Bœuf à la Mode

Common-sense cookery for English hous... · Kenney-Herbert, A. R. (Arthur Robert), 1840-1916 · 1905

Source: Common-sense cookery for English households : with twenty menus worked out in detail
Status: success · extracted 11 days ago
Not a recipe: No

Ingredients (16)

For the beef

about 4 lb. (2 kilos) of thick beefsteak cut square ↝ Carissa, (natal-plum), raw [Fruits and Fruit Juices]

For larding

nearly 3/4 lb. (3 hectos) of raw fat bacon, cut off the rind, which should be put aside to blanch, and then cut the bacon in strips for larding, about one-third of an inch thick, and sprinkle them with pepper. ↝ Pork, bacon, rendered fat, cooked [Pork Products]

For the stew

rather less than a pint of white wine ↝ Wine, white [Wine]
a glass of brandy ↝ Brandy [Liquor and cocktails]
a pint of stock
a pint of water ↝ Water, tap [Tap water]
two calf's feet already bonned and blanched
the rind of the bacon also blanched
a little less that one ounce of salt (30 grammes) ↝ Salt, table, iodized [Spices and Herbs]
fully one pound (500 grammes) of carrots ↝ Carrots, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
one onion ↝ Onions, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
three cloves ↝ Garlic, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]
one faggot of herbs
two pinches of pepper ↝ Spices, pepper, black [Spices and Herbs]

For garnish

ten glazed onions ↝ Onions, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]

Optional

a clove of garlic is added ↝ Garlic, raw [Vegetables and Vegetable Products]

Instructions (20)

Cut about 4 lb. of thick beefsteak square.
Cut nearly 3/4 lb. of raw fat bacon into strips for larding, about one-third of an inch thick, and sprinkle them with pepper. Set aside the rind to blanch.
Lard the meat and tie it up as for the pot-au-feu.
Place the meat in a stew-pan with rather less than a pint of white wine, a glass of brandy, a pint of stock, a pint of water, two bonned and blanched calf's feet, and the blanched bacon rind.
Add a little less than one ounce of salt.
Bring to a boil, skim as for pot-au-feu.
Add fully one pound of carrots, one onion, three cloves, one faggot of herbs, and two pinches of pepper.
Place the stew-pan on the corner of the stove, cover, and simmer very gently for four hours and a half.
Test the meat with a skewer to check for doneness.
Place the meat on a dish with the carrots and calf's feet, and keep covered and hot until serving.
Strain the gravy through a fine tamis.
Carefully remove all grease from the gravy.
Reduce the gravy over the fire by about a quarter.
Untie the beef and place it on the serving dish.
Cut each calf's foot into eight pieces.
Cut the carrots into pieces the size of corks.
Arrange the calf's feet, carrots, and ten glazed onions around the beef.
Pour the sauce over the meat, reserving any surplus for the next day.
Taste the sauce to ensure it is sufficiently seasoned.
Optionally, add a clove of garlic.

Original Text

BŒUF À LA MODE.
There is perhaps no name in the French vocabulary de cuisine more frequently “taken in vain” by English cooks than this. As a rule they apply the term to a joint of cold roast beef when warmed up as a réchauffé, and sent to table smothered with a thick sauce browned with burnt onion and surrounded by sodden vegetables! Now, bœuf à la mode is very far from being réchauffé. On the contrary, it is a carefully selected piece of fresh meat scientifically stewed with vegetables. Its rich, self-made gravy is not thickened, and its garnish should be composed of vegetables separately trimmed and cooked for that purpose.
No better recipe can possibly be found than that given by Gouffé quoted by Sir Henry Thompson as follows:—
“Take about 4 lb. (2 kilos) of thick beefsteak cut square. Take nearly ¾ lb. (3 hectos) of raw fat bacon, cut off the rind, which should be put aside to blanch, and then cut the bacon in strips for larding, about one-third of an inch thick, and sprinkle them with pepper. Lard the meat, and tie it up as for the pot-au-feu. Place the piece of meat in a stew-pan with rather less than a pint of white wine, a glass of brandy, a pint of stock, a pint of water, two calf's feet already bonned and blanched, and the rind of the bacon also blanched. Put it on the fire adding a little less that one ounce of salt (30 grammes). Make it boil, and skim it as for pot-au-feu; next, having skimmed it, add fully one pound (500 grammes) of carrots, one onion, three cloves, one faggot of herbs, and two pinches of pepper. Place the stew-pan on the corner of the stove, cover it, and allow it to simmer very gently for four hours and a half. Try the meat with a skewer to ascertain when it is sufficiently cooked, then put it on a dish with the carrots and the calf's feet, and keep them covered up hot until serving.
“Next, strain the gravy through a fine tamis; remove carefully every atom of grease, and reduce it over the fire about a quarter. Lastly, untie the beef, place it on the dish for serving, add the calf's feet each having been cut into eight pieces, the carrots cut into pieces the size of corks, and ten glazed onions. Arrange the calf's feet, the carrots, and onions round the beef, pour the sauce over the meat, keeping the surplus for the next day. Taste it in order to ascertain if sufficiently seasoned. Bœuf à la mode should be very relishing: sometimes a clove of garlic is added. I do not mention this as a necessary item, but as one which must be decided by the lady of the house.”

Notes

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