The Lady's Own Cookery Book, and New Dinner-Table Directory Part 20

_Alamode Beef, in the French manner._

Take the best part of the mouse-b.u.t.tock, between four and seven pounds, larded well with fat bacon, and cut in square pieces the length and thickness of your beef. Before you lard it, take a little mace, six cloves, some pepper and salt, ground all together, and mix it with some parsley, shalot, and a few sweet-herbs; chop them small, roll your bacon in this mixture, and lard your beef. Skewer it well, and tie it close with a string; put two or three slices of fat bacon at the bottom of your stewpan, with three slices of carrot, two onions cut in two, and half a pint of water; put your beef in, and set your stewpan on the fire. After the beef has stewed about ten minutes, add more hot water, till it half covers the meat; let it boil till you feel with your finger that your beef is warm or hot through. Lay two or three slices of fat bacon upon your beef, add a little mace, cloves, pepper, and salt, a few slices of carrot, a small bunch of sweet-herbs, and celery tied together, a little garlic if you like it. Cut a piece of paper, of the size of your cover; well grease it with b.u.t.ter or lard; put it over your pan, cover it close, and let it stew over a very slow fire seven or eight hours. If you like to eat the beef cold, do not uncover the pan till it is so, for it will be the better for it. If you choose to stew a knuckle of veal with the beef, it will add greatly to the flavour.

_Rump of Beef, with onions._

Having extracted the bones, tie it compactly in a good shape, and stew it in a pan that will allow for fire at the top. Put in a pint of white wine, some good broth, a slice of veal, two of bacon, or ham, which is better, a large bunch of kitchen herbs, pepper and salt. When the beef is nearly half done, add a good quant.i.ty of onions. The beef being thoroughly done, take it out and wipe off the grease; place it in the dish in which it is to be served at table, put the onions round it, and pour over it a good sauce, any that suits your taste.

_Rump of Beef, to bake._

Bone a rump of beef; beat it thoroughly with a rolling-pin, till it is very tender; cut off the sinew, and lard it with large pieces of bacon; roll your larding seasoning first--of pepper, salt, and cloves. Lard athwart the meat that it may cut handsomely; then season the meat all over with pepper and salt, and a little brown sugar. Tie it neatly up with packthread across and across, put the top undermost, and place it in an earthen pan. Take all the bones that came out of it, and put them in round and round the beef, so that it cannot stir; then put in half a pound of b.u.t.ter, two bay-leaves, two shalots, and all sorts of seasoning herbs, chopped fine. Cover the top of the pot with coa.r.s.e paste; put it in a slow oven; let it stand eight hours; take it out, and serve it in the dish in which it is to go to table, with its own juice, and some have additional broth or gravy ready to add to it if it is too dry.

_Rump of Beef, cardinal fas.h.i.+on._

Choose a rump of beef of moderate size, say ten or twelve pounds; take out the bones; beat it, and lard it with a pound of the best bacon, mingled with salt and spices, without touching the upper parts. Rub half a quarter of a pound of saltpetre in powder into the meat that it may look red; and put it into a pan with an ounce of juniper-berries a little bruised, a tea-spoonful of brown sugar, a little thyme, basil, and a pound of salt; and there let it remain, the pan being covered close, for eight days. When the meat has taken the salt, wash it in warm water, and put some slices of bacon upon the upper part on that side which is covered with fat, and tie a linen cloth over it with packthread. Let it stew gently five hours, with a pint and a half of red wine, a pint of water, six onions, two cloves of garlic, five carrots, two parsnips, a laurel leaf, thyme, basil, four or five cloves, parsley, and scallions. When it is done, it may be either served up hot, or left to cool in its own liquor, and eaten cold.

_Beef, sausage fas.h.i.+on._

Take a slice of beef, about half an inch thick and four or five wide; cut it in two equal parts; beat them well to make them flat, and pare the edges neatly. Mince your parings with beef suet, parsley, onions, mushroom, a shalot, two leaves of basil, and mix them into a forcemeat with the yolks of four eggs. A little minced ham is a great addition.

