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Creamed Dried Beef
Shave 1 pound of beef very thin and put it into a stewpan with enough water to cover, to which 1/4 of a teaspoonful of soda has been added. Set the pan on the back part of the stove for thirty minutes, then turn off the water, add 1 cupful of rich milk, and season with salt and pepper. Let it come to a boil, then add 2 tablespoonfuls of butter mixed with 2 of flour, and after it has boiled for a minute or two turn into a hot dish and serve at once.
A plain white-sauce dish that survives largely intact; the only real adjustments are to the salt, the quantity, and what "the back part of the stove" meant on a wood range.
- Soak first, salt lastThe half-hour steep in water is there to draw salt out of the beef, not to cook it. Taste the sauce before adding any salt at all -- most dried beef will have seasoned it for you.
- The sodaA quarter teaspoon of baking soda in the soaking water raises the pH and softens the beef's fibres slightly. It is optional; plain hot water and a longer soak, or a quick rinse and drain, does much the same without the faint soapy edge soda can leave.
- Back part of the stoveOn a wood or coal range this was the coolest zone: hot, but well below a simmer. Use the lowest burner setting, or pour boiling water over the beef off the heat and let it stand covered for thirty minutes.
- A pound is a large amountDried beef now sells in jars of 2 to 4 ounces, so a full pound is four to eight of those jars and will feed a large table over toast. For four, quarter everything: 4 oz beef, 1/4 cup milk, and 1 1/2 teaspoons each butter and flour.
- Rich milkThis means unhomogenised whole milk with the cream still in it. Whole milk works; whole milk with a splash of heavy cream, or half-and-half, is closer to the original.
- The butter and flourTwo tablespoons of each worked together into a paste is a beurre manié, dropped into the boiling milk in small pieces and whisked in. It must boil a minute or two after going in or the sauce will taste of raw flour.
- Shaving the beefBuy it sliced paper-thin and tear it into pieces roughly an inch across. Slabs of dried beef are difficult to shave at home without a slicer, and thick pieces stay leathery no matter how long they soak.
- ServingThe original says only "a hot dish." It was commonly spooned over buttered toast, and it thickens quickly as it cools, so hold the plates warm and serve straight from the pan.