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BEEF, Potted

A historical recipe from Mrs. Beeton's Dictionary of Every-Day Cookery The "All About It" Books, by Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary).

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A historical recipe

Mrs. Beeton's Dictionary of Every-Day Cookery The "All About It" Books, by Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary). Project Gutenberg eBook #50191.

From an old book: a historical recipe, not current advice. Its methods, additives and storage may be unsafe by today's standards. Its words name: preserving or pickling. Check current food-safety guidance before following this.

  • Preserving. Old preserving methods may not make food safe to keep. Use current tested guidance.

Ingredients 3 ingredients

  1. 2 lbs. of lean beef
  2. 1 tablespoonful of water
  3. ¼ lb. of butter

Cook safely

Keep children and pets away from the hob and the oven, and keep oven gloves and a lid within reach.

  • Oven and hot trays. Use dry oven gloves for trays and dishes: a hot tray looks just like a cold one. Open the oven door away from your face and let the first rush of heat out.
  • Boiling water and steam. Turn pan handles inward, away from the edge of the hob. Lift lids away from you, and pour hot water away from your body: steam burns too.
  • Sharp knives. Cut on a board that doesn't slip (a damp cloth under it helps), and curl the fingers of the hand that holds the food.

Method

  1. [COLD MEAT COOKERY.
  2. 1.] Ingredients.—2 lbs.
  3. of lean beef, 1 tablespoonful of water, ¼ lb.
  4. of butter, a seasoning to taste of salt, cayenne, pounded mace, and black pepper.
  5. Mode.—Procure a nice piece of lean beef, as free as possible from gristle, skin, &c., and put it into a jar (if at hand, one with a lid) with 1 tablespoonful of water.
  6. Cover it closely, and put the jar into a saucepan of boiling water, letting the water come within 2 inches of the top of the jar.
  7. Boil gently for 3½ hours, then take the beef, chop it very small with a chopping-knife, and pound it thoroughly in a mortar.
  8. Mix with it by degrees all, or a portion, of the gravy that will have run from it, and a little clarified butter;
  9. add the seasoning, put it in small pots for use, and cover with a little butter just warmed and poured over.
  10. If much gravy is added to it, it will keep but a short time;
  11. on the contrary, if a large proportion of butter is used, it may be preserved for some time.
  12. Time.—3½ hours.
  13. Average cost, for this quantity, 1_s.
  14. 10_d.
  15. Seasonable at any time.
  16. [COLD MEAT COOKERY.
  17. 2.] Ingredients.—The remains of cold roast or boiled beef, ¼ lb.
  18. of butter, cayenne to taste, 2 blades of pounded mace.
  19. Mode.—The outside slices of boiled beef may, with a little trouble, be converted into a very nice addition to the breakfast-table.
  20. Cut up the meat into small pieces and pound it well, with a little butter, in a mortar;
  21. add a seasoning of cayenne and mace, and be very particular that the latter spice is reduced to the finest powder.
  22. When all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed, put them into glass or earthen potting-pots, and pour on the top a coating of clarified butter.
  23. Seasonable at any time.
  24. Note.—If cold roast beef is used, remove all pieces of gristle and dry outside pieces, as these do not pound well.

Plating

Cookware for this recipe

  • Saucepan
  • Mortar and pestle
  • Chef's knife
  • Cutting board
Source Public domain in the USA
Credit

From Mrs. Beeton's Dictionary of Every-Day Cookery The "All About It" Books, by Beeton, Mrs. (Isabella Mary). Digitised by Project Gutenberg, eBook #50191 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50191). Public domain in the USA; its status may differ elsewhere.

What was changed: As printed, from the book's text; Project Gutenberg's header and licence removed. Ingredient lines were read out of the text by a program. A historical recipe, not current advice.