How To Choose Beef

Ox- Beef is best; which has generally a more open grain than cow-beef. The colour should be carnation, and the sewet white. When young the flesh is smooth and glossy, and if you make a dent in it with your finger, it will rife again; if old it will be rough and spongy. The neck and briscuit are more or less so, both in young and old. Cow-beef has a closer grain, the lean is of a paler colour, and the fat more white. Heifer-beef is next in goodness to the Ox, and eats exceeding well. The flesh of bulls is of a deep dusky red, feels tough when pinched, has a rank smell, and the fat is skinny and hard; insomuch that the butcher cannot deceive you if he would. The signs of youth or age are of little consequence, for none will buy it that can have better.

How To Roast Beef

Beef should never be salted before it is laid down to the fire, for that either deprives it of its gravy, or depraves the taste; but if it were necessary to keep it a few days before it is dress'd, you need only dry it well with a clean cloth, and then flour it all over; which done, it must not be hanged in a damp or close place, but where the air can come to it readily and freely. When you are about to lay it down, paper the top; when it is down, baste it well with fine dripping all the time it is roasting, having first sprinkled salt all over it. When the smoak or steam of the meat is drawn towards the fire, take off the paper, baste it well, and drudge it with a little flour to make a fine froth; then take up the meat and garnish the dish with horse-radish. If it is a small piece, the fire must be little and brisk, that it may be done quick and nice; if large, the fire must be proportionable, and always clear at the bottom. When the beef is half done remove it and the dripping-pan from the fire, and stir it up well to make it brisk; for a great deal depends on the goodness of the fire. A piece of beef of ten pounds, supposing the fire to be good, will require an hour and a half; twenty pounds wil take three hours, when thick, but if thin, two hours and a half is sufficient. Remember always, that in frosty weather it must be kept at the fire half an hour longer.

How To Broil Beef-Steaks

To broil beef-steaks properly, the fire must be clear and brisk, and the gridiron very clean; likewise the dish they are to be put in must be hot, by keeping it over a chafing-dish of coals or otherwise. The steaks should be cut about half an inch thick; those of the rump are best. They Should be sprinkled with a little pepper and salt, if not disliked, for some have an aver-sion to pepper. Then lay them on the gridiron, and keep them without turning till one side is done, for often turning wastes the gravy. Then turn them on the other side and a fine gravy will soon rise to the top of the steaks, which you must endeavour to preserve. When they are enough, remove them into the dish, without shedding the gravy. Some like to have two or three shalots or a good onion diced fine and put into the dish, laying the steaks upon them. This done, you may put a hot cover over them and carry them to the table.