Sirloin

“ See that the butcher has properly jointed the meat before it goes home. For good tables, the pieces generally roasted are the sirloin and the fore and middle ribs. In genteel houses other parts are seldom served up as roast-beef. In small families the ribs are the most convenient pieces. A whole sirloin is too large, except for a numerous company, but it is the piece most esteemed. ”

“ Should sirloin of beef have been the Sunday dinner, you will know what to do with it, from directions already given; and as a sirloin of beef, even with the fillet out, will be more than required for one dinner, it may52 serve for a third day, dressed in one of the various ways I shall give in chapter on "Warming Over." You have still at your disposal the bouilli or beef from which you have made your pot-au-feu, which, if it has been carefully boiled, not galloped, nor allowed to fall to rags, is very good eating. ”

“ When the ribs and sirloin are tender, they are commonly roasted, and eaten with their own gravy. To make the sirloin still better, take out the fillet: cut it into thin slices, and put it into a stewpan, with a sauce made with capers, anchovies, mushrooms, a little garlic, truffles, and morels, the whole shred fine, turned a few times over the fire, with a little butter, and moistened with some good cullis. When the sauce is skimmed and seasoned to your taste, put in the fillet with the gravy of the meat, and heat and serve it over the ribs or sirloin. ”

“ The fillets may be accompanied by all vegetable purées and highly-seasoned sauces, the most suitable of the latter being the Poivrade and the Chasseur.
1141—SIRLOIN OF BEEF (Relevé)
Sirloin of beef is that part of the bullock’s back reaching from the haunch to the floating ribs, which is equivalent to the saddle in veal and mutton. This piece, however, cannot properly be called “sirloin,” except when it comprises the fillet or undercut, and the upper fillet (Fr.: contrefilet) , so-called to distinguish it from the undercut. ”

“ Even the attractive aroma of a hot roast sirloin, does not entice him from the hearthrug—for he has eaten, and is filled with a prime young cock pheasant, and prefers his comfortable and contemplative attitude beside the fender. ”

“ Tip of sirloin roast is desirable for a small family. Back of rump makes a superior roast for a large family, and is more economical than sirloin. It is especially desirable where a large quantity of dish gravy is liked, for in carving the meat juices follow the knife. Rib roasts contain more fat than either of the others, and are somewhat cheaper. ”

“ Cut slices of beef from the sirloin. Trim them neatly, and take off the bone and the skin. To make them tender beat them on both sides with a wooden beetle or with the end of a rolling-pin. Rub them with salt and pepper. Warm a sufficient quantity of butter, and when it is soft spread it over the steaks. Then sprinkle them with onions minced very fine. Cover them up in a dish, and let them lie an hour or more in the seasoning. Then broil them over a clear fire. Slice some cold boiled potatoes, fry them in butter, and lay them round the steaks. ”

“ The joint of beef known as the Porterhouse roast or sirloin roast consists of the sirloin, the tenderloin, and the flank. The flank is tough, and if roasted with the meat, is generally used for some made dish, such as croquettes, or hashed meat on toast; it is seldom carved at the table.
The tenderloin and sirloin must be carved across the grain. Cut thin slices parallel to the ribs or at right angles with the backbone, then cut close to the backbone, [16] thus separating the slices. Rib roasts are carved in the same way as the sirloin. ”

“ Ingredients: One pound of sirloin of beef (boiled) , two pounds of fresh suet, eight large apples, four pounds of currants, two pounds of sultanas, one pound of mixed candied peel, one and a half pounds of sugar, two nutmegs, cloves, one teaspoonful of ginger, rind of two oranges, and two lemons, juice of six oranges and lemons, one pint of port wine, one pint of brandy. ”

“ Why, I’ll swear I see no difference between a country gentleman and a sirloin; whenever the first laughs, or the latter is cut, there run out just the same streams of gravy! ”

“ He calls a sirloin a couple of bites!
Things having come to these pretty passes,
They bought him some magnifying glasses.
He put on the goggles, and said, "My eyes!
The world has come to its proper size!" ”

