slices of bacon, 2 carrots, 1 onion, a bunch of savoury herbs, salt and
pepper to taste, 4 cloves, 4 whole allspice, 2 blades of mace.
_Mode_.--Choose that portion of the brisket which contains the gristle,
trim it, and put it into a stewpan with the slices of bacon, which
should be put under and over the meat. Add the vegetables, herbs,
spices, and seasoning, and cover with a little weak stock or water;
close the stewpan as hermetically as possible, and simmer very gently
for 4 hours. Strain the liquor, reserve a portion of it for sauce, and
the remainder boil quickly over a sharp fire until reduced to a glaze,
with which glaze the meat. Garnish the dish with scooped carrots and
turnips, and when liked, a little cabbage; all of which must be cooked
separately. Thicken and flavour the liquor that was saved for sauce,
pour it round the meat, and serve. The beef may also be garnished with
glazed onions, artichoke-bottoms, &c.
_Time_.--4 hours. _Average cost_, 7d. per lb.
_Sufficient_ for 6 or 8 persons.
_Seasonable_ at any time.
FRENCH BEEF.--It has been all but universally admitted, that the
beef of France is greatly inferior in quality to that of
England, owing to inferiority of pasturage. M. Curmer, however,
one of the latest writers on the culinary art, tells us that
this is a vulgar error, and that French beef is far superior to
that of England. This is mere vaunting on the part of our
neighbours, who seem to want _la gloire_ in everything; and we
should not deign to notice it, if it had occurred in a work of
small pretensions; but M. Curmer's book professes to be a
complete exposition of the scientific principles of cookery, and
holds a high rank in the didactic literature of France. We half
suspect that M. Curmer obtained his knowledge of English beef in
the same way as did the poor Frenchman, whom the late Mr.
Mathews, the comedian, so humorously described. Mr. Lewis, in
his "Physiology of Common Life," has thus revived the story of
the beef-eating son of France:--"A Frenchman was one day blandly
remonstrating against the supercilious scorn expressed by
Englishmen for the beef of France, which he, for his part, did
not find so inferior to that of England. 'I have been two times
in England,' he remarked, but I nevère find the bif so supérieur
to ours. I find it vary conveenient that they bring it you on
leetle pieces of stick, for one penny: but I do not find the bif
supérieur.' On hearing this, the Englishman, red with
astonishment, exclaimed, 'Good heavens, sir! you have been
eating cat's meat.'" No, M. Curmer, we are ready to acknowledge
the superiority of your cookery, but we have long since made up
our minds as to the inferiority of your raw material.
BEEF OLIVES.
I.