Beef steak

“ Cut some thin slices of beef steak, and on each place a little forcemeat of fowl or veal, to which add a little sausage meat: roll up the slices of beef and cook them with butter and onions, and when they are well browned pour some stock over them, and let them absorb it. Serve with a tomato sauce (No. 10) , or sauce piquante made with a quarter of a pint of rich Espagnole (No. 1) , and a dessert-spoonful of New Century sauce (see No. 71 note) .
No. 76. Stufato alla Milanese (Stewed Beef)
Ingredients: Rump steak, bacon, ham, salt, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, butter, onions, Burgundy. ”

“ Oyster, and many other sauces may be served; some beef steak eaters say that its own gravy, pepper and salt, are all that a good beef steak requires, unless it be a little sliced raw onion or tarragon; others like fried onions.
Beef Steaks, with Potatoes. ”

“ After you lift out the meat, put in the flour, let it scorch a bit, then pour water and milk mixed into the hot grease and meat particles left in the skillet. Just how much, you will have to find out by experiment. Let it boil up and boil down, keep stirring, until you have gravy of the right consistency. Flavor according to taste, with salt and pepper, before cooking. If the result is not good it is because you have not followed directions.
Round steak not only is cheap, but it is all good meat, with the minimum of waste, and properly cooked it TASTES better than any part of the beef. ”

“ Set the gridiron over the coals in a slanting direction, that the meat may not be smoked by the fat dropping into the fire directly under it. When the gridiron is quite hot, rub the bars with suet, sprinkle a little salt over the coals, and lay on the steaks. Turn them frequently with a pair of steak-tongs, or with a knife and fork. A quarter of an hour is generally sufficient time to broil a beef-steak. ”

“ Ribs may also be broiled like steaks, and served either with a maître d'hôtel, mushrooms, potatoes, or water-cress. The low cuts of beef are generally used to make broth, or stewed.
STEAKS.
The best piece of beef for a steak is the tenderloin.
What is called a porter-house steak is the tenderloin, sirloin, and other surrounding parts cut in slices.
A steak should never be less than three-quarters of an inch in thickness. ”

“ While your steak is broiling, watched by some one else, fry three or four sliced onions in a pan with some beef dripping or butter. Stir and shake them until they begin to brown. Dish your steak, salt and pepper, and lay the onions on top. Cover, and let all stand where they will keep hot, for five minutes. Do not help onions to any one unless you are sure that he likes them.
There is no dish so good for keeping a steak hot, yet juicy, as a hot-water chafing-dish. No household can afford to be without one, if no more. ”

“ Set it over moderately hot coals at first, and turn the steaks in less than a minute. Turn them repeatedly. If the fat makes a blaze under the gridiron, put it out by sprinkling fine salt on it. Steaks will broil in about seven minutes. Have ready a hot dish, and sprinkle each piece with salt, and a little pepper; lay on small pieces of butter, and cover close. This is a much better way than to melt the butter in the dish before taking up the meat. Some persons keep a small pair of tongs on purpose to turn beef-steaks, as using a fork wastes the juice. Steaks should be served hot as possible. ”

“ The faults in the meat generally furnished to us are, first, that it is too new. A beef steak, which three or four days of keeping might render palatable, is served up to us palpitating with freshness, with all the toughness of animal muscle yet warm. ”

“ Beef steak, Jusienne. Season four small steaks with salt and pepper, and fry in sauté pan with melted butter. When done place on a platter and garnish with lettuce braisé, peas in butter, and onions glacés. Pour sauce Madère over the steaks.
Consommé Frascati. Cut two potatoes in small dices, and parboil for five minutes in salted water. Drain off the water, add six heads of peeled fresh mushrooms sliced very thin, and two quarts of consommé. Cook slowly until the potatoes are soft. ”

“ Let the beef soak in the water, stirring occasionally, for two hours; then put it on the stove and heat it until the red color disappears; never boil it. Skim off all grease, salt to taste.
BEEF JUICE. Round steak cut an inch thick; slightly broil like beefsteak for the table, cut into squares of an inch, squeeze in a lemon squeezer, skim carefully and salt. Serve either very cold, or place the cup containing the juice in a bowl of boiling water, stir carefully, and as soon as the juice is warm serve. If left a moment too long it is spoiled, as it curdles. ”

“ RECIPES.
Broiled Beef.—Beef for broiling should be juicy and have a tender fiber. Steaks cut from three parts of the beef are in request for this purpose,—tenderloin, porterhouse, and round steak. The last-named is the more common and economical, yet it is inferior in juice and tenderness to the other two. Steak should be cut three fourths of an inch or more in thickness. If it is of the right quality, do not pound it; if very tough, beat with a steak-mallet or cut across it several times on both sides with a sharp knife. Wipe, and remove any bone and superfluous fat. ”

“ Pound as much dry flour as possible into both sides of the steak by means of a wooden potato masher. Then brown it on both sides in a hot frying pan with some of the beef fat. When it is thoroughly browned, pour a cup of hot water over it, cover the pan tight, and remove to the back of the stove. Have just enough water on the steak and apply just enough heat to keep it simmering very slowly for about 1/2 hour. As the meat cooks, the water will form a gravy by becoming thickened with the flour that has been pounded into the steak. ”

“ But keep this in mind: the most careful broiling will not help if the beef is too fresh. Fresh beef simply will not do if you want the real thing. Buy the choicest cuts of sirloin or porterhouse from beef that has been hung at [190] least four weeks; broil in the way I have described and your dinner guests will register many polite hints for another invitation. I might add that if the beef is right you will not have to worry about a sauce. Butter, salt, and pepper will properly dress the finest steak in the world. ”