“ The beef is always preferable in a stewed or boiled state; although at our Ambassador's table, the other day, I saw and partook of a roasted sirloin which would have done honour to either tavern in Bishopsgate-street. The veal is the safest article to attack. ”

“ Like cooking the hare, you must first catch it. Choose a thick cut from the sirloin of a mature, well fatted beeve, avoiding any having dark yellow fat. Detach a portion of the narrow end and trim off any adhering inner skin. Place the steak upon a hot spider, and quickly turn it. ”

“ Although a saddle of mutton or sirloin or fillet of beef frequently comprise this course, one's choice is not necessarily confined to joints of meat, for turkeys, chickens, geese, ducks, pies, venison, etc., may all be served instead. If there are two removes, the poultry is served before the joint of meat.
Appropriate, plainly-dressed vegetables are always served with the "remove"; but it is a matter of choice as to whether they appear on the menu; and the same remark applies to such sauces as mint and horseradish, and other things which always accompany certain dishes. ”

“ Those who want the aloyau, or sirloin, only have to be quick. The ox, notwithstanding that he has a rope tied round his nose and horns, and is led by the butcher, evidently thinks it a great distinction to be tambouriné ”

“ When sirloins of beef, loins of veal or mutton, come in, part of the suet may be cut off for puddings, or to clarify; dripping will baste every thing as well as butter, fowls and game excepted; and for kitchen pies, nothing else should be used.
The fat off a neck or loin of mutton makes a far lighter pudding than suet.
Meat and vegetables that the frost has touched should be soaked in cold water two or three hours before they are used, or more if much iced. When put into hot water or to the fire until thawed, no heat will dress them properly. ”

“ The fire must be large and high, the heat, of course, very great. Many a cook's complexion, to say nothing of her temper, has suffered in the cause of our "noble sirloins." If the inside, or tender-loin, be taken out leaving all the fat to roast with the joint, this part may be cooked to resemble hare. For this purpose, spread some hare stuffing over the beef, roll that up tightly with tape, and tie it on the spit. Send this to table with the sauces for roast hare. When the whole joint is roasted, the inside will be sufficiently underdone to make hashes. ”

“ The great secret therefore is to avoid either extreme, and so to hit the middle point. Venison, beef, mutton, lamb, require to be equally done through all the parts, yet no portion of the gravy [163] should be wasted. Scorching is not roasting, and burning is not browning a joint. The best joint of beef for roasting in England is the sirloin. The fire should be brisk and clear, as well as large, steady, and intense in proportion to the size of the joint, and the meat should be perpetually basted, so that no cessation in the process should take place. ”

“ Nor is there anything in French cookery equal to our barons of beef, our noble sirloins, our exquisite haunches, and saddles, and legs, and loins of Southdown mutton; our noble rounds of boiled beef, and those prime five guinea haunches of venison, which one sees from June till September, at the establishments of the Messrs. Grove, at Charing Cross and Bond Street. In cutlets of all kinds, in fricassées, in ragouts, in salmis, quenelles, purées, filets, and more especially in the dressing of vegetables, our neighbours surpass us ”

“ The native meats are tough and flavourless. Private families get along very well with the articles of consumption enumerated above. The good sirloin or succulent saddle is rarely{92} seen upon their tables, though the hotels import largely; indeed, throughout Georgia, Carolina, &c., the substantials are always supplied from the eastern states. ”

“ Kellogg Pedigree Plants and How They Are Produced A juicy, tender sirloin costs more than a chuck steak; silver although it glitters is not as valuable as gold and you would expect to pay more for a wool garment than one of a lower grade fabric. ”

“ Remember that for carving joints the handles of the knife and fork are to be short and the blades and prongs long, and that for game and poultry the very reverse of this is necessary, greater firmness of blade and point in the latter case being requisite.
Beef.—First the sirloin. The fillet or under-cut, being always better when eaten hot than cold, should generally claim first attention. It must be cut transversely into thick slices, like a tongue; as also should be the fat at the thinner end, a portion of which should go with each slice of lean from the thicker. ”

