Beef a la Mode

Ingredients

• Four to six pounds from the under part of the round of beef
• one cup of vinegar
• one onion, chopped fine
• three teaspoonfuls of salt
• half a teaspoonful of mustard
• half a teaspoonful of pepper
• half a teaspoonful of cloves
• half a teaspoonful of allspice
• ten or twelve strips of salt pork
• Cut two onions, half a carrot, and half a turnip fine
• half a carrot
• half a turnip
• one tablespoonful of mixed herbs
• one tablespoonful of butter
• one well-beaten egg

Method

1. 1

   Wipe and trim the beef, place in a dish, and pour over spiced vinegar.

2. 2

   Let it marinate for several hours.

3. 3

   Daub with salt pork, or stuff with seasoned bread crumbs.

4. 4

   Brown onions, carrot, and turnip in fat, then add to a stewpan with the meat.

5. 5

   Brown the meat, cover with boiling water, add herbs, and simmer for four hours.

6. 6

   Remove strings, place on a platter, thicken gravy, and strain over the meat.

7. 7

   Garnish with potato balls and small onions.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Mrs. Lincoln's Boston cook book (1884) by Lincoln, Mary Johnson Bailey "Mrs. D. A. Lincoln,", page 134. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Beef a la Mode. Four to six poimds from the under part of the round of beef^ cut thick. Wipe, and trim off the rough edges. Put it in a deep earthen dish, and pour over it spiced vine- gar, made b}^ boiling for five minutes one cup of vinegar, one onion ^ chopped fine ^ three teaspoonfuls of salt^ and half a teaspoonful each of mustard^ pepper^ cloves, and allspice. Let the meat stand several hours, turning it often. Then daub it with ten or twelve strips of salt pork, cut one third of an inch wide, and as long as the meat is thick, inserting them with a iarding-needle or carving-steel. Or make large incisions and stuff with bread crumbs, highlj^ seasoned with salt, pepper, onions, thyme, marjoram, etc., moistened with hot water J one tablespoonful of butter, and one well-beaten egg. Tie it into good shape with a narrow strip of cotton cloth, to keep in the stuffing. Dredge with flour. Cut two onions^ half a carrot, and half a turnip fine, and fry them in fat or drippings until brown. Put them in the stewpan. Then brown the meat all over in the fat ; put it on a trivet in the pan, and half cover with boiling water. Add one tablespoonful of mixed herbs, tied in a small strainer cloth. Cover closely, and simmer four hours, or until tender. Take it up carefully, remove the strings, and put it on a large platter. Kemove the fat from the gravy, add more seasoning, and thicken with flour wet in a little cold water I boil eight minutes, and strain it over the meat. Garnish with potato balls and snmll onions, - Beef Stew with Dumplings. The aitch bone is the nicest piece for a beef stew. There is some very juic}^ meat on the upper side in the large muscle which lies next to the top of the round , and it will serve a small family for a roast, and then may be made 15 226 The Boston Cook Book. into a stew. The flavor obtained bj roasting adds much to the stew ; for this reason, when the meat has not been cooked, brown it in a little fat before stewing. The bones should never be chopped and splintered, but sawed care- fully, and all the fine, crumbly pieces removed before cooking. Other good pieces for stews are two or three pounds from the middle cut of the shin^ or the flank end of a large sirloin roast, or the upper part of the chuck rib. Any part that has bone and fat, as well as lean, either cooked or uncooked, makes the best-flavored stv^^w. The fat and bones may be removed before serving, and such pieces are much better than dry, lean meat. Remove the meat from the bones, and put them with part of the fat into the stewpan. Cut the meat into small pieces, and if not previously cooked, dredge with salt^ pepper, smii flour, and brown all over in salt pork fat or drippings. Put it into the stewpan. Cut two onions^ one small white turnip^ and half a small carrot (if you like the flavor) into half-inch dice. Cook them slightly in the dripping, and add them to the stew. Add boiling ivater enough to cover, and sim- mer two or three hours, or till the meat is tender. Remove the bones, and skim off the fat. While the meat is cook- ing pare six or eight small potatoes^ and soak them in cold water. When the meat is tender, pour boiling water over them, and boil five minutes to take out the acrid taste. Drain, and add them to the stew. Add salt and pepper to taste. When dumplings are to be served with the stew, add them when the potatoes are nearly done. The liquor should come up just even with the potatoes, that the durnp- plings may rest on them. Cover closely to keep in the steam, and cook ten minutes without lifting the cover. Take out the dumplings, put the meat and i)otatoes in the centre of a hot platter, and the dumplings round the edge. Remove the fat, and add more salt and pepper^ if needed, to the broth ; and if not thick enough, add a little flour wet smooth in cold vmfer^ and boil five minutes. Add one cup of strained tomato and 07ie teaspoonful of chopped parsley. The Boston Cook Book. 227 Pour the gravy over the meat, putting part of it in a sauce tureen if there be more thdn the platter will hold. Dumplings, — One pint of jiour^ half a teaspoonful of salt^ one teaspoonful of cream of tartar.^ and half a teaspoonful of soda (or two teaspoonfuls of baking-powder) . Mix with one scant cup of sweet milk into a dough soft enough to handle easil3\ Pat it out half an inch thick. Cut in small rounds, or mix softer and drop by the spoonful into the boiling stew. Cook ten minutes. Rolled Flank of Beef. Four or Jive pounds of ihQ flank. Wipe, and remove the skin, membrane, and extra fat. Pound and trim until of uniform thickness. Make a stuffing with one cup of cracker crumbs., two tablespoonfuls of fine chopped salt pork., half a teaspoonful of salt., one saltspoonful each of thyme., marjoram., and sage.^ half a saltspoonful of peppe

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.