The Essential James Beard Cookbook (17 page)

Place the roast on a rack in a shallow roasting pan and roast bone side down in a preheated 500°F oven for 35 to 40 minutes, basting twice with
2 to 3 tablespoons melted butter or rendered beef fat
. Reduce the heat to 325°F and continue to roast the beef for 30 minutes longer. Test the internal temperature by thrusting the meat thermometer into the thickest part of the eye of the rib, being careful not to touch the bone at any point. Remove the thermometer and continue roasting, basting every 20 minutes with the pan juices or butter. You may salt the roast after any of the bastings. Test again for temperature after 30 minutes and make a final test within 20 minutes after that. Estimate about 12 to 14 minutes of cooking time per pound of roast. When the roast reaches 120° to 125°F for medium-rare, transfer it to a hot platter or carving board and let it rest in a warm place for at least 20 minutes. If you are making Yorkshire pudding, turn up the oven to 450°F and bake the pudding while the beef is resting. Pour off and measure ½ cup of the beef drippings (melted beef fat); add vegetable oil, if needed.

Yorkshire Pudding for Roast Beef

Makes 6 servings

2 large eggs

1 cup whole milk

1 cup sifted all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

½ cup beef drippings (melted beef fat), heated

Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 450°F. Whisk the eggs in a medium bowl until very pale and quite light in texture, then gradually whisk in the milk and flour. (Or, put the eggs, milk, and flour in an electric blender and blend just until the batter is smooth.) Season with the salt and pepper. Put a metal baking pan measuring about 11 by 14 by 2
½
inches in the oven and let it get very hot. Remove and pour in the hot drippings and then the batter. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375°F and continue to bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the pudding has risen and is puffed and brown. Do not open the oven door during the first 20 minutes of baking. Cut into squares and serve immediately with roast beef.

To carve, turn the roast on the side that gives it the best balance for carving and hold it in place with the back of a heavy fork while carving with a good sharp knife. Serve it with the pan juices and Yorkshire pudding, or with a
Quick Brown
or
Béarnaise Sauce
. If you like roast potatoes with your roast beef, place peeled, parboiled pieces of potatoes in the pan juices after the searing period and cook them with the meat, turning once during the cooking time and basting along with the beef. Salt and pepper them and arrange them around the carved roast, or serve them in a separate dish with a sprinkling of chopped fresh parsley.

ROAST FILLET OF BEEF

MAKES 8 TO 10 SERVINGS

To my thinking, a beef fillet, an expensive but meltingly tender boneless piece of meat that should always be served very rare, is best roasted quickly at a high temperature with several bastings. Now that so many ranges are equipped with self-cleaning ovens, high-temperature roasting, an inevitably messy business, presents few problems and seems to be increasingly popular.

When you buy the fillet, have the filet mignon (the thin tapering piece at one side of the fillet) removed, as it is too thin for roasting. [
Editor: Some butchers call this the chain of the roast.
] Use it for another recipe—beef scallops or brochette of beef. Ask the butcher to bard the fillet, that is, to wrap it with two sheets of pork fat or flattened beef suet and tie it well. [
Editor: Lacking a top-notch butcher, use blanched bacon: Simmer bacon strips in water for 5 minutes, drain, cool, and lay over the tenderloin.
]

Serve it with a
Béarnaise Sauce
.
Potatoes Anna
and a purée of broccoli go well with this. Drink a fine red Burgundy.

4- to 5-pound fillet of beef (beef tenderloin), well trimmed with all fat and tendon removed, then tied and barded with fat

6 tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter, melted, or use 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and mixed with 3 tablespoons olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place the barded fillet on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Roast in a preheated 500°F oven for 25 minutes, basting it well every 8 minutes with the melted butter. Remove the barding fat after the fillet has roasted for 20 minutes to allow the surface to brown, and season the fillet with salt and pepper. After 25 minutes, test the internal temperature by inserting a meat thermometer in the center of the beef—for rare fillet, it should register 120°F. When the meat reaches that temperature, transfer it to a hot platter or a carving board and let it rest for at least 5 minutes before carving. Unlike other beef roasts, I always carve a delicate rare fillet into slices ½ inch thick.

ELIZABETH DAVID’S STUFFED FILLET OF BEEF

MAKES 10 TO 12 SERVINGS

This stuffed fillet needs slightly longer cooking at a lower temperature to allow the meat to become permeated with the flavors of the stuffing. Serve with
Quick Brown Sauce
and tiny buttered new potatoes.

