by Julia Child
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTES: You may complete recipe to this point; return beef to casserole and pour the sauce over it. Cover and keep warm, basting occasionally, in a 150-degree oven or upon 2 asbestos mats over low heat on top of the stove. For serving several hours or 2 days later, let cool, then cover and refrigerate; reheat for half an hour or so, basting and turning meat several times, in a 325-degree oven.
7) Serving
CARVING AT THE TABLE. Place the meat on a warm platter, spoon a little of the hot sauce over it to glaze its surface. Decorate platter with sprigs of parsley or watercress. Pass separately the rest of the sauce and whatever vegetables you are serving.
SERVING THE MEAT SLICED, ON A PLATTER. Carve the meat in the kitchen and arrange in overlapping slices on a warm, slightly buttered platter. Spoon some of the sauce around the meat, and decorate platter with parsley or watercress, or with whatever vegetable garnish you wish. Pass rest of sauce and other vegetables separately.
Leftovers
Leftovers, whether sliced or not, may be reheated in the sauce, if any is left over, or in another sauce with the same flavorings. See also the tous nus, and the list of stuffings, both calling for ground leftover braised beef.
To serve cold
A delicious salade de boeuf à la parisienne is made with cold braised beef in Volume I, page 543, or an aspic, boeuf mode en gelée, again in Volume I, on page 556.
VARIATIONS
Boeuf en Caisse, Surprise
[Stuffed, Braised Pot Roast of Beef—Beef Case]
Like that present for the man who has everything, this is an enjoyable conceit for the cook who has cooked everything who wants to surprise guests who have eaten everything. A splendid piece of beef comes to the table looking like a typical boeuf mode. But no, it is not. When the host begins to serve, it is revealed that the beef was ingeniously hollowed out before braising, filled with a fragrant garniture of onions, mushrooms, olives, and herbs, and these slowly imparted their flavors to the meat while it cooked. You might accompany this with the purée of yellow squash and white beans, or the purée of rice and turnips with herbs and garlic. Either a plainly cooked green vegetable or broiled tiny tomatoes might also be included, and the red wine choices would again be Burgundy, Côtes-du-Rhône, or Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
For 8 to 10 people
1) Forming the beef case
A solid, boneless 6- to 7-lb. piece of braising beef, preferably loaf shaped (top round, face rump, or bottom round)
Trim all fat and gristle from outside of meat and cut off any protruding pieces, to make a neat shape. (The loaf shape illustrated is easiest to stuff and to carve, but a thick wedge will do.)
White string
Rendered pork fat, goose fat, or cooking oil
A heavy, 12-inch frying pan (no-stick recommended)
Meat is now to be browned, because it is easier to do so now than later; dry thoroughly in paper towels, and make several firm ties around its length and circumference, to hold its shape. Heat fat or oil in pan to very hot but not smoking, and brown meat on all sides and the two ends. Remove meat to a cutting board and discard trussing string. (If browning fat has burned, discard it, otherwise leave in pan for Step 2.)
The first step is to make the cover: starting at one end of what you have decided is the topside of the beef, cut an even slice ½ inch thick to within ½ inch at the other end, where slice remains attached like the cover of a book.
Bend the cover back. In the main body of the meat, cut a rectangular incision 1 inch deep and ½ inch from outside edges.
Make lengthwise and crosswise cuts 1 inch deep and about ¾ inch apart, to form cubes.
Cut out cubes of meat with scissors or with a knife. You now have a hinged case of beef with probably 2 inches of solid meat at the bottom, ½ inch at the sides, and an inch of hollow space underneath the cover.
2) The mushroom and olive garniture or filling—for about 2 cups
The cubes of beef removed from the case
The frying pan from Step 1, and more fat or oil as needed
A mixing bowl
1½ cups (about 6 ounces) quartered fresh mushrooms, washed and dried
2 cups sliced onions
¼ cup mild-cured ham (or supermarket ham slice) cut into ¼-inch dice
1 to 2 large cloves mashed garlic
4 medium-sized black, oil-cured olives, pitted and diced
½ tsp thyme
1 egg
Pepper and salt
Cut the beef cubes so all are approximately ⅜ inch across; dry in paper towels. Heat fat or oil in pan until very hot but not smoking; rapidly brown beef cubes, tossing and turning them for several minutes, shaking and swirling the pan by its handle. When browned, scoop into bowl, leaving fat in pan. Add more fat or oil, if necessary, to film pan by 1⁄16 inch, and brown the mushrooms, tossing and turning for several minutes over high heat. Scoop into bowl; add the onions to the pan with a little more fat or oil if needed. Turn heat to low, stir up onions, cover pan, and cook slowly for 8 to 10 minutes until tender; raise heat, and stir for 2 to 3 minutes until onions are very lightly browned. Scoop into the mixing bowl, stirring in also the ham, garlic, diced olives, herbs, and egg. Season to taste, but be careful of salt because olives are salty.
