No. 987 Filet de Bœuf froid à la Bohémienne.
Prepare and lard a fillet of beef as directed for the Removes (No. 417), then put it in a basin in which you have put the following marinade: four onions in slices, one carrot, a head of celery, ten sprigs of thyme, eight bay-leaves, two cloves of garlic, and a little parsley, which pass in half a pound of butter in a stewpan over a sharp fire five minutes, then add one quart of vinegar, one of water, two ounces of salt, and half a pound of brown sugar, with twenty peppercorns, ten cloves, and two blades of mace, boil half an hour, but do not put in the fillet till the marinade is cold, let remain a week, and when wanted put it in a braising-pan with one quart of the marinade and two of veal stock or consommé (No. 134), place it over a slow fire, and stew gently for two or three hours, depending upon the size, take it out and place it in a dish to cool, with a little stock over it, skim the remainder and pass it through a napkin into a stewpan, place it upon the fire, reduce it to half, skim it well, add a little clarified isinglass (No. 1372) sufficient to set it as a delicate aspic, six spoonfuls of tomata sauce, and a little red currant jelly; having trimmed and dished the fillet, sauce over, when quite cold garnish with a border of plovers’ eggs, and decorate three silver atelettes, by placing a fine dressed cockscomb at the top, a fine truffle beneath, and a plover’s egg, ornamented with truffles at the bottom, stick them in the fillet, one slanting at each end, and the other upright in the centre, it is then ready to serve.