Take the bone out of a round of fresh beef, and beat the meat well
all over to make it tender. Chop and mix together equal quantities
of sweet marjoram and sweet basil, the leaves picked from the
stalks and rubbed fine. Chop also some small onions or shalots,
and some parsley; the marrow from the bone of the beef; and a
quarter of a pound, or more of suet. Add two penny rolls of stale
bread grated; and pepper, salt, and nutmeg to your taste. Mix all
these ingredients well, and bind them together with the beaten
yolks of four eggs. Fill with this seasoning the place from whence
you took out the bone; and rub what is left of it all over the
outside of the meat. You must, of course, proportion the quantity
of stuffing to the size of the round of beef. Fasten it well with
skewers, and tie it round firmly with a piece of tape, so as to
keep it compact and in good shape. It is best to prepare the meat
the day before it is to be cooked.
Cover the bottom of a stew-pan with slices of bacon. Lay the beef
upon them, and cover the top of the meat with more slices of
bacon. Place round it four large onions, four carrots, and four
turnips, all cut in thick slices. Pour in from half a pint to a
pint of water, and if convenient, add two calves' feet cut in
half. Cover the pan closely, set it in an oven and let it bake for
at least six hours; or seven or eight, according to the size.
When it is thoroughly done, take out the beef and lay it on a dish
with the vegetables round it. Remove the bacon and calves' feet,
and (having skimmed the fat from the gravy carefully) strain it
into a small sauce-pan; set it on hot coals, and stir into it a
tea-cupful of port wine, and the same quantity of pickled
mushrooms. Let it just come to a boil, and then send it to table
in a sauce-tureen.
If the beef is to be eaten cold, you may ornament it as follows:--
Glaze it all over with beaten white of egg. Then cover it with a
coat of boiled potato grated finely. Have ready some slices of
cold boiled carrot, and also of beet-root. Cut them into the form
of stars or flowers, and arrange them handsomely over the top of
the meat by sticking them on the grated potato. In the centre
place a large bunch of double parsley, interspersed with flowers
cut out of raw turnips, beets, and carrots, somewhat in imitation
of white and red roses, and marygolds. Fix the flowers on wooden
skewers concealed with parsley.
Cold a-la-mode beef prepared in this manner will at a little
distance look like a large iced cake decorated with sugar flowers.
You may dress a fillet of veal according to this receipt. Of
course it will require less time to stew.