The Book of Household Management Part 76

_Mode_.---The fore-rib is considered the primest roasting piece, but the middle-rib is considered the most economical. Let the meat be well hung (should the weather permit), and cut off the thin ends of the bones, which should be salted for a few days, and then boiled. Put the meat down to a nice clear fire, put some clean dripping into the pan, dredge the joint with a little flour, and keep continually basting the whole time. Sprinkle some fine salt over it (this must never be done until the joint is dished, as it draws the juices from the meat); pour the dripping from the pan, put in a little boiling: water slightly salted, and _strain_ the gravy over the meat. Garnish with tufts of sc.r.a.ped horseradish, and send horseradish sauce to table with it (_see_ No.

447). A Yorks.h.i.+re pudding (_see_ Puddings) sometimes accompanies this dish, and, if lightly made and well cooked, will be found a very agreeable addition.

_Time_.--10 lbs. of beef, 2-1/2 hours; 14 to 16 lbs., from 3-1/2 to 4 hours.

_Average cost_, 8-1/2d. per lb.

_Sufficient_.--A joint of 10 lbs. sufficient for 8 or 9 persons.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

MEMORANDA IN ROASTING.--The management of the fire is a point of primary importance in roasting. A radiant fire throughout the operation is absolutely necessary to insure a good result. When the article to be dressed is thin and delicate, the fire may be small; but when the joint is large, the fire must fill the grate. Meat must never be put down before a hollow or exhausted fire, which may soon want recruiting; on the other hand, if the heat of the fire becomes too fierce, the meat must be removed to a considerable distance till it is somewhat abated. Some cooks always fail in their roasts, though they succeed in nearly everything else. A French writer on the culinary art says that anybody can learn how to cook, but one must be born a roaster.

According to Liebig, beef or mutton cannot be said to be sufficiently roasted until it has acquired, throughout the whole ma.s.s, a temperature of 158; but poultry may be well cooked when the inner parts hare attained a temperature of from 130 to 140. This depends on the greater amount of blood which beef and mutton contain, the colouring matter of blood not being coagulable under 158.

ROAST RIBS OF BEEF, Boned and Rolled (a very Convenient Joint for a Small Family).

658. INGREDIENTS.--1 or 2 ribs of beef.

_Mode_.--Choose a fine rib of beef, and have it cut according to the weight you require, either wide or narrow. Bone and roll the meat round, secure it with wooden skewers, and, if necessary, bind it round with a piece of tape. Spit the beef firmly, or, if a bottle-jack is used, put the joint on the hook, and place it _near_ a nice clear fire. Let it remain so till the outside of the meat is set, when draw it to a distance, and keep continually basting until the meat is done, which can be ascertained by the steam from it drawing towards the fire. As this joint is solid, rather more than 1/4 hour must be allowed for each lb.

Remove the skewers, put in a plated or silver one, and send the joint to table with gravy in the dish, and garnish with tufts of horseradish.

Horseradish sauce, No. 447, is a great improvement to roast beef.

_Time_.--For 10 lbs. of the rolled ribs, 3 hours (as the joint is very solid, we have allowed an extra 1/2 hour); for 6 lbs., 1-1/2 hour.

Average cost, 8-1/2d. per lb.

_Sufficient_.--A joint of 10 lbs. for 6 or 8 persons.

_Seasonable_ all the year.

_Note_.--When the weight exceeds 10 lbs., we would not advise the above method of boning and rolling; only in the case of 1 or 2 ribs, when the joint cannot stand upright in the dish, and would look awkward. The bones should be put in with a few vegetables and herbs, and made into stock.

ROAST BEEF has long been a national dish in England. In most of our patriotic songs it is contrasted with the frica.s.seed frogs, popularly supposed to be the exclusive diet of Frenchmen.

"O the roast beef of old England, And O the old English roast beef."

This national chorus is appealed to whenever a song-writer wishes to account for the valour displayed by Englishmen at sea or on land.

ROAST SIRLOIN OF BEEF.

659. INGREDIENTS.--Beef, a little salt.

_Mode_.--As a joint cannot be well roasted without a good fire, see that it is well made up about 3/4 hour before it is required, so that when the joint is put down, it is clear and bright. Choose a nice sirloin, the weight of which should not exceed 16 lbs., as the outside would be too much done, whilst the inside would not be done enough. Spit it or hook it on to the jack firmly, dredge it slightly with flour, and place it near the fire at first, as directed in the preceding recipe. Then draw it to a distance, and keep continually basting until the meat is done. Sprinkle a small quant.i.ty of salt over it, empty the dripping-pan of all the dripping, pour in some boiling water slightly salted, stir it about, and _strain_ over the meat. Garnish with tufts of horseradish, and send horseradish sauce and Yorks.h.i.+re pudding to table with it. For carving, _see_ p. 317.

