English and French cookery

Steak, Plain Broiled. — Take rump, buttock, or flank steak, any size, cut thick ; pepper all over, and rub well in ; place on cleaned gridiron, previously greased, over clear fire ; throw on a few dry sticks or small lumps of dripping, and flare both sides of broil until lightly brown. Then lift off until flames have ceased, and finish broiling slowly, turning frequently. Place on a hot dish, and pour over hot mushroom ketchup or Lea and Perrin’s Worcester Sauce. Garnish with a large lump of butter. If care has been taken to avoid pricking the flesh, all the juices will be retained. Steaks, Broiled (French way). — Two rump steaks should be cut about half an inch thick ; take care to have your fire clear, and rub a clean gridiron well with beef suet. When hot, lay on your steaks ; let them broil till the side next the fire is brown ; then turn, and when the other side is brown, lay on a hot dish, with a slice of butter between each ; sprinkle a little pepper and salt over them, and let stand 2 or 3 minutes ; in the meantime, slice a shallot as thin as possible into a spoonful of water ; lay on your steaks again, and keep turning until they are done ; then dish, pour over the shallot and water, and send to table. Add for sauce horseradish and pickles. Garnish with scraped horseradish. It is an improvement, on turning the steaks the last time, to dredge them out of a dredger with fine holes, with 3 or 4 tablespoonfuls of Leman’s biscuit or rusk powder, 1 tablespoonful of salt, 1 of pepper, 1 of either eschalot powder or mushroom powder, or finely pulverised salts of celery, well mixed together. The steak to be placed in a very hot dish, with a little mushroom ketchup and a small piece of butter, and served immediately. CO Steak, Broiled. — Cut 1 pound of steak off either rump or sirloin of beef (you may leave it whole or divide into nice pieces), dip in olive oil and put aside for a few hours ; then broil over a clear fire, and serve with sauce made as follows : Put a piece of butter, size of a walnut, in a saucepan with some finely-chopped onion and parsley ; add a little lemon juice, pepper and salt ; stir on the fire for 5 minutes, and serve very hot. Broiled Perfection Steak. — A West End Club Recipe. — Take 2 to 3 pounds of rump steak (good buttock or thick flank will answer) cut an inch thick ; beat well with a rolling-pin — you will not break the rolling-pin. Pepper thickly on both sides and edges, rubbing well in with clean fingers. Place over a very low clear coal, coke, or ember fire until partly cooked, turning occasionally, and taking special care not to prick the ‘broil.’ Continue to put on the fire some previously dried deal sticks — a small piece of fat may be thrown on to start a blaze — and finish cooking in the flames, turning repeatedly. A reversible gridiron should be used ; but I have cooked dozens of steaks this way on a single one. By the time the steak is a deep brown, almost black colour, it will be cooked ; but the exact moment for removing can be ascertained by the firmness, pressing the meat with a spoon. The flames will destroy all taste of the pepper, and when cut, the hot dish will fill with gravy. Flavour and garnish to fancy.