105), 4 tablespoonfuls of vinegar, 2 tablespoonfuls of ketchup, 1 large
bunch of savoury herbs, 2 onions, 12 cloves, pepper and salt to taste,
thickening of butter and flour, 1 glass of port wine.
_Mode_.--Cut out the bone, sprinkle the meat with a little cayenne (this
must be sparingly used), and bind and tie it firmly up with tape; put it
into a stewpan with sufficient stock to cover it, and add vinegar,
ketchup, herbs, onions, cloves, and seasoning in the above proportion,
and simmer very gently for 4 or 5 hours, or until the meat is perfectly
tender, which may be ascertained by piercing it with a thin skewer. When
done, remove the tape, lay it into a deep dish, which keep hot; strain
and skim the gravy, thicken it with butter and flour, add a glass of
port wine and any flavouring to make the gravy rich and palatable; let
it boil up, pour over the meat, and serve. This dish may be very much
enriched by garnishing with forcemeat balls, or filling up the space
whence the bone is taken with a good forcemeat; sliced carrots, turnips,
and onions boiled with the meat, are also a great improvement, and,
where expense is not objected to, it may be glazed. This, however, is
not necessary where a good gravy is poured round and over the meat.
_Time_.--1/2 rump stewed gently from 4 to 5 hours.
_Average cost_, 10d. per lb. _Sufficient_ for 8 or 10 persons.
_Seasonable_ at any time.
_Note_.--A stock or gravy in which to boil the meat, may be made of the
bone and trimmings, by boiling them with water, and adding carrots,
onions, turnips, and a bunch of sweet herbs. To make this dish richer
and more savoury, half-roast the rump, and afterwards stew it in strong
stock and a little Madeira. This is an expensive method, and is not,
after all, much better than a plainer-dressed joint.
THE BARON OF BEEF.--This noble joint, which consisted of two
sirloins not cut asunder, was a favourite dish of our ancestors.
It is rarely seen nowadays; indeed, it seems out of place on a
modern table, as it requires the grim boar's head and Christmas
pie as supporters. Sir Walter Scott has described a feast at
which the baron of beef would have appeared to great advantage.
We will quote a few lines to remind us of those days when
"England was merry England," and when hospitality was thought to
be the highest virtue.
"The fire, with well-dried logs supplied,
Went roaring up the chimney wide;
The huge hall-table's oaken face,
Scrubb'd till it shone, the day to grace,
Bore then, upon its massive board,
No mark to part the squire and lord.
Then was brought in the lusty brawn,
By old blue-coated serving-man;
Then the grim boar's head frown'd on high,
Crested with bays and rosemary.
Well can the green-garb'd ranger tell
How, when, and where the monster fell;
What dogs before his death he tore,
And all the baiting of the boar;
While round the merry wassel bowl,
Garnish'd with ribbons, blithe did trowl.
There the huge sirloin reek'd; hard by
Plum-porridge stood, and Christmas pie;
Nor fail'd old Scotland to produce,
At such high tide, her savoury goose."
When a lord's son came of age, in the olden time, the baron of
beef was too small a joint, by many degrees, to satisfy the
retainers who would flock to the hall; a whole ox was therefore
generally roasted over a fire built up of huge logs. We may here
mention, that an ox was roasted entire on the frozen Thames, in
the early part of the present century.
STEWED SHIN OF BEEF.