See that the butcher has properly jointed the meat before it goes home. For good tables, the pieces generally roasted are the sirloin and the fore and middle ribs. In genteel houses other parts are seldom served up as _roast-beef_. In small families the ribs are the most convenient pieces. A whole sirloin is too large, except for a numerous company, but it is the piece most esteemed. The best beef-steaks are those cut from the ribs, or from the inner part of the sirloin. All other pieces are, for this purpose, comparatively hard and tough. The round is generally corned or salted, and boiled. It is also used for the dish called beef à-la-mode. The legs make excellent soup; the head and tail are also used for that purpose. The tongue when fresh is never cooked except for mince-pies. Corned or salted it is seldom liked, as in that state it has a faint sickly taste that few persons can relish. But when pickled and afterwards smoked (the only good way of preparing a tongue) it is highly and deservedly esteemed. The other pieces of the animal are generally salted and boiled. Or when fresh they may be used for soup or stews, if not too fat. If the state of the weather will allow you to keep fresh beef two or three days, rub it with salt, and wrap it in a cloth. In summer do not attempt to keep it more than twenty-four hours; and not then unless you can conveniently lay it in ice, or in a spring-house. In winter if the beef is brought from market frozen, do not cook it that day unless you dine very late, as it will be impossible to get it sufficiently done—meat that has been frozen requiring double the usual time. To thaw it, lay it in cold water, which is the only way to extract the frost without injuring the meat. It should remain in the water three hours, or more. TO ROAST BEEF. The fire should be prepared at least half an hour before the beef is put down, and it should be large, steady, clear, and bright, with plenty of fine hot coals at the bottom. The best apparatus for the purpose is the well-known roaster frequently called a tin-kitchen. Wash the meat in cold water, and then wipe it dry, and rub it with salt. Take care not to run the spit through the best parts of it. It is customary with some cooks to tie blank paper over the fat, to prevent it from melting and wasting too fast. Put it evenly into the roaster, and do not set it too near the fire, lest the outside of the meat should be burned before the inside is heated. Put some nice beef-dripping or some lard into the pan or bottom of the roaster, and as soon as it melts begin to baste the beef with it; taking up the liquid with a long spoon, and pouring it over the meat so as to let it trickle down again, into the pan. Repeat this frequently while it is roasting; after a while you can baste it with its own fat. Turn the spit often, so that the meat may be equally done on all sides.