No. 772 — Travel Beef, or Boeuf à la Mode
English historical translation of Molokhovets recipe No. 772 from the 1901 Russian cookbook, retaining original methods and measures.
Take about eight Russian pounds of beef from the hindquarter or rump, as described in the source note, and lard it with strips of bacon fat about a finger thick.
Put it in an earthenware pot and pour over one historical bottle of beer vinegar and ¼ bottle of good Rhine or ordinary wine vinegar. Add twenty-five allspice berries, two onions, a zolotnik of cloves and five bay leaves.
Leave the meat in the vinegar for three days. Add 1½ glasses of cold water to the pot, seal it with dough and put in a hot oven for four hours.
Take out the meat and strain all the cooking liquid. Stir the liquid with one raw egg and four sheets of gelatin; add good red beef stock if necessary to cover the meat completely. Bring to the boil three times, strain and pour over the beef. Let the sauce set.
The author presents the result as convenient food for a summer journey and as a cold tea-time appetizer.
To provide
8 Russian pounds of beef and 1 pound of bacon fat 1 bottle of red beer vinegar ¼ bottle of ordinary wine vinegar | 2 onions and 1 zolotnik of cloves 2 bay leaves, as listed 4 gelatin sheets and 25 allspice berries |