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Rump Steak, Stuffed
Take two pounds of well-hung steak cut in one piece, and three-quarters of an inch thick. Lay it on a table, and spread upon it a quarter of a pint of good veal stuffing. Roll it round, and tie it with twine, fastening the ends securely. Dissolve a table-spoonful of bacon fat in a saucepan, put in the rolled steak, and turn it about till it is equally browned all over. Pour upon it three-quarters of a pint of stock or water, cover the saucepan closely, and let the steak stew gently until tender. Lay the meat in a hot dish, and remove the twine. Thicken the gravy, pour it over the beef, and serve very hot. Time to stew the steak, two hours. Probable cost, rump steak, 1s. 4d. to 1s. 6d. per pound. Sufficient for five or six persons.
A straightforward braise dressed up as a roll. The only real technique is browning well and then keeping the pot at a bare tremble for two hours.
- The cutBritish rump steak is the top of the hindquarter, closer to American top sirloin than to a US "rump roast." Ask for a single 2 lb slice cut about 3/4 inch thick and roughly rectangular so it will roll; a butcher will do this if asked in advance.
- "Well-hung"Beef was commonly hung to age in the nineteenth century, which tenderised it and concentrated the flavour, though the period varied. Supermarket beef is not aged that way, so buy dry-aged if you can find it; if not, the long braise will still get you there.
- Veal stuffingThis is the standard Victorian forcemeat: breadcrumbs, shredded suet, chopped parsley, lemon zest, a little thyme and mace, bound with egg. Despite the name it usually contains no veal, though some versions add minced veal or ham. A quarter of a pint means 5 imperial fl oz, a little over half a US cup by volume, not by weight.
- Liquid measuresThree-quarters of an imperial pint is about 15 fl oz, or a scant 2 US cups. A gill, if you meet one elsewhere in this book, is 5 imperial fl oz.
- Rolling and tyingSpread the stuffing to within an inch of the edges, roll along the grain if you can, and tie at 1-inch intervals with butcher's twine, then loop lengthwise to close the ends. A loose roll will shed stuffing into the gravy.
- The hinge: keep it below a simmer"Stew gently" means the surface barely moves, around 180-190F. A rolling boil for two hours will squeeze the muscle fibres tight and leave the meat stringy no matter how long you cook it. A low oven, around 275-300F with the lid on, will hold this more steadily than a burner.
- Thickening the gravyStrain the braising liquid, skim the fat, and whisk in beurre manie (equal parts soft butter and flour rubbed together) a little at a time, or reduce it hard. Season at this stage, not before, since the liquid concentrates.
- Resting and servingLet the roll sit five to ten minutes before cutting the twine, then slice into rounds about 3/4 inch thick so the spiral of stuffing shows. Serves five or six, as the original says, with potatoes and a green vegetable.
Stuffed and rolled beef of this kind belongs to a long British family of dishes that includes beef olives and the various "beef birds" of nineteenth-century cookery — and, more loosely, collared beef, though that is a cured, cold preparation rather than a braise — all of them ways of making a modest quantity of meat feed a table by wrapping it around cheap bread-based forcemeat. The forcemeat itself — crumbs, suet, herbs, lemon peel, egg — was so standard in Victorian kitchens that Cassell's could simply call it "good veal stuffing." The price note is a useful marker of the book's period and audience: rump at 1s. 4d. to 1s. 6d. a pound was a respectable middle-class purchase, and Cassell's habit of costing every dish reflects its market among households running on a fixed weekly allowance rather than a grand establishment. The two-hour gentle stew is also a reminder of the coal range, where a pot could be pushed to a cooler part of the top and left largely alone.