No. 774 — Italian-Style Stufato
English historical translation of Molokhovets recipe No. 774 from the 1901 Russian cookbook, retaining original methods and measures.
Take a tender six-pound piece of beef and lard it with bacon fat, garlic, whole peppercorns and cloves. Sprinkle with salt and tie tightly with thick thread.
Grease the inside of a glazed earthenware pot with ¼ Russian pound of Finnish butter and put the beef inside. Pour in two glasses of red Médoc wine.
The historical method puts the pot in a still-hot bread oven overnight. In the morning remove the dough seal, add another glass of Médoc and, if there is too little liquid, some beef broth. Stir in preserved tomatoes and leave the pot at the edge of the stove to simmer very gently.
At dinner remove the meat, slice it and pour over its cooking sauce.
Alternatively cook stufato on the stovetop, starting at eight in the morning for a four o'clock dinner and keeping the pot tightly covered at a gentle simmer. In this version add the wine and tomatoes two hours before dinner.
To provide
6 Russian pounds of beef and ¼ pound of bacon fat 2–3 garlic cloves, pepper and cloves 5 bay leaves | 1 bottle of Médoc ⅛ Russian pound of butter and preserved tomatoes |