Two schools:
1. Classical
2. Art brut
The Classical school of marshmallow roasting requires significant technical ability and proper tools, as well as an appropriate environment within which to roast.
The roasting stick should be one of the following:
- A long, slender, stiff branch of green wood (dry wood will burn too readily)
- A non-painted wire coat hanger, unwound to be more or less straight
- Some sort of specialized marshmallow-roasting spear, purpose-built for the endeavor
The Classical roasting environment is ideally a dying fire of dried hardwood or lump charcoal. Paper and charcoal briquettes should be avoided, as they produce ash in quantity, and ash will stick readily to a roasting marshmallow. The fire should be burned down to embers before endeavoring to roast a marshmallow, though skilled roasters can manage to produce good work with a flame.
In a pinch, a more static source of heat is sometimes acceptable. A stove burner, propane torch or grill, Bic lighter, etc. Lack of wood smoke puts the Classical roaster at a distinct handicap, and optimal results should be considered impossible.
Classical roasting technique requires that the roasting stick is held perpendicular to the heat source, as to expose the surface of marshmallow maximally to the heat. The marshmallow must be near enough the heat source to roast slowly to a golden brown, but not so close that it roasts rapidly, the interior having failed to melt to the point of goo. Once positioned, the roasting stick must be rotated at a speed sufficient to keep the marshmallow from igniting, but it must not be rotated so quickly that one obtains the dreaded “pale crust” condition.
The Art Brut school of marshmallow roasting requires only a marshmallow, sufficient heat to set it aflame, and any mechanism by which to distance the roaster from the heat source. The outside is burnt black. It is then removed and eaten. The remaining marshmallow matter is then burnt anew, the outside is removed and eaten, and the process is repeated until the marshmallow is gone.
It is for savages.