4 to 5 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons olive oil

¼ pound thinly sliced ham, preferably Smithfield, cut into julienne strips

10 anchovy fillets in oil, drained and coarsely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

16 to 18 Mediterranean black olives, pitted and coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon dried thyme

½ teaspoon dried rosemary

¼ cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

2 large eggs

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

5- to 6-pound fillet of beef (beef tenderloin), well trimmed with all fat and tendon removed

2 to 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, for brushing the fillet

Cook the onions in the 3 tablespoons butter and oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until just limp, about 5 minutes. Add the ham, anchovies, garlic, olives, thyme, rosemary, and parsley and mix well. Remove from heat, quickly stir in the eggs, return to low heat, and stir until mixture thickens, about 3 minutes. Season with very little salt, as the anchovies and ham are salty, and 1 teaspoon pepper.

Cut the fillet crosswise into 1-inch slices, cutting about two-thirds of the way down. Spoon the stuffing between the slices. Reshape and tie securely with kitchen twine. Brush well with melted butter. Place on a rack in a roasting pan, and roast in a preheated 350°F oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a meat thermometer inserted in the center of the roast registers 125°F for medium rare. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Editor: Elizabeth David is generally acknowledged to be the doyenne of modern British cookery, and her reign as such in England roughly coincided with Beard’s tenure as the dean of American cooking.

LONDON BROIL

(BROILED FLANK STEAK)

MAKES 4 SERVINGS

Although this thin fibrous steak, the triangular piece on the underside, below the loin, is not a tender cut, it is delicious if broiled very fast and sliced very thinly. If you can, get a prime flank steak, which will be a tenderer, better quality. If not, buy the choice grade. Serve with
Sauce Diable
and sliced French bread. Flank steak also makes great sandwiches.

Rub the steak well on both sides with
kosher salt
,
freshly ground black pepper,
and a little
Tabasco
.

Preheat the broiler. Rub the broiling rack with
vegetable oil
; arrange the flank steak on the rack and put the boiler pan and rack on the top oven shelf, so that the surface of the steak is 1½ to 2 inches from the heat. Broil for 3 to 4 minutes on each side for rare meat—which this has to be.

Carve into very thin slices on the diagonal, slicing across the fibers, which will give you tender, edible pieces of meat.

VARIATION

TERIYAKI FLANK STEAK:
Do not season the meat. Make a teriyaki marinade by mixing
½
cup Japanese soy sauce
,
½
cup olive oil
,
¼
cup dry sherry
,
2 chopped garlic cloves
,
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger,
and the finely
grated zest of 1 tangerine or orange
in a bowl. Put the steak in a dish or deep platter in which it can lay flat and pour the marinade over it. Marinate for 2 to 3 hours, turning the steak occasionally. Broil as before, 1½ to 2 inches from the heat, for 3 to 4 minutes a side. When you turn the meat, brush the upturned side with the marinade.

BEEF SHASHLIK

MAKES 4 TO 6 SERVINGS

Serve the shashlik with steamed rice,
Bulghur Pilaf
, or
Potatoes Anna
.

3 pounds lean beef sirloin, cut into 2-inch cubes

For the Red Wine Marinade

²
⁄
₃
cup dry red wine

½ cup olive oil

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Whole cherry or plum tomatoes (optional)

Mushroom caps (optional)

Squares of green bell pepper (optional)

2 tablespoons olive oil

To make the marinade: Whisk the ingredients together in a glass or pottery bowl. Add the beef cubes, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate from 4 to 48 hours, turning frequently.

When ready to cook, thread the beef on metal grilling skewers, as for shish kebab, alternating the cubes, if you wish, with the optional vegetables. Arrange the skewers on the broiler pan and brush with oil, lubricating the vegetables well.

Preheat the broiler. Broil the shashlik 3 inches from the heat, turning and brushing with the marinade during the first 5 minutes, until the meat is crusty on the outside and rare within, about 8 to 9 minutes for rare and 9 to 10 minutes for medium-rare. Test by making a small cut with a knife in one of the cubes.

BOEUF BOURGUIGNON

(BEEF IN RED BURGUNDY)

MAKES 10 SERVINGS

Boeuf bourguignon
, or beef in red Burgundy, is probably one of the most universally favored of all braised beef dishes, but it is also one that is often ruined by poor cooking and overseasoning. The usual method is to cut the beef into cubes, and they invariably become boiled-tasting and stringy. A much more successful way is to cook the meat like a pot roast, in one piece so that you can lard it, thus providing natural basting of fat as it cooks. Serve with boiled potatoes.

One 5-pound bottom round of beef roast

6 to 8 lardons (½-inch-thick strips of pork fatback, cut as long as the roast), soaked for 1 hour in Cognac

All-purpose flour

10 tablespoons (1¼ sticks) unsalted butter, plus 4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature (optional)

12 mushrooms caps, trimmed

2 leeks, white and green parts only, coarsely chopped, and washed well to remove grit