_Time_.--A sirloin of 10 lbs., 2-1/2 hours; 14 to 16 lbs., about 4 or 4-1/2 hours.

_Average cost_, 8-1/2d. per lb.

_Sufficient_.--A joint of 10 lbs. for 8 or 9 persons.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

The rump, round, and other pieces of beef are roasted in the same manner, allowing for solid joints; 1/4 hour to every lb.

_Note_.---The above is the usual method of roasting moat; but to have it in perfection and the juices kept in, the meat should at first be laid close to the fire, and when the outside is set and firm, drawn away to a good distance, and then left to roast very slowly; where economy is studied, this plan would not answer, as the meat requires to be at the fire double the time of the ordinary way of cooking; consequently, double the quant.i.ty of fuel would be consumed.

ORIGIN OF THE WORD "SIRLOIN."--The loin of beef is said to have been knighted by King Charles II., at Friday Hall, Chingford.

The "Merry Monarch" returned to this hospitable mansion for Epping Forest literally "as hungry as a hunter," and beheld, with delight, a huge loin of beef steaming upon the table. "A n.o.ble joint!" exclaimed the king. "By St. George, it shall have a t.i.tle!" Then drawing his sword, he raised it above the meat, and cried, with mock dignity, "Loin, we dub thee knight; henceforward be Sir Loin!" This anecdote is doubtless apocryphal, although the oak table upon which the joint was supposed to hare received its knighthood, might have been seen by any one who visited Friday-Hill House, a few years ago. It is, perhaps, a pity to spoil so n.o.ble a story; but the interests of truth demand that we declare that _sirloin_ is probably a corruption of _surloin_, which signifies the upper part of a loin, the prefix _sur_ being equivalent to _over_ or _above_. In French we find this joint called _surlonge_, which so closely resembles our _sirloin_, that we may safely refer the two words to a common origin.

TO SALT BEEF.

660. INGREDIENTS.--1/2 round of beef, 4 oz. of sugar, 1 oz. of powdered saltpetre, 2 oz. of black pepper, 1/4 lb. of bay-salt, 1/2 lb. of common salt. _Mode_.--Rub the meat well with salt, and let it remain for a day, to disgorge and clear it from slime. The next day, rub it well with the above ingredients on every side, and let it remain in the pickle for about a fortnight, turning it every day. It may be boiled fresh from the pickle, or smoked.

_Time_.--1/2 round of beef to remain in pickle about a fortnight.

_Average cost_, 7d. per lb. _Seasonable_ at any time.

_Note_.--The aitch-bone, flank, or brisket may be salted and pickled by any of the recipes we have given for salting beef, allowing less time for small joints to remain in the pickle; for instance, a joint of 8 or 9 lbs. will be sufficiently salt in about a week.

THE DUTCH WAY TO SALT BEEF.

661. INGREDIENTS.--10 lbs. of lean beef, 1 lb. of treacle, 1 oz. of saltpetre, 1 lb. of common salt.

_Mode_.--Rub the beef well with the treacle, and let it remain for 3 days, turning and rubbing it often; then wipe it, pound the salt and saltpetre very fine, rub these well in, and turn it every day for 10 days. Roll it up tightly in a coa.r.s.e cloth, and press it under a large weight; have it smoked, and turn it upside down every day. Boil it, and, on taking it out of the pot, put a heavy weight on it to press it.

_Time_.--17 days.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

BEEF SAUSAGES.

662. INGREDIENTS.--To every lb. of suet allow 2 lbs. of lean beef; seasoning to taste of salt, pepper, and mixed spices.

_Mode_.--Clear the suet from skin, and chop that and the beef as finely as possible; season with pepper, salt, and spices, and mix the whole well together. Make it into flat cakes, and fry of a nice brown. Many persons pound the meat in a mortar after it is chopped ( but this is not necessary when the meat is minced finely.)

_Time_.--10 minutes. _Average cost_, for this quant.i.ty, 1s. 6d.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

BEEF-STEAK, Rolled, Roasted, and Stuffed.

663. INGREDIENTS.--2 lbs. of rump-steak, forcemeat No. 417, pepper and salt to taste, clarified b.u.t.ter.

_Mode_.--Have the steaks cut rather thick from a well-hung rump of beef, and sprinkle over them a seasoning of pepper and salt. Make a forcemeat by recipe No. 417; spread it over _half_ of the steak; roll it up, bind and skewer it firmly, that the forcemeat may not escape, and roast it before a nice clear fire for about 1-1/2 hour, or rather longer, should the roll be very large and thick. Keep it constantly basted with b.u.t.ter, and serve with brown gravy, some of which must be poured round the steak, and the remainder sent to table in a tureen.

_Time_.--1-1/2 hour. _Average cost_, 1s. per lb.

_Sufficient_ for 4 persons.