ROAST RIBS OF BEEF

The Book of Household Management · Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary) · 1861
Source
The Book of Household Management
Yield
8.0 – 9.0 persons
Status
success · extracted 13 days ago
Not a recipe
No
Ingredients (14)
For the beef
For the gravy
For garnish
To serve with
Optional accompaniment
For boned and rolled ribs
For stock (from bones)
Instructions (25)
  1. Cut off the thin ends of the bones, which should be salted for a few days, and then boiled.
  2. Put the meat down to a nice clear fire.
  3. Put some clean dripping into the pan.
  4. Dredge the joint with a little flour.
  5. Keep continually basting the whole time.
  6. Sprinkle some fine salt over it (this must never be done until the joint is dished, as it draws the juices from the meat).
  7. Pour the dripping from the pan.
  8. Put in a little boiling: water slightly salted.
  9. Strain the gravy over the meat.
  10. Garnish with tufts of scraped horseradish.
  11. Send horseradish sauce to table with it (see No. 447).
  12. A Yorkshire pudding (see Puddings) sometimes accompanies this dish, and, if lightly made and well cooked, will be found a very agreeable addition.
Boned and Rolled Ribs
  1. Choose a fine rib of beef, and have it cut according to the weight you require, either wide or narrow.
  2. Bone and roll the meat round.
  3. Secure it with wooden skewers, and, if necessary, bind it round with a piece of tape.
  4. Spit the beef firmly, or, if a bottle-jack is used, put the joint on the hook.
  5. Place it near a nice clear fire.
  6. Let it remain so till the outside of the meat is set.
  7. When the outside is set, draw it to a distance, and keep continually basting until the meat is done.
  8. The meat is done when the steam from it drawing towards the fire indicates it.
  9. As this joint is solid, rather more than 1/4 hour must be allowed for each lb.
  10. Remove the skewers, put in a plated or silver one.
  11. Send the joint to table with gravy in the dish, and garnish with tufts of horseradish.
  12. Horseradish sauce, No. 447, is a great improvement to roast beef.
For stock
  1. Put the bones in with a few vegetables and herbs, and make into stock.
Original Text
ROAST RIBS OF BEEF. 657. INGREDIENTS.—Beef, a little salt. Mode.—-The fore-rib is considered the primest roasting piece, but the middle-rib is considered the most economical. Let the meat be well hung (should the weather permit), and cut off the thin ends of the bones, which should be salted for a few days, and then boiled. Put the meat down to a nice clear fire, put some clean dripping into the pan, dredge the joint with a little flour, and keep continually basting the whole time. Sprinkle some fine salt over it (this must never be done until the joint is dished, as it draws the juices from the meat); pour the dripping from the pan, put in a little boiling: water slightly salted, and strain the gravy over the meat. Garnish with tufts of scraped horseradish, and send horseradish sauce to table with it (see No. 447). A Yorkshire pudding (see Puddings) sometimes accompanies this dish, and, if lightly made and well cooked, will be found a very agreeable addition. Time.—10 lbs. of beef, 2-1/2 hours; 14 to 16 lbs., from 3-1/2 to 4 hours. Average cost, 8-1/2d. per lb. Sufficient.—A joint of 10 lbs. sufficient for 8 or 9 persons. Seasonable at any time. MEMORANDA IN ROASTING.—The management of the fire is a point of primary importance in roasting. A radiant fire throughout the operation is absolutely necessary to insure a good result. When the article to be dressed is thin and delicate, the fire may be small; but when the joint is large, the fire must fill the grate. Meat must never be put down before a hollow or exhausted fire, which may soon want recruiting; on the other hand, if the heat of the fire becomes too fierce, the meat must be removed to a considerable distance till it is somewhat abated. Some cooks always fail in their roasts, though they succeed in nearly everything else. A French writer on the culinary art says that anybody can learn how to cook, but one must be born a roaster. According to Liebig, beef or mutton cannot be said to be sufficiently roasted until it has acquired, throughout the whole mass, a temperature of 158°; but poultry may be well cooked when the inner parts have attained a temperature of from 130° to 140°. This depends on the greater amount of blood which beef and mutton contain, the colouring matter of blood not being coagulable under 158°. ROAST RIBS OF BEEF, Boned and Rolled (a very Convenient Joint for a Small Family). 658. INGREDIENTS.—1 or 2 ribs of beef. Mode.—Choose a fine rib of beef, and have it cut according to the weight you require, either wide or narrow. Bone and roll the meat round, secure it with wooden skewers, and, if necessary, bind it round with a piece of tape. Spit the beef firmly, or, if a bottle-jack is used, put the joint on the hook, and place it near a nice clear fire. Let it remain so till the outside of the meat is set, when draw it to a distance, and keep continually basting until the meat is done, which can be ascertained by the steam from it drawing towards the fire. As this joint is solid, rather more than 1/4 hour must be allowed for each lb. Remove the skewers, put in a plated or silver one, and send the joint to table with gravy in the dish, and garnish with tufts of horseradish. Horseradish sauce, No. 447, is a great improvement to roast beef. Time.—For 10 lbs. of the rolled ribs, 3 hours (as the joint is very solid, we have allowed an extra 1/2 hour); for 6 lbs., 1-1/2 hour. Average cost, 8-1/2d. per lb. Sufficient.—A joint of 10 lbs. for 6 or 8 persons. Seasonable all the year. Note.—When the weight exceeds 10 lbs., we would not advise the above method of boning and rolling; only in the case of 1 or 2 ribs, when the joint cannot stand upright in the dish, and would look awkward. The bones should be put in with a few vegetables and herbs, and made into stock. ROAST BEEF has long been a national dish in England. In most of our patriotic songs it is contrasted with the fricasseed frogs, popularly supposed to be the exclusive diet of Frenchmen.       "O the roast beef of old England,       And O the old English roast beef." This national chorus is appealed to whenever a song-writer wishes to account for the valour displayed by Englishmen at sea or on land.
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