A professional cook would glaze the fillet two or three times with a glazing-brush, beginning the first time about five minutes before taking it away from the fire, then glazing it again when it is on the dish to be served.
Glaze is merely strong stock boiled down until it is almost a thick jelly. When the fillet is carved at table, the little juice which falls into the dish should be poured over each of the slices.
To Braise a Fillet of Beef.
Put the larded fillet into a braising-pan or stew-pan; put in trimmings of pork, onions (with some cloves stuck in), carrots, a little celery (all cut in thick slices), and a bunch of parsley. Salt the meat slightly. Pour in stock and white wine, so that it may reach to half the height of the beef. If a braising-pan is used, cover the meat with a well-buttered paper, as in that case live coals are put on top of the pan. If you use a stew-pan, simply cover it as tight as possible. Let it simmer, replenishing it, when necessary, with more boiling stock. It will require an hour or an hour and a half to cook. When done, drain it: a professional cook would glaze it. Put it into the oven a moment to dry the larding. Pass the cooking-stock through a sieve; skim off the fat; add some tomato sauce; let it boil until it is reduced to the degree requisite. Serve the fillet whole, or carved in slices ready to serve. Generally only the middle part of the fillet is used, as the whole fillet is quite large—weighing from eight to ten pounds.
To Trim With Vegetables (à la Jardinière).
Every kind of vegetable is used, such as potatoes, carrots, turnips, beets, small onions, cauliflower-blossoms, asparagus-heads, French beans, pease, etc. The larger vegetables are cut into little fancy shapes with a vegetable-cutter or a fluted knife, or with a little plain knife, into little balls, olives, squares, diamonds, or into any form to suit the taste. Each kind of vegetable should be boiled separately in salted water or stock. The vegetables are piled into little groups, each pile being of one kind of vegetable.
Fillet of Beef cut into Slices or Scollops.
This is a good way of managing the beef that is left from the roast or baked fillet of beef to be served the second day. Cut the fillet, after reheating it in the oven, into slices about three-fourths of an inch thick, and two inches wide. Form a circle in a dish by lapping each of these scollops partly over the other. Fill the centre with a tomato sauce, or potatoes à la Parisienne, or mushrooms, or with any of the small vegetables, such as pease, beans, little balls of carrots, potatoes, etc., in different little piles; or with truffles (they can be procured canned) sliced, with Madeira sauce; or with mushrooms and truffles mixed, with Madeira sauce.