FoodNet

The spirit of cookery

1895

Page 278

Presented as published in 1895. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
Hashed Beef and Broiled Bones are favourites of many ; the latter are particularly patronized for breakfast on board of our great steamers. We have now to consider yexiouQ preparations ofbeeftcsed as entries. The head of the ox in England is not properly butcher’s meat, but goes to the tripe-shop. It is very unwieldy, and should always be boned before being brought to the kitchen. It should then be soaked, first in warm water for three hours, then in cold during the entire night following (Kitchiner). This is required to remove the strong natural flavour of the part. It may also be ueces- ENTREES OF BEEF 441 sary on account of the experience which the ox-head has to make between the killing and the tripe-shop. According to Kitchiner, an ox-cheek requires, when not boned, three hours’ boiling before the tissues come off the bones. He nevertheless terms it an economical dish. In the military kitchens at Aldershot the ox-cheeks are incorporated in a brawn, the prime cost of which is a penny halfpenny the pound. The ox-cheek admits of several forms of prepara- tion : of braising, pressing, cooling and trimming, cutting into slices, and dressing with beetroot sauce (d la Polonaise), or when braised, crumbing and baking, and serving with sweet sauce (d I’Allemancle), or stuffing with forcemeat, frying, garnishing with eggs, and serving with Portug^iesa sweet sauce. Of this mode of frying the braised cheek in a covering of sauce {e.g., Atelet), and a crumbing with cheese and butter, there are many varieties. Ox-cheek braised may also be cut in twelve pieces of equal size, or ‘ hand- some pieces fit to help at table,’ and stewed, to be finished with different garnishes, and accompanied with a puree of green peas or haricot beans. Several other forms, e.g., d la Provenqale, d la Soubise, a la Bretonne, etc., are too strongly flavoured. The London consumers of ox-cheek generally drown it in onions. Kitchiner gives a long recipe for Ox-head Soup, which is laborious ; the small-cut meat, etc., remains in the soup ; this, therefore, amounts to an ensouped ragout. It requires two dozen berries of allspice. Of Ox-palates ‘ Dons de Comus ’ says : ‘ The ox-palate is only a trifle by itself, but culinary art gives it value, and causes it often to be preferred to excellent and more expen- sive things.’ This membranous covering of the palate of the ox is a layer of white fibi'ous tissue, fixed to the bony roof of the mouth, and covered on the side towards the tongue by a thin mucous membrane. It is corrugated from side to side, the corrugations being divided by a furrow 442 THE SPIRIT OF COOKERY