the juice of fruit, boiled to a sufficiently thick consistency to keep, and is supposed to have been taken from its similarity to the saccharine pulp of the locust pods, called al-garoba by the Moors. The juices of strawberries, raspberries, goose berries, currants, etc., are boiled with sugar until they form robs, and are in that state used for flavoring drinks, etc.