No. 428 Stewed rump of Beef à la Flamande.
Choose a rump of beef from twenty-five to thirty pounds, in weight, the meat dark and well covered with fat, bone and lard it slantwise through and through with very large lardons of fat bacon six inches long, chop up the bone, which put into a large stewpan, with five or six pounds of the trimmings of any other meat, one pound of lean ham, three onions, two turnips, one carrot, one head of celery, one leek, a bunch of parsley, thyme, and bay-leaves, eight peppercorns, and a blade of mace: put a pint of water in the stewpan, cover and stand it over a brisk fire, stirring it occasionally till the bottom is covered with glaze, then lay in the beef, fill the stewpan with water, skim when boiling, and let it simmer on the corner of the fire for six hours; to try when it is done run a trussing-needle into it, if it goes in easy it is done; have ready prepared eighteen middling-sized onions, butter a sauté-pan, put half an ounce of powdered sugar in it, cut a piece of the top and bottom of each onion, blanch them in boiling water ten minutes, drain well, stand them in the sauté-pan, cover with stock, place them over the fire, stew till tender and the stock has become a thin glaze, have ready eighteen pieces of carrots, and eighteen turnips cut in the form of small pears, which dress in the same way as the onions, lay the rump of beef on your dish, and arrange the onions and vegetables with taste around it, using for variety any green vegetables that may happen to be in season with them; for the sauce put a quart of brown sauce in a stewpan, with the glaze from the onions and vegetables, and half a pint of good stock; season with a little pepper and salt if required, reduce a quarter of an hour, or till it becomes rather thick, pour the sauce over the vegetables, glaze the top of the beef, brown it lightly in the oven, or with the salamander, and serve. To carve, cut it in thin slices slantingly through the thickest end, where there is most fat; if underdone it is uneatable.