"You have to keep on watching it, though," said Margaret.
"Of course you have. I told you so at the beginning."
"It begins to smell very deliciously," said Mary.
"So it does, Mary. I think broiling is one of the most perfect ways of cooking, though it is so simple and easily managed, and so quick also."
"Is it quick, mother? How long does it take? A quarter of an hour to the pound?"
"No, dear, you cannot count the time in that way, it is not safe. You must learn to know by the look and the touch of the meat whether it is done or not. This steak takes about twelve minutes you will find, but then Mary had taken care to have the fire clear and fierce, and the steak was cut evenly. Press the meat with the flat blade of a knife to find whether it is done. You will, after trying once or twice, know how it feels when it is sufficiently cooked. It should be nearly black outside and the inside should be red all the way through. There should not be a blue line of raw meat in the middle--that is quite wrong.
"I don't like red underdone meat," said Margaret. "I cannot eat it."
"A broiled steak is not red because it is under-dressed; it is red because it is full of gravy. Now our steak is done, I think. Press it with the knife that you may know how it feels."
The little girls pressed it, and looked very wise.
"The plates have been warming for such a long time, that I cannot take hold of them," said Mary.
"That is as they should be. They ought to be very hot indeed for a broil."
"Mother, how many more lessons in Cookery have we?"
"Only one, dear. Your holidays are almost over."
"May we choose what we will make next time, mother?"
"I am rather afraid to promise for fear you should choose something unlikely--a wedding-cake for instance."
"We were going to choose a wedding-cake, mother."
"I would rather you dismissed it from your thoughts, my little daughter. A wedding-cake costs a good deal to begin with; it is not particularly wholesome food. I could not let you eat more than an inch or two, for fear you should be ill. Think of something else."
"Very well, mother. We will think it thoroughly over; and if we choose something reasonable, and not unwholesome, may we make what we wish, just to finish up well?"