“ Our game is much finer than in France, though we have nothing to equal the French poularde of the Mans, in the department of the Sarthe. Nothing in France can compare to our haunches and necks of venison, to our barons and sirloins of beef, to our haunches, saddles, and legs of mutton, to our barons and fore-quarters of lamb. Our beef is in season all the year round, and may be given as a roast from October to March. Our saddles, haunches, legs, and necks of mutton, may also be given as a roast for the first course, being varied with pork, veal, and roast turkey. ”

“ and imagine an angel suddenly sweeping down out of a better land and setting before him a mighty porterhouse steak an inch and a half thick, hot and sputtering from the griddle; dusted with a fragrant pepper; enriched with little melting bits of butter of the most unimpeachable freshness and genuineness; the precious juices of the meat trickling out and joining the gravy, archipelagoed with mushrooms; a township or two of tender, yellowish fat gracing an outlying district of this ample county of beefsteak; the long white bone which divides the sirloin from the tenderloin still in its place; ”

“ The harvesters came to the wheat, and the cut field, laid up in orderly bundles, row after row, was increased in size, multiplied or enhanced by the elasticity of lines spreading two ways over a rolling land. The harvest hands were lusty feeders, sitting heartily to the food Midi and Rowena and Susan prepared, pouring great goblets of soured milk from the tall white pitcher or helping themselves again to the roasted meat that was piled high on the platter. Some voice at the cattle barns beyond the road and the pasture sang from mid-summer forward. ”

“ A cow with a tendency to get fat is not profitable for the dairy. (2) A thin, open, angular cow will make expensive beef. (3) "The sire is half the herd." This means that a good sire is necessary to improve a herd of cattle. The improvement from scrubs upward is as follows: the first generation is one-half pure; the second is three-fourths pure; the third is seven-eighths pure; the fourth is fifteen-sixteenths pure, etc. (4) By keeping a record of the quantity and quality of milk each cow gives you can tell which are profitable to raise from and which are not. ”

“ We will not try bear unless we are put to it. However, at this same dinner—we read on—haunch of venison, saddle of mutton, roast beef of old England, which is really the roast beef which is of old Normandy now, all gave way to a Chinese lamb roasted whole, stuffed with pistachio nuts, and served with consousson, a preparation of wheat used among the Moors, Africans, and other natives of the north of Africa littoral, in place of rice. The Moorish young ladies are, it is said, fattened into beauty by an enforced meal of this strengthening compound. ”

“ Corn, which is rich in starch, is a great fat producer and should not be fed too freely in finishing off hogs for the best class of bacon. In addition to the important [Pg 6] muscle-producing feeds noted above, there are others rich in protein, such as bran, skim milk, buttermilk, etc. While corn is naturally the standby of all swine growers, the rations for bacon purposes should include these muscle-producing feeds in order to bring the best results. If lean, juicy meat is desired, these muscle forming foods should be continued to the close. ”

“ The most important results of man's agency in improving cattle by breeding, care, and management have been a tendency of the animals to mature at an earlier age, and readily to lay on flesh and fat, and an increase of the milk-production far beyond the needs of the calf, and prolongation of the natural period of milk-flow. At the present time the various recognized breeds of domestic cattle may be classified in a general way as beef cattle and dairy cattle. ”

“ And now that the corn was secure and the stackyard full, the deer came down from the hills and lay close to till nightfall, and then wrought havoc in the turnip-drills, and I noticed that, like cows in a field of grain, they spoiled more crop than they ate, both of potatoes and turnips; and, indeed, it angered a man to see his good root-crops haggled and thrawn with the thin-flanked beasts, like the lean cattle, and I thought to go round the hill dyke with the dogs on an October evening, and harry them back to their heather and bracken again. ”

“ Maize, or Indian corn, is grown in considerable quantities, for the express purpose of feeding pigs, which constitute a staple article for consumption. In every fazenda, salt pork, as well as fowls, is invariably to be found; and bacon is cured in large quantities, and sent to S. Paulo.
The breeding of horned cattle, is left in a great measure to nature, and is much less attended to than that of mules. Few cows are domesticated; and the little cheese that is made, if I may judge of the specimens I saw at S. Paulo, is of a quality almost disgusting. ”