3) Filling and tying the case
White string
Either a sheet of pork fat ¼ inch thick and large enough to cover top and sides of beef;
Or caul fat;
Or well-washed cheesecloth
Sprinkle interior of beef case with salt and pepper, heap in the garniture, and turn the hinged cover down to enclose it.
Make 1 or 2 loops of string around length of beef and enough around circumference to hold cover securely in place over garniture.
Either drape the fat over the beef and tie in place with string, or wrap and tie the entire case in caul fat or a double thickness of damp cheesecloth.
(*) AHEAD-OF-TIME NOTE: May be completed to this point as much as a day in advance; wrap in plastic and refrigerate.
4) Braising the beef—3 to 4 hours
Because the beef has already been browned, you need only follow the general method outlined for the preceding daube with its brown roux, here, or the simpler braising method for the beef stew here with its beurre-manié sauce thickening.
5) Serving
Unless the beef is carved and served at the table, there will be no surprise. After removing strings and other extraneous matter, place beef on a hot platter, spoon a little of the sauce over it, and decorate platter with vegetables or parsley. To serve, pry cover loose and lift it, so that the garniture may be admired, then replace and cut straight through the meat as though it were a loaf of bread. Heap the garniture of mushrooms, olives, and beef cubes over each serving, and moisten with a big spoonful of sauce.
HOW TO LARD A PIECE OF MEAT
In the old days, when meat was tougher and far leaner than it is today, and when venison and game were plentiful, strips of pork fat were inserted through it to baste and moisten the interior of the meat during cooking. Now meat is larded more often because it is the stylish thing to do, and the bits of pork fat, ham, or whatever has been inserted make attractive designs when the meat is sliced.
Larding fat—pork fat and beef suet
The best fat to use is fresh pork fatback because it is hard and smooth. If you cannot find it, use blanched fat bacon or salt pork, or fat from the outside of a fresh pork loin. (If you do not wish to use pork fat, substitute suet from the outside of a rib or loin of beef.) Cut the fat into whatever length and width will fit your larding needle, making a test piece first to be sure you will have a snug fit; chill the fat for easy handling.
The larding process
In order to lard meat you must have a larding needle, or lardoire, a hollow tube or trough of steel shaped like a giant steel pen point with a wooden handle. Starting just back from the point, press the strip of fat down into the trough of the lardoire, being sure fat fits snugly so that it
will not slip out when the lardoire is pushed through the meat.
Meat is larded with strips of fat running parallel to the grain, so that when the meat is sliced you will cut across the strips of fat. Insert point of lardoire into one end of meat, and with a continuous, slow, clockwise rotation, push the instrument gradually through until point of lardoire and ½ inch of fat protrude from the other end of the meat.
With the point of a small knife, gently dig end of fat-strip out of trough at protruding end of lardoire.
Then dig other end of fat-strip out of trough at the other end of the lardoire.
Hold the thumb of your left hand in the trough of the lardoire against the fat-strip, thus preventing fat from slipping out of meat while you slowly, with a slight rocking rotation left and right, withdraw the lardoire from the meat leaving the fat in its place.
Insert as many other fat-strips as you wish—a piece of meat 4½ to 5 inches in diameter will take 4 to 6. Tie the meat into shape with strong white string.
BEEF TENDERLOIN
Filet de Boeuf
The central and the right-hand sections together, in this drawing, constitute what is usually meant in American retail meat markets by a whole tenderloin: to be technically correct, it should be called the whole short-loin tenderloin. It weighs 4½ to 5 pounds untrimmed, and contains 3½ to 4 pounds of usable meat. When you are serving 6 to 8 people, you may wish the central section only, le coeur du filet, which will give you a roast of 2½ to 3 pounds that averages 8 to 10 inches in length. For 10 to 12 people you will need the whole piece, and may fold the last 2 inches of the tail (right-hand side) back upon itself as illustrated further on, to make a 12-inch roast that is 3½ to 4 inches in diameter when tied.
If by chance your market does cut whole sides of beef, you may be able to buy the whole tenderloin with butt end attached. Depending on the cutting method, the butt alone contains only a little over 1½ pounds of usable meat, although it weighs slightly more than 3 pounds; to be deprived of it, therefore, is no great loss, tenderloins costing what they do.
TRIMMING A TENDERLOIN
Most meat markets will usually trim, tie, and lard the tenderloin for you, but you should be able to do it yourself so that you will know how the meat is constructed.