Spread this forcemeat upon the slices of beef, and roll them up in the form of sausages. Tie them with packthread, and stew them in a little broth, a gla.s.s of white wine, salt, pepper, an onion stuck with cloves, a carrot, and a parsnip. When they are done, strain off the liquor, and, having skimmed off the fat, reduce it over the fire to the consistence of a sauce; take care that it be not too highly flavoured, and serve it over your sausages, or they may be served on sorrel, spinach, or any other sauce you prefer.

_Ribs and Sirloin of Beef._

When the ribs and sirloin are tender, they are commonly roasted, and eaten with their own gravy. To make the sirloin still better, take out the fillet: cut it into thin slices, and put it into a stewpan, with a sauce made with capers, anchovies, mushrooms, a little garlic, truffles, and morels, the whole shred fine, turned a few times over the fire, with a little b.u.t.ter, and moistened with some good cullis. When the sauce is skimmed and seasoned to your taste, put in the fillet with the gravy of the meat, and heat and serve it over the ribs or sirloin.

_Rib of Beef, en papillotes, (in paper.)_

Cut a rib of beef neatly, and stew it with some broth and a little pepper and salt. When the meat is done enough, reduce the sauce till it sticks to the rib, and then steep the rib in b.u.t.ter, with parsley, scallions, shalots, and mushrooms, shred fine, and a little basil in powder. Wrap the rib, together with its seasoning, in a sheet of white paper, folding the paper round in the form of a curling paper or papillote; grease the outside, and lay it upon the gridiron, on another sheet of greased paper, over a slow fire. When it is done, serve it in the paper.

_Brisket of Beef, stewed German Fas.h.i.+on._

Cut three or four pounds of brisket of beef in three or four pieces of equal size, and boil it a few minutes in water; in another pan boil the half of a large cabbage for a full quarter of an hour; stew the meat with a little broth, a bunch of parsley, scallions, a little garlic, thyme, basil, and a laurel-leaf; and an hour afterwards put in the cabbage, cut into three pieces, well squeezed, and tied with packthread, and three large onions. When the whole is nearly done, add four sausages, with a little salt and whole pepper, and let it stew till the sauce is nearly consumed; then take out the meat and vegetables, wipe off the grease, and dish them, putting the beef in the middle, the onions and cabbage round, and the sausages upon it. Strain the sauce through a sieve, and, having skimmed off the fat, serve it over the ragout. The beef will take five hours and a quarter at the least to stew.

_Beef, to bake._

Take a b.u.t.tock of beef; beat it in a mortar; put to it three pounds of bacon cut in small pieces; season with pepper and salt, and mix in the bacon with your hands. Put it into a pot, with some b.u.t.ter and a bunch of sweet-herbs, covering it very close, and let it bake six hours. When enough done, put it into a cloth to strain; then put it again into your pot, and fill it up with b.u.t.ter.

_Beef bouilli._

Take the thick part of the brisket of beef, and let it lie in water all night; tie it up well, and put it to boil slowly, with a small f.a.ggot of parsley and thyme, a bag of peppercorns and allspice, three or four onions, and roots of different sorts: it will take five or six hours, as it should be very tender. Take it out, cut the string from it, and either glaze it or sprinkle some dry parsley that has been chopped very fine over it; sprinkle a little flour on the top of it, with gherkin and carrot. The chief sauce for it is _sauce hachee_, which is made thus: a little dressed ham, gherkin, boiled carrot, and the yolk of egg boiled, all chopped fine and put into brown sauce.

_Another way._

Take about eight or nine pounds of the middle part of the brisket; put it into your stew-kettle (first letting it hang up for four or five days) with a little whole pepper, salt, and a blade or two of mace, a turnip or two, and an onion, adding about three pints or two quarts of water. Cover it up close, and when it begins to boil skim it; let it stand on a very slow fire, just to keep it simmering. It will take five hours or more before it is done, and during that time you must take the meat out, in order to skim off the fat. When it is quite tender take your stewpan, and brown a little b.u.t.ter and flour, enough to thicken the gravy, which you must put through a colander, first adding sliced carrots and turnips, previously boiled in another pot. You may also, if you choose, put in an anchovy, a little ketchup, and juice of lemon; but these are omitted according to taste. When the gravy is thus prepared, put the meat in again; give it a boil, and dish it up.

