To Clarify Beef-dripping. — Good and fresh dripping answers
very well for basting everything except game and poultry, and, when
well clarified, serves for frying nearly as well as lard. It should be
kept in a cool place, and will remain good some time. To clarify it,
put the dripping into a basin, pour over it boiling water, and keep
stirring the whole to wash away the impurities. Let it stand to cool,
when the water and dirty sediment will settle at the bottom of the
basin. Remove the dripping, and put it away in jars or basins for
use.
Beef a la Mode. — Six or seven pounds of the thick flank of beef,
a few slices of fat bacon, one teacupful of vinegar, black pepper, all-
spice, two cloves, well mixed and finely pounded, making altogether
one heaped teaspoonful ; salt to taste ; one bunch of savory herbs,
including parsley, all finely minced and well mixed ; two onions, two
large carrots, one turnip, one head of celery, one and one-half pint of
water, one glass of port wine✪ Beef a la Mode. Slice and fry the onions of a pale
brown, and cut up the other vegetables in small pieces, and prepare
the beef for stewing in the following manner: Choose a fine piece of
COOKERY RECIPES. 43 1
beef, cut the bacon in long slices, about an inch in thickness, dip them
into vinegar, and then into a little of the above seasoning of spices,
etc., mixed with the same quantity of minced herbs. With a sharp
knife make holes deep enough to let in the bacon ; then rub the beef
over with the remainder of the seasoning and herbs, and bind it up
in a nice shape with tape. Have ready a well-tinned stewpan (it
should not be much larger than the piece of meat you are cooking),
into which put the beef, with the vegetables, vinegar and water. Let
it simmer very gently for five hours, or rather longer should the
meat not be extremely tender, and turn it once or twice. When
ready to serve, take out the beef, remove the tape, and put it on a
hot dish. Skim off every particle of fat from th^gravy, add the port
wine, just let it boil, pour it over the beef, and it is ready to serve.
Great care must be taken that this does not boil fast, or the meat will
be tough and tasteless ; it should only just bubble. When convenient,
all kinds of stews, etc., should be cooked on a hot plate, as the process
is so much more gradual than on an open fire. This will be a suffi-
cient quantity for seven or eight persons.
Beef a la Mode {Virginia fashion). — Use the round of beef and
remove the bone ; and for eight pounds allow half a pint of good
vinegar, one large onion minced fine ; half a teaspoonful each of
mustard, black pepper, cloves and allspice ; and two teaspoonfuls of
brown sugar. Cut half a pound of fat salt pork into lardons, or
strips, two or three inches long and about half an inch square. Boil
the vinegar with the onion and seasoning, and pour over the strips
of pork, and let them stand till cold. Then pour off the liquor, and
thicken it with bread or cracker crumbs. Make incisions in the beef
at regular intervals — a carving steel being very good for this pur-
pose— and push in the strips of pork. Fill the hole from which
the bone was taken, with the rest of the pork and the dressing, and
tie the beef firmly into shape. Put two tablespoons of dripping or
lard in a frying-pan, and brown the meat on all sides. This will
take about half an hour.
Page 274 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1883. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
To Clarify Beef-dripping. — Good and fresh dripping answers very well for basting everything except game and poultry, and, when well clarified, serves for frying nearly as well as lard. It should be kept in a cool place, and will remain good some time. To clarify it, put the dripping into a basin, pour over it boiling water, and keep stirring the whole to wash away the impurities. Let it stand to cool, when the water and dirty sediment will settle at the bottom of the basin. Remove the dripping, and put it away in jars or basins for use.
Beef a la Mode. — Six or seven pounds of the thick flank of beef, a few slices of fat bacon, one teacupful of vinegar, black pepper, allspice, two cloves, well mixed and finely pounded, making altogether one heaped teaspoonful ; salt to taste ; one bunch of savory herbs, including parsley, all finely minced and well mixed ; two onions, two large carrots, one turnip, one head of celery, one and one-half pint of water, one glass of port wine. Slice and fry the onions of a pale brown, and cut up the other vegetables in small pieces, and prepare the beef for stewing in the following manner: Choose a fine piece of
beef, cut the bacon in long slices, about an inch in thickness, dip them into vinegar, and then into a little of the above seasoning of spices, etc., mixed with the same quantity of minced herbs. With a sharp knife make holes deep enough to let in the bacon ; then rub the beef over with the remainder of the seasoning and herbs, and bind it up in a nice shape with tape. Have ready a well-tinned stewpan (it should not be much larger than the piece of meat you are cooking), into which put the beef, with the vegetables, vinegar and water. Let it simmer very gently for five hours, or rather longer should the meat not be extremely tender, and turn it once or twice. When ready to serve, take out the beef, remove the tape, and put it on a hot dish. Skim off every particle of fat from the gravy, add the port wine, just let it boil, pour it over the beef, and it is ready to serve. Great care must be taken that this does not boil fast, or the meat will be tough and tasteless ; it should only just bubble. When convenient, all kinds of stews, etc., should be cooked on a hot plate, as the process is so much more gradual than on an open fire. This will be a sufficient quantity for seven or eight persons.
Beef a la Mode {Virginia fashion). — Use the round of beef and remove the bone ; and for eight pounds allow half a pint of good vinegar, one large onion minced fine ; half a teaspoonful each of mustard, black pepper, cloves and allspice ; and two teaspoonfuls of brown sugar. Cut half a pound of fat salt pork into lardons, or strips, two or three inches long and about half an inch square. Boil the vinegar with the onion and seasoning, and pour over the strips of pork, and let them stand till cold. Then pour off the liquor, and thicken it with bread or cracker crumbs. Make incisions in the beef at regular intervals — a carving steel being very good for this purpose— and push in the strips of pork. Fill the hole from which the bone was taken, with the rest of the pork and the dressing, and tie the beef firmly into shape. Put two tablespoons of dripping or lard in a frying-pan, and brown the meat on all sides. This will take about half an hour.
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Beef a la Mode