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Beef, Stewed, and Celery Sauce
Simmer three heads of celery and two onions in a pint of good gravy till all are tender, then add two pounds of cold boiled or roast beef cut into thick pieces, and stew gently for ten or twelve minutes. The celery should be cut evenly in pieces of about two inches long. Serve with potatoes sliced and fried crisp. Average cost, 8d., exclusive of meat. Sufficient for four or five persons.
A dish built for using up Sunday's joint, and the timings assume the beef is already cooked. The hinge is restraint: the meat goes in only to heat through, and anything past twelve minutes turns cold roast beef stringy.
- A pint of good gravyThis is British imperial measure, 20 fl oz, so about 2.5 US cups. "Gravy" here means a well-reduced brown meat stock, not a flour-thickened sauce; use good beef stock, reduced if it tastes thin.
- Three heads of celeryVictorian celery was usually trenched and blanched pale, and the heads were generally smaller than a modern Pascal bunch, so two modern bunches, trimmed of the coarsest outer ribs, may be closer to the intended volume. Cut into even two-inch lengths as directed so they cook at the same rate.
- How long the celery needsNo time is given for the first stage. Expect 20 to 30 minutes at a bare simmer for the celery and onions to go properly tender, with the onions sliced or quartered rather than left whole.
- Cold beef, brieflyTwo pounds of already-cooked beef cut in thick pieces wants nothing more than the ten or twelve minutes stated. Slice thick, not thin, or the edges shred in the liquid.
- Reheating cooked meatBring the whole pan back to a full simmer once the beef is in, so the meat reaches a genuine serving temperature rather than sitting lukewarm in warm stock.
- The sauceNothing thickens this. If you want it to coat, lift out the vegetables and meat and reduce the liquid hard for a few minutes, or finish with a small knob of butter worked in off the heat.
- The fried potatoesSliced and fried crisp means shallow-fried rounds, browned in dripping or oil. Cook them while the celery simmers and keep them warm; they are best eaten soon after frying.
- Yield and costFour to five as written. The "8d." is stated as the cost exclusive of the meat, i.e. it covers the celery, onions and gravy only.
A dish for the second life of a large joint. A household that had roasted or boiled a substantial piece of beef could bring it back to table with a short, gentle stew in stock with a strong-flavoured vegetable rather than simply serving cold slices. Celery suited it: the trenched, earthed-up celery of British kitchen gardens came into season in autumn and stood through the frosts. The costing of the dish "exclusive of meat" tells you something about how such recipes were used — the housekeeper needed to know what the additions would set her back, the joint having already been paid for.