Braised Beef
3 lbs. beef from lower part of round or face of rump
2 thin slices fat salt pork
1/2 teaspoon peppercorns
Carrot }
Turnip } 1/4 cup each, cut in dice
Onion }
Celery }
Salt and pepper
Try out pork and remove scraps. Wipe meat, sprinkle with salt and pepper, dredge with flour, and brown entire surface in pork fat. When turning meat, avoid piercing with fork or skewer, which allows the inner juices to escape. Place on trivet in deep granite pan or in earthen pudding-dish, and surround with vegetables, peppercorns, and three cups boiling water; cover closely, and bake four hours in very slow oven, basting every half-hour, and turning after second hour. Throughout the cooking, the liquid should be kept below the boiling-point. Serve with Horseradish Sauce, or with sauce made from liquor in pan.
Beef à la Mode
Insert twelve large lardoons in a four-pound piece of beef cut from the round. Make incisions for lardoons by running through the meat a large skewer. Season with salt and pepper, dredge with flour, and brown the entire surface in pork fat. Put on a trivet in kettle, surround with one-third cup each carrot, turnip, celery, and onion cut in dice, sprig of parsley, bit of bay leaf, and water to half cover meat. Cover closely, and cook slowly four hours, keeping liquor below the boiling-point. Remove to hot platter. Strain liquor, thicken and season to serve as a gravy. When beef is similarly prepared (with exception of lardoons and vegetables), and cooked in smaller amount of water, it is called Smothered Beef, or Pot Roast. A bean-pot (covered with a piece of buttered paper, tied firmly down) is the best utensil to use for a Pot Roast.
Pressed Beef Flank
Wipe, remove superfluous fat, and roll a flank of beef. Put in a kettle, cover with boiling water, and add one tablespoon salt, one-half teaspoon peppercorns, a bit of bay leaf, and a bone or two which may be at hand. Cook slowly until meat is in shreds; there should be but little