“ To the fat remaining in the frying-pan, after the steak has been cooked, add one tablespoonful of dry flour (be sure to have the fat boiling) , and stir until it is brown and there are no lumps, then pour in about half a cup of boiling water. Season well with pepper and salt. Serve in a gravy tureen. This is a more economical, but not so healthy a method as broiling.
Stewed Beef.
Take a piece of beef that is rather tough [45] or pieces of tough beefsteak; rub into it a handful of salt, some pepper and flour; lay in a kettle that you can cover tight, and that has a flat bottom. ”

“ If the steak is large enough, use more stuffing than one cupful. Spread the stuffing over the meat to within two inches of the edge. Roll and skewer or tie it into shape. Brown it well on all sides in a dry frying-pan, or dredge it with flour and fry it in rendered beef fat. Lay it in a small cooker-pail or pan. Make two cupfuls of Brown Sauce, or enough to cover the roll. Boil the roll for two minutes and set the pail in a larger pail of boiling water. Put it for five or six hours into a cooker. ”

“ Beef Steaks.
Those from the sirloin are best, those from the shoul55der clod and round are not so good, but cheaper. Meat, if tough, is made more tender by pounding, if it is done very thoroughly, so as to break the fibres. Cut the steaks from half an inch to an inch thick. Broil on hot coals, and the quicker it is done the better. Ten or twelve minutes is enough time. Turn it four or five times, and when done put on butter, salt, and if you like pepper, and on both sides. ”

“ The ready fried beefsteaks are put on a hot platter. The gooseliver is cut into as many pieces as there are steaks, and one piece put in the center of each steak. The prepared champignons are placed around each piece of gooseliver on top of each steak.
The gravy is put on the platter too. You can garnish the platter with scallops of puff paste. This dish is nice between courses.
No. 6—BROILED STEAK OF ROAST BEEF.
Quantity for 6 Persons.
3 lbs. of roastbeef Salt, pepper 1⁄4 lb. of butter (scant) Preparation: The roastbeef is cut into 11⁄2 inch thick slices and pounded well. ”

“ Of course, the kind, quality, and shape of the meat all play their part in the matter. Extra time is needed for meats with a good deal of sinew and tough fibers, such as the tough steaks, shank cuts, etc.; and naturally a fillet of beef, or a steak from a prime cut, will take less time than a thick piece from the shin. ”

“ The top is used for steaks and roasts. The first few slices are quite tender. The third slice is the best for steak as it has only one muscle. The farther down the leg the steak is cut the tougher it becomes. The bottom of the round must necessarily be tough because of the large number of tendons. It may be easily distinguished from the top as it contains two muscles. It is used principally for making beef tea or Hamburg Steak.
The vein is used for roasting or braising. The meat is usually stringy but of very good flavor.
The hind shin is used only for stews or soup stock. ”

“ Have your gridiron well buttered, and fire clear and hot. Lay the steaks on the bars and broil rapidly, turning often, not to lose a drop of juice. They will take three or four minutes longer to broil than beef-steaks. Have ready in a hot chafing-dish a piece of butter the size of an egg for each pound of venison, a pinch of salt, a little pepper, a tablespoonful currant-jelly for each pound, and a glass of wine for every four pounds. This should be liquid, and warmed by the boiling water under the dish by the time the steaks are done to a turn. If you have no chafing-dish, heat in a saucepan. ”

“ If, for this purpose, it should be necessary for want of steak-tongs to use a fork, it should be passed through the outer skin or fat of the steak, but never stuck into the lean, as by that means much of the gravy will 176escape. Most eaters prefer broiled beef or mutton, rather underdressed; but lamb or pork cutlets should always be thoroughly cooked. When a fowl or any other bird is cut asunder before it is broiled, the inside should first be laid to the fire: this should be done with kidneys also. ”

“ I dined on what they called robber steak—bits of bacon, onion, and beef, seasoned with red pepper, and strung on sticks and roasted over the fire, in the simple style of the London cat's meat! ”

“ The best part of the beef for steaks, is the seventh and eighth ribs, the fat and lean are better mixed, and it is more tender than the rump if it be kept long enough; cut the steaks half an inch thick, beat them a little, have fine clear coals, rub the bars of the gridiron with a cloth dipped in lard before you put it over the coals, that none may drip to cause a bad smell, put no salt on till you dish them, broil them quick, turning them frequently ”

“ Great expedition is necessary in sending broiled steaks to table; and, to have them in perfection, they should not be cooked till everything else prepared for dinner has been dished up, as their excellence entirely depends on their being served very hot. Garnish with scraped horseradish, or slices of cucumber. Oyster, tomato, onion, and many other sauces, are frequent accompaniments to rump-steak, but true lovers of this English dish generally reject all additions but pepper and salt. ”

“ If warm, they will be made into ragouts, or some form of dish with a brown or tomato sauce. It is well to bear in mind that white meats will be served with white or yellow sauces; dark meats with brown or tomato sauces. The coarse tops of the sirloin steak, the tough end of the rump steak, if broiled, cannot possibly be eaten, as the dry heat renders them difficult of mastication. Cut them off before the steak is broiled, and put them aside to use for Hamburg steaks, curry balls, timbale or cannelon, making a new and sightly dish from that which would otherwise have been thrown away. ”