No. 427. Fillet of Beef à la Romaine.
Trim your fillet and lard it through the thick part with large pieces of cooked tongue and fat bacon, twelve pieces of each, tie it up with a piece of string, put half a pound of butter in a large stewpan, and lay in the beef with a pound of bacon cut in slices, two onions, two bayleaves, two cloves, and ten peppercorns; place it on a sharp fire, when getting a little brown and forming a glaze, put in six glasses of sherry and a pint of consommé, (No. 134), set it over a very slow fire for two hours, moving it round with a wooden spoon occasionally; have ready blanched one pound of the best small maccaroni (No. 136); put it in a stewpan, after it is well drained from the water take up the beef, skim the fat off the gravy it is cooked with, and pass it through a sieve upon the maccaroni, add six tablespoonfuls of tomata sauce, and place it over the fire; when it simmers add half a pound of grated Parmesan and half a pound of grated Gruyer cheese, move it round quickly, (it must not be too liquid, so if too much gravy from the beef reserve some of it;) season with a little cayenne pepper, salt, and sugar, put a layer of maccaroni upon your dish, then a layer of grated cheese, then the remainder of the maccaroni, egg and bread-crumb the top, sprinkle more grated cheese over, brown it with the salamander, lay the fillet on the top, glaze, and serve very hot. Should any gravy remain pour it round.
No. 428. Stewed rump of Beef à la Flamande.
Choose a rump of beef from twenty-five to thirty pounds, in weight, the meat dark and well covered with fat, bone and lard it slantwise through and through with very large lardons of fat bacon six inches long, chop up the bone, which put into a large stewpan, with five or six pounds of the trimmings of any other meat, one pound of lean ham, three onions, two turnips, one carrot, one head of celery, one leek, a bunch of parsley, thyme, and bay-leaves, eight peppercorns, and a blade of mace: put a pint of water in the stewpan, cover and stand it over a brisk fire, stirring it occasionally till the bottom is covered with glaze, then lay in the beef, fill the stewpan with water, skim when boiling, and let it simmer on the corner of the fire for six hours; to try when it is done run a trussing-needle into it, if it goes in easy it is done; have ready prepared eighteen middling-sized onions, butter a sauté-pan, put half an ounce of powdered sugar in it, cut a piece of the top and bottom of each onion, blanch them in boiling water ten minutes, drain well, stand them in the sauté-pan, cover with stock, place them over the fire, stew till tender and the stock has become a thin glaze, have ready eighteen pieces of carrots, and eighteen turnips cut in the form of small pears, which dress in the same way as the onions, lay the rump of beef on your dish, and arrange the onions and vegetables with taste around it, using for variety any green vegetables that may happen to be in season with them; for the sauce put a quart of brown sauce in a stewpan, with the glaze from the onions and vegetables, and half a pint of good stock; season with a little pepper and salt if required, reduce a quarter of an hour, or till it becomes rather thick, pour the sauce over the vegetables, glaze the top of the beef, brown it lightly in the oven, or with the salamander, and serve. To carve, cut it in thin slices slantingly through the thickest end, where there is most fat; if underdone it is uneatable.
No. 429. Stewed Rump of Beef aux Oignons glacés.
Stew the beef as directed in the last, likewise thirty-six onions, stewed in the same way as there directed; make a border of mashed potatoes round the dish, place the beef in the centre, and dress the onions round upon the potato; place a fine Brussels sprout on the top of each onion (or a little sprue grass or green peas if in season), then put a quart of brown sauce (No. 1), in a stewpan, with four spoonfuls of tomata sauce and the glaze the onions were cooked in; boil well five minutes, keeping it stirred and well skimmed, pour over the onions, glaze the beef, brown it with the salamander, and serve. You may put a very white cauliflower at each end of the dish, if you have any. In making the border of mashed potatoes on your dish, be sure and leave sufficient room for the beef, as you can (and it is the best way) dress the onions and garniture on it first, and not place the beef on till ready to serve; for the fat running from the beef it would spoil the appearance of the sauce if it remained long on the dish before serving.
No. 430. Stewed Rump of Beef à la Voltaire.
Dress the beef as before, then blanch two white winter cabbages (savoys) in salt and water ten minutes; take them out, and lay them on a sieve to drain; then make a mierpoix of two onions, half a carrot, one turnip, one head of celery, one leek, a little parsley, thyme, one bay-leaf, and half a pound of lean ham, all cut up very small; put them into a stewpan with two ounces of butter, fry five minutes, keeping them stirred; then squeeze the cabbage quite dry, lay it in the stewpan with the vegetables and a quart of veal stock, place it over a slow fire to stew for one hour, or till quite tender, take out the cabbage (save the stock), lay it on a cloth, turn the end of the cloth over it, squeeze it rather dry, and make a long roll of it (about the size round of half-a-crown piece), cut it in pieces about an inch in length, and dress them on the dish round the beef; a small onion dressed as before may be placed on the top of each piece with a nice Brussels sprout between; and surround the whole with small fried sausages; for sauce, skim off the fat from the broth the cabbage was stewed in; put half a pint of it in a stewpan, with a quart of brown sauce (No. 1), place it on the fire, and reduce it to one-half; add a quarter of a teaspoonful of sugar, and pour the sauce over the cabbage, glaze and salamander the beef, and serve; this remove is very good, and a similar dish is reputed to have been a great favourite of the celebrated man from whom I have named it.
No. 431. Stewed Rump of Beef à la Portugaise.
Stew the beef as before, peel eight Portugal onions, boil them in a gallon of water till nearly tender, take them out and drain them; butter a convenient sized stewpan, put in the onions with two ounces of sugar, just cover them with good veal stock, and stew them until the stock is reduced to a thinnish glaze, and adheres to them; place the beef on the dish, and dress the onions round it at equal distances apart, and between each onion place a small but nice white cauliflower; for the sauce, add a quart of brown sauce, with the glaze from the onions; reduce it to half over the fire, pass it through a tammie into a clean stewpan, let it boil, throw in forty French olives ready stoned, pour the sauce over the vegetable, glaze the beef, salamander, and serve.