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Fried Beefsteak
When the means to broil are not at hand, the next best method is to heat the frying pan very hot, put in steak previously hacked, let remain a few moments, loosen with a knife and turn quickly several times; repeat this, and when done transfer to a hot platter, salt, pepper, and put over it bits of butter; pile the steaks one on top of another, and cover with a hot platter. This way of frying is both healthful and delicate. Or, heat the skillet, trim off the fat from the steak, cut in small bits and set on to fry; meanwhile pound steak, then draw the bits of suet to one side and put in the steak, turn quickly over several times so as to sear the outside, take out on a hot platter previously prepared with salt and pepper, dredge well, return to skillet, repeating the operation until the steak is done; dish on a hot platter, covering with another platter, and place where it will keep hot while making the gravy. Place a table-spoon dry flour in the skillet, being sure to have the fat boiling hot, stir until brown and free from lumps (the bits of suet may be left in, drawing them to one side until the flour is browned), pour in about half a pint boiling water (milk or cream is better), stir well, season with pepper and salt, and serve in a gravy tureen. Spread bits of butter over steak and send to table at once. This is more economical, but not so wholesome as broiling.
This is a dry-pan sear rather than a fry in the modern sense, written for tough cuts and cast iron. Two methods are given: the first uses no fat at all, the second renders the steak's own trimmed suet and builds a pan gravy from it.
- The hinge: a very hot pan, and keep it movingBoth versions depend on the pan being genuinely hot before the meat goes in, and on turning frequently rather than leaving the steak to sit. Frequent turning is now well supported for even cooking and a good crust, so this nineteenth-century instruction has aged better than most.
- "Hacked" and "pound steak"Scoring the surface with a knife and pounding with a mallet were mechanical tenderising for grass-fed, un-aged beef. With a modern ribeye or strip steak, skip both; they will only push out juice. Keep them for round, chuck or flank.
- "Dredge well"Ambiguous in the original. In context it most likely means dredging the steak with flour from the seasoned platter before returning it to the pan, which builds a crust and thickens the eventual gravy, though it could equally be read as a heavy dusting of salt and pepper. Either reading works.
- Half a pint of liquidOne cup. Against a tablespoon of flour that gives a thin pouring gravy; use two tablespoons of flour if you want it to coat.
- SuetThe fat trimmed from the steak itself, cut small and rendered in the pan. Beef fat trimmings from a butcher do the same job. Render them slowly at first, then raise the heat before the meat goes in.
- The panCast iron or carbon steel. A dry-heated nonstick pan is a bad idea at these temperatures, and thin stainless will not hold heat when the cold steak lands.
- Salting after cookingThe recipe salts on the platter, not before. Modern practice generally favours salting well in advance or immediately before searing; salting only at the end leaves the interior flat. Season the steak beforehand if you prefer.
- Stacking and coveringPiling the steaks and covering with a hot platter keeps them hot and lets them rest while the gravy is made. Be aware the residual heat will carry the meat further along than you may want.
- DonenessNo times are given because none would have applied. Work by internal temperature: 130-135F for medium rare, 140-145F for medium.
Buckeye Cookery, compiled in Ohio and first published in the 1870s, belongs to the practical Midwestern tradition of subscription cookbooks assembled from members' contributions, and its tone throughout is one of making do well. The opening clause here says everything: frying is what you do when the means to broil are not at hand. Broiling over coals was the prestige method for beefsteak through the nineteenth century, and was commonly held to be more "wholesome" -- a judgement this recipe repeats without explaining -- and the writer twice apologises for the pan. The beef itself would generally have been a different animal from what a butcher sells now, largely grass-fed and slaughtered without long ageing, which is why the instructions assume hacking and pounding as a matter of course. The gravy built from browned flour and the meat's own rendered suet is a plainer domestic relative of the pan sauces that later cookbooks would deglaze with wine.