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 quantity, 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 butter.
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 butter, 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.
Seasonable all the year, but best in winter.
SLICED AND BROILED BEEF—a Pretty Dish (Cold Meat Cookery).
664. INGREDIENTS.—A few slices of cold roast beef, 4 or 5 potatoes, a thin batter, pepper and salt to taste.
Mode.—Pare the potatoes as you would peel an apple; fry the parings in a thin batter seasoned with salt and pepper, until they are of a light brown colour, and place them on a dish over some slices of beef, which should be nicely seasoned and broiled.
Time.—5 minutes to broil the meat.
Seasonable at any time.
SPICED BEEF (to Serve Cold).
665. INGREDIENTS.—14 lbs. of the thick flank or rump of beef, 1/2 lb. of coarse sugar, 1 oz. of saltpetre, 1/4 lb. of pounded allspice, 1 lb. of common salt.
Mode.—Rub the sugar well into the beef, and let it lay for 12 hours; then rub the saltpetre and allspice, both of which should be pounded, over the meat, and let it remain for another 12 hours; then rub in the salt. Turn daily in the liquor for a fortnight, soak it for a few hours in water, dry with a cloth, cover with a coarse paste, put a little water at the bottom of the pan, and bake in a moderate oven for 4 hours. If it is not covered with a paste, be careful to put the beef into a deep vessel, and cover with a plate, or it will be too crisp. During the time the meat is in the oven it should be turned once or twice.
Time.—4 hours. Average cost, 7d. per lb.
Seasonable at any time.
BAKING MEAT.—Baking exerts some unexplained influence on meat, rendering it less savoury and less agreeable than meat which has been roasted. "Those who have travelled in Germany and France," writes Mr. Lewis, one of our most popular scientific authors, "must have repeatedly marvelled at the singular uniformity in the flavour, or want of flavour, of the various 'roasts' served up at the table-d'hôte." The general explanation is, that the German and French meat is greatly inferior in quality to that of England and Holland, owing to the inferiority of pasturage; and doubtless this is one cause, but it is not the chief cause. The meat is inferior, but the cooking is mainly at fault. The meat is scarcely ever roasted, because there is no coal, and firewood is expensive. The meat is therefore baked; and the consequence of this baking is, that no meat is eatable or eaten, with its own gravy, but is always accompanied by some sauce more or less piquant. The Germans generally believe that in England we eat our beef and mutton almost raw; they shudder at our gravy, as if it were so much blood.
STEWED BEEF or RUMP STEAK (an Entree).
666. INGREDIENTS.—About 2 lbs. of beef or rump steak, 3 onions, 2 turnips, 3 carrots, 2 or 3 oz. of butter, 1/2 pint of water, 1 teaspoonful of salt, 1/2 do. of pepper, 1 tablespoonful of ketchup, 1 tablespoonful of flour.
Mode.—Have the steaks cut tolerably thick and rather lean; divide them into convenient-sized pieces, and fry them in the butter a nice brown on both sides. Cleanse and pare the vegetables, cut the onions and carrots into thin slices, and the turnips into dice, and fry these in the same fat that the steaks were done in. Put all into a saucepan, add 1/2 pint of water, or rather more should it be necessary, and simmer very gently for 2-1/2 or 3 hours; when nearly done, skim well, add salt, pepper, and ketchup in the above proportions, and thicken with a tablespoonful of flour mixed with 2 of cold water. Let it boil up for a minute or two after the thickening is added, and serve. When a vegetable-scoop is at hand, use it to cut the vegetables in fanciful shapes, and tomato, Harvey's sauce, or walnut-liquor may be used to flavour the gravy. It is less rich if stewed the previous day, so that the fat may be taken off when cold; when wanted for table, it will merely require warming through.
Time.—3 hours. Average cost, 1s. per lb.
Sufficient for 4 or 5 persons.
Seasonable at any time.
STEWED BEEF AND CELERY SAUCE (Cold Meat Cookery).
667. INGREDIENTS.—3 roots of celery, 1 pint of gravy, No. 436, 2 onions sliced, 2 lbs. of cold roast or boiled beef.
Mode.—Cut the celery into 2-inch pieces, put them in a stew-pan, with the gravy and onions, simmer gently until the celery is tender, when add the beef cut into rather thick pieces; stew gently for 10 minutes, and serve with fried potatoes.
Time.—From 20 to 25 minutes to stew the celery.
Average cost, exclusive of the meat, 6d.
Seasonable from September to January.
STEWED BEEF WITH OYSTERS (Cold Meat Cookery).
668. INGREDIENTS.—A few thick steaks of cold ribs or sirloin of beef, 2 oz. of butter, 1 onion sliced, pepper and salt to taste, 1/2 glass of port wine, a little flour to thicken, 1 or 2 dozen oysters, rather more than 1/2 pint of water.
Mode.—Cut the steaks rather thick, from cold sirloin or ribs of beef; brown them lightly in a stewpan, with the butter and a little water; add 1/2 pint of water, the onion, pepper, and salt, and cover the stewpan closely, and let it simmer very gently for 1/2 hour; then mix about a teaspoonful of flour smoothly with a little of the liquor; add the port wine and oysters, their liquor having been previously strained and put into the stewpan; stir till the oysters plump, and serve. It should not boil after the oysters are added, or they will harden.
Time.—1/2 hour. Average cost, exclusive of the meat, 1s. 4d.
Seasonable from September to April.