Prepare and lard a fillet of beef as directed for the Removes (No. 417),
then put it in a basin in which you have put the following marinade:
four onions in slices, one carrot, a head of celery, ten sprigs of
thyme, eight bay-leaves, two cloves of garlic, and a little parsley,
which pass in half a pound of butter in a stewpan over a sharp fire five
minutes, then add one quart of vinegar, one of water, two ounces of
salt, and half a pound of brown sugar, with twenty peppercorns, ten
cloves, and two blades of mace, boil half an hour, but do not put in the
fillet till the marinade is cold, let remain a week, and when wanted put
it in a braising-pan with one quart of the marinade and two of veal
stock or consommé (No. 134), place it over a slow fire, and stew gently
for two or three hours, depending upon the size, take it out and place
it in a dish to cool, with a little stock over it, skim the remainder
and pass it through a napkin into a stewpan, place it upon the fire,
reduce it to half, skim it well, add a little clarified isinglass (No.
1372) sufficient to set it as a delicate aspic, six spoonfuls of tomata
sauce, and a little red currant jelly; having trimmed and dished the
fillet, sauce over, when quite cold garnish with a border of plovers’
eggs, and decorate three silver atelettes, by placing a fine dressed
cockscomb at the top, a fine truffle beneath, and a plover’s egg,
ornamented with truffles at the bottom, stick them in the fillet, one
slanting at each end, and the other upright in the centre, it is then
ready to serve.