BEEF

Boiled Beef

The flank is one of the best pieces for boiling.

Select a five-pound piece; wipe; remove membrane, shape, stuff, tie, and skewer. Cover with cloth; place in kettle; cover with boiling water; bring to the boiling point, and cook just below the boiling point five or six hours, or until tender. Simmered beef would be a more correct term than boiled beef, but it is ordinarily known as boiled beef.

Season with salt one half hour before serving. Reserve liquor for making gravies and soups.

Boiled beef should have a rich, highly seasoned gravy served with it.

Braised Beef

An iron, or agate-ware kettle, with closely fitting cover, is absolutely necessary for perfectly cooking braised beef.

Select six pounds of round of beef, or any tough, inexpensive piece. Try out one cup salt pork cubes; add one cup each of chopped celery, carrot, onion and turnip. Wipe meat; sprinkle with salt and pepper and dredge with flour. Place meat on bed of vegetables and cook in covered kettle twenty minutes; add two pints hot water and cook slowly until tender, about four hours, turning meat and basting occasionally. It may be necessary to add more water, for there should be about a pint and a half when meat is cooked. Thicken gravy with four tablespoons flour, blended with two tablespoons butter, added twenty minutes before serving. A bouquet of sweet herbs may be added to improve the flavor.

Fillet of Beef

The tenderloin of beef is known as the fillet.

Trim into shape a fillet of beef weighing about four pounds, removing tendinous portions and veins. Tie and skewer into a pear-shaped piece. Lard top; sprinkle with salt and pepper, and dredge with flour. Cover the bottom of a small dripping pan with cubes of salt pork. Set trivet on top of pork, and meat on trivet. Bake from twenty to thirty minutes in hot oven, basting frequently.

Serve with gravy made from fat in pan, flour and hot water. Same as receipt for [Brown Gravy], under Roast Beef.

Broiled Fillet of Beef

Cut slices about two inches thick from fillet. Shape in circles. Place on greased broiler and broil over hot coals from four to six minutes, turning every ten seconds. Serve on hot platter; garnish with slices of broiled tomato and brown [Mushroom Sauce].

Broiled Fillets of Beef with Oysters

Broil steak according to receipt; place on hot platter; sprinkle with salt and pepper; cover with oysters; dot with butter; and bake in oven until edges of oysters curl. Serve immediately, garnished with parsley and lemon.

Sautéd Fillet of Beef

Sauté steak two minutes. Mix two tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, one half teaspoon salt, one quarter teaspoon mustard, one tablespoon melted butter, and one tablespoon chopped pimolas. Spread on both sides of steak, dip in bread crumbs, and sauté until crumbs are brown.

Corned Beef

Wash beef; place in kettle; cover with cold water; bring to the boiling point, then simmer until tender; allow thirty-five minutes for each pound. Cool partially in water in which it was cooked; place in square pan; apply pressure and serve cold.

Corned Beef Hash

Chop beef; add an equal amount of cold boiled potatoes, chopped; season with salt, pepper and a few drops of onion juice.

Melt one tablespoon butter in an iron frying pan; add beef and potatoes and sufficient milk or hot water to make the mixture quite soft. Cover frying pan and cook slowly until a brown crust is formed. Turn like an omelet on to a hot platter. Garnish with parsley.

Roast Beef

Pieces used for roasting are sirloin, rib, back of the rump, face of the rump, and upper round.

Eight to ten minutes a pound should be allowed for cooking the meat moderately rare.

Wipe the meat; place on rack in dripping pan; dredge meat and pan well with flour, then sprinkle well with salt and pepper.

Cook in hot oven for fifteen minutes, until flour is well browned. Reduce heat and continue roasting, basting every ten minutes until cooked.

Baste with fat tried out from the meat. If that is not sufficient, add beef suet, beef drippings, or butter.

Avoid the use of water in the pan, as by its use the meat is steamed rather than roasted.

Serve with brown gravy, made by browning four tablespoons of fat from the pan, adding four tablespoons flour. When brown, add one and one half cups water or beef stock and cook five minutes.

Yorkshire Pudding

Beat eggs; add flour and salt, gradually; continue beating. Add milk and continue beating five minutes. The mixture should be perfectly smooth. One half hour before meat is done, pour this mixture into dripping pan under meat and baste when basting meat, turning pan that pudding may be golden brown throughout.

Yorkshire pudding cooked in this way is considered by many to be too rich. A very good substitute is obtained by cooking in hissing hot gem pans, thirty minutes.

Serve pudding, cut in squares, on platter around beef.

Spiced Beef

Wash and wipe six pounds of any inexpensive piece of beef; cover with boiling water; bring to the boiling point, then simmer until meat is tender, adding, the last hour of cooking, one cup each of carrot and onions, a bouquet of sweet herbs tied in a bag, pepper, and one half tablespoon salt. Remove meat and reduce liquid to one and one half cups.

Shred meat, add liquid, and press in bread pan, packing closely. When cold serve in thin slices.

Stewed Beef

Cut beef taken from the round in small squares; cover with boiling water, and simmer until meat is tender, four or six hours. Season with salt and pepper one hour before serving. Remove meat and thicken liquid, allowing one and one half tablespoons of flour for each pint of liquid.