The meat hook has in the present day superseded the use of the Spit in
middle class families. It is thrust into the meat, and the joint
thereby suspended before the fire. For roasting in this manner the
lintel of the mantel-piece is furnished with a brass or iron arm,
turning on pivots in a plate fastened to the lintel, and notched along
its upper edge. From this arm, which is turned back against the lintel
when not in use, the meat is hung and turned by means of a bottle-jack
or a skein of worsted, knotted in three or four places, which answers
the purpose equally well, and may be replaced by a new one when
required, at a merely nominal cost. Meat roasted in this manner should
be turned occasionally, the hook being inserted first at one end and
then at the other.