When you have an untrimmed tenderloin in front of you, you will note a definite difference in the 2 long, flat sides. On one there is a series of thick ridges and depressions more or less marbled with fat depending on the grade of the beef carcass; this side is where the filet rested against the 6 vertebrae of the backbone in the small of the back. We shall call this the underside. The other side, which we shall call the top, will have some loose fat clinging to it, mostly at the large end and at the edges; along the central length you will see the main muscle of the tenderloin, covered with a shiny membrane. Starting on this side, rather gingerly pull the loose fat from the top of the membrane and along the edges, being very careful not to detach the 2 long straps of meat lying against each side of the main muscle. The smaller of the two straps is flattish, as though it were a flaplike continuation of the underside; underneath the larger of the straps, la chainette, is a line of fat that should not be disturbed because it attaches the meat to the main muscle.
This is the whole short-loin tenderloin (central and right-hand portions of diagram), showing the 2 chains of meat attached to the length of the main muscle. Do not worry too much if you partially detach them; you are going to tie the meat anyway before roasting, and the ties will make the chains adhere. Although some people advise removing these chains of meat, you will diminish your roast by more than half its weight if you do so: you will end up with 2 thin strings of meat good only for sautéing or skewering, and your filet proper will weigh only 2 pounds. This is entirely a matter of your own preference, of course; we leave them on.
After pulling excess fat from the top of the meat, you must also remove the shiny membrane that covers the main muscle on this side, and as much of it on the large chain of meat as you easily can. Remove the membrane in half-inch strips the length of the meat, scraping under it with a small, sharp knife. (If you happen to have an actual whole tenderloin with butt included, you will notice that the main muscle with its membrane continues into the butt for several inches before it loses itself. You may wish to separate this main muscle from the rest, making it a continuation of your roast. The surrounding meat will make excellent steaks or sautés. It is rather a question of how it looks to you while you are trimming: as long as all the membranes are removed, all of the meat is good either for roasting or sautéing.)
Finally, inspect the underside of the meat and remove what you consider to be obviously excess fat; a reasonable amount left on will help to baste the meat as it roasts. Meat is now trimmed and ready for cooking. The following directions are for roasting; directions for steaks are in Volume I, pages 291 and 296–300. Do not forget the sautés of beef, Volume I, pages 325–8, which are delicious for meat from the butt, the chains, and the tail; you may also adapt sautés for any leftover cooked tenderloin.
TYING AND LARDING THE TENDERLOIN
Whether it is roasted or braised, and whether you are using the heart (central section) or the whole tenderloin, the circumference must be tied to keep the meat together and to force it into cylindrical rather than oval shape for even cooking. Use the rather thick, soft, white butcher’s string, often called corned-beef twine, if you can find it. The top of the meat is the side formerly covered by a shiny membrane, as opposed to the ridged side, which rested against the back bone.
When you are roasting the whole tenderloin, turn the last 2 inches of the tail back under its ridged side to make the roast even in diameter throughout its length.
When you wish to tie the meat without larding it, tie or wind firm loops of string around the circumference at 1¼-inch intervals.
To lard and tie the meat, drape pork fat or suet over the top of the meat and down under the folded tail to hold it in place. Tie a loop of string around the length of the meat. (If you do not have long strips of fat, overlap short ones as shown in the illustrations.)
Then arrange strips of fat over the sides of the meat; tie loops of string around the circumference.
If you can find or order caul fat, that marvelous membrane webbed with fat that comes from inside the pig, it is perfect for wrapping a tenderloin that is roasted with a covering of mushroom duxelles or mirepoix, or for the sliced, stuffed tenderloin. Here the tenderloin is laid on the caul fat and the flavoring is being spread over it.
Fold a double thickness of caul fat around the meat to enclose it completely, and tie in place. The caul fat browns and tends to merge with the meat and stuffing.
FILET DE BOEUF POÊLÉ
[Tenderloin of Beef, Casserole-roasted with Aromatic Vegetables]
A favorite roasting method that comes to us from the old classic cuisine is poêlage, meaning to brown the meat and then roast it in a covered casserole with les aromates. This is particularly successful with beef tenderloin because the aromatic ingredients, even though their contact with the meat is brief, subtly enhance its flavor and aroma. In addition, you have a deliciously flavored base for the sauce. Because internal meat temperature rises very quickly when beef is done in a covered roaster, watch it carefully after your meat thermometer reaches 110 degrees. (Make a guess if your thermometer starts at 130 degrees.)
Suggested Accompaniments: A garnish of watercress and sautéed mushrooms around the meat, and endives à la dauphinoise (gratin of endives and sliced potatoes); red Bordeaux-Médoc wine.
For 10 to 12 people
1) Preliminaries to roasting
A tenderloin of beef, 3½ to 4 lbs., trimmed and tied
Olive oil or cooking oil
A heavy 12-inch frying pan (an oval “fish fryer” is ideal for this)
A heavy, oval, flameproof casserole just large enough to hold beef (such as 12 by 9 inches)
Salt and pepper
½ cup sliced onions
½
cup sliced carrots
1 bay leaf, broken
½ tsp thyme
A piece of fresh pork fat or suet 12 by 9 inches and ¼ inch thick
2½ cups veal stock or beef bouillon