_Relis.h.i.+ng Beef._

Take a round of the best piece of beef and lard it with bacon; half roast it; put it in a stewpan, with some gravy, an onion stuck with cloves, half a pint of white wine, a gill of vinegar, a bunch of sweet-herbs, pepper, cloves, mace, and salt; cover it down very close, and let it only simmer till it is quite tender. Take two ox-palates, two sweetbreads, truffles, morels, artichoke-bottoms, and stew them all together in some good gravy, which pour over the beef. Have ready forcemeat b.a.l.l.s fried, made in different shapes; dip some sippets into b.u.t.ter, fry and cut them three-corner-ways, stick them into the meat; lay the b.a.l.l.s round the dish.

_Beef, to stew._

Take a pound and a half of the fat part of a brisket, with four pounds of stewing beef, cut into pieces; put these into a stewpan, with a little salt, pepper, a bunch of sweet-herbs and onions, stuck with cloves, two or three pieces of carrots, two quarts of water, and half a pint of good small beer. Let the whole stew for four hours; then take some turnips and carrots cut into pieces, a small leek, two or three heads of celery, cut small, and a piece of bread toasted hard. Let these stew all together one hour longer; then put the whole into a terrine, and serve up.

_Another way._

Put three pounds of the thin part of the brisket of beef and half a pound of gravy beef in a stewpan, with two quarts of water, a little thyme, marjoram, parsley, whole pepper and salt, a sufficient quant.i.ty, and an onion; let it stew six hours or more; then add carrots, turnips, (cut with a machine) and celery cut small, which have all been previously boiled; let the vegetables be stewed with the beef one hour.

Just before you take it off the fire, put in some boiled cabbage chopped small, some pickled cuc.u.mbers and walnuts sliced, some cuc.u.mber liquor, and a little walnut liquor. Thicken the sauce with a lump of b.u.t.ter rolled in flour. Strew the cut vegetables over the top of the meat.

_Cold Beef, to dress._

Slice it as thin as possible; slice, also, an onion or shalot; squeeze on it the juice of a lemon or two; then beat it between two plates, as you do cuc.u.mbers. When it is very well beaten, and tastes sharp of the lemon, put it into the dish, in which it is to be served; pick out the onion, and strew over it some fine shred parsley and fine bread crumbs; then pour on it oil and mustard well mixed; garnish with sliced lemon.

_Cold Boiled Beef, to dress._

When your rump or brisket of beef has been well boiled in plain water, about an hour before you serve it up take it out of the water, and put it in a pot just large enough to contain it. There let it stew, with a little of its own liquor, salt, basil, and laurel; and, having drained, put it into the dish on which it is to be served for table, and pour over it a sauce, which you must have previously ready, made with gravy, salt, whole pepper, and a dash of vinegar, thickened over the stove with the yolks of three eggs or more, according to the size of the beef and the quant.i.ty of sauce wanted. Then cover beef and all with finely grated bread; baste it with b.u.t.ter, and brown it with a salamander.

_Cold Beef, to pot._

Cut the beef small; add to it some melted b.u.t.ter, two anchovies well washed and boned, a little Jamaica pepper beat very fine. Beat them well together in a marble mortar till the meat is yellow; then put it into pots, and cover it with clarified b.u.t.ter.

_Beef Steaks to broil._

When your steak is nearly broiled, chop some large onions, as fine as possible, and cover the steak thickly with it, the last time you turn it, letting it broil till fit to send to table, when the onion should quite cover the steak. Pour good gravy in the dish to moisten it.

_Beef Steaks and Oysters._

Put two dozen oysters into a stewpan with their own liquor; when it boils add a spoonful of water; when the oysters are done drain them in a sieve, and let the liquor settle; then pour it off clear into another vessel; beard them, and add a pint of jelly gravy to the liquor; add a piece of b.u.t.ter and two spoonfuls of flour to thicken it. Let this boil fifteen minutes; then throw in the oysters, and let it stand. Take a beef-steak, pare it neatly round, and dress it as usual; when done, lay it on a hot dish, and pour the sauce and oysters over it.

_Rump Steaks broiled, with Onion Gravy._