Festal beef

A couple of weeks ago we took some festal beef, the first such for a while, perhaps since that at the end of last year, noticed at reference 2.

Much pondering about where to go for it, the first thought being that it would be nice to see it before buying it. It was, after all, going to cost £50 or more. Which ruled out the butcher at Manor Green Road, who had performed to order well enough, but did not tend to have the sort of thing that I wanted on spec. One of the proper butchers in town; in Borough, Clerkenwell or Clapham Common? Waitrose? Upper High Street? A correspondent was all for Fortnum & Mason, the story being that they had a fine fresh meat counter. In the end, tempted by having seen various interesting cuts of beef in recent weeks at the Waitrose in Epsom, I thought I would try there in the first instance, winding up with the joint snapped above.

A good part of the bone had been cut away, but on the other hand it was a good looking piece of Aberdeen Angus, with a proper amount of fat. It started as five bones shrink wrapped, of which I took three, and it looked a lot better once it had been out of the wrapping for a day or so. Shrink wrapping not good for presentation. The white string was my contribution.

The white bread from Sainsbury's, against gravy dipping before the off and cold beef sandwiches in due course, was bought on the day itself, that is to say a day or so later. Sold by a real checkout lady, a cheerful lady of middle years. Oddly for 09:30 or so on a Saturday morning, no queue, just a slightly odd looking chap in front of me fiddling about with his vouchers.

As always, much pondering about cooking times. I looked at the various precedents and eventually settled for that at reference 2 8lbs 2oz. So into the preheated oven at 190°C at 10:00 for 12:30 forks down.

Next task, preparation of proper green & crinkly cabbage. No idea where it might have come from at this time of year - not that I was ever much good with cabbage. Ground a but too thin for it.

The scene at 12:17. Plating up and onto gravy. That is to say, some of the fat was roux'd  up with some flour. The roasting pan and trivet was washed with previously prepared vegetable stock. The resulting liquor then being slowly stirred into the roux to make the gravy for the gravy dipping ceremony, with aforementioned white bread, at 12:30.

Not as good looking at this stage as it would have been with a full complement of bone, but not bad.

Looks like we were a few minutes late to the table proper. Served with mash and roast parsnips - these last being roasted for about half an hour, in their skins, underneath the meat. Plus a spot of Waitrose's Fleurie - 'Le Pavillon Henry Fessy'. A vigneron with a website, but one which is described as insecure and Edge is not keen on making the connection. A wine which we have had on several occasions in the past and rather liked. A type of wine to which we were introduced by the Bugle of Brading, six years ago now. Their website, at reference 3, is OK. And the introduction was noticed at reference 4.

The state of the joint at this point. I think my idea had been to give the crows a go with the fat later, but that may have fallen away in all the excitement.

A new-to-Linda cake for dessert, lifted from a novel she had been reading, reference 7, although in the 30 seconds I allowed, I failed to find how the recipe at the back - right in the snap above - fitted into the story at the front. It was baked in a ring mould and it turned out rather well. The ladies of the party thought that a ring mould was probably pretty much the same as a US tube or bundt tin. A cake which was done in the one sitting.

Younger members of the party, not used to heavy desserts of this sort, were probably offered small tubs of ready mixed custard as an alternative.

By early evening, the moon which had been missing for some little while, reappeared in the east. Waxing gibbous at 76% to the SSE. Horns left. As previously noticed at reference 5.

This set me up for a spot of cold beef on white, although I think BH was only good for something a little lighter.

For day 2, the remains of the vegetable, gravy etc was turned into rather a good broth.

Followed by cold beef with a spot of salad.

For day 3, we started with dahl, something else we have not done for a while, following by more cold beef with salad.

The dahl was started with one large and one small clove of garlic, chopped and fried in a little butter. Added a couple of medium sized chopped onions and fried them gently for a bit. Added around 8oz of red lentils. Added water, and adding a a bit more a couple of times as the lentils were cooked. The whole procedure taking perhaps 75 minutes. Very satisfactory. No dead flies of the sort mentioned at reference 6.

The end.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/12/french-beef.html. 

Reference 2: http://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/07/bone-free.html.

Reference 3: https://thebugleinnbrading.co.uk/.

Reference 4: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2017/07/fragonard-fail-aka-yaverland-five.html.

Reference 5: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/08/moon-present.html.

Reference 6: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/09/chicken-soup.html.

Reference 7: A family recipe - Veronica Henry - 2018. Provenance uncertain, beyond BH being sure that money did not change hands.