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A French Dish
To two beef feet, put four gallons water; set on the fire at eight o'clock in the morning. When the bones have dropped off add the half of one large onion, two red peppers, and one sprig parsley, all chopped fire. Take another pot, put in two gallons water, in which cut up one-half gallon nice pieces of beef, half an onion, one red pepper, parsley, all chopped fine, and salt. When all has boiled to pieces, put all together and let it boil half an hour. Press as souse cheese.--Mrs. T.
This is a jellied meat loaf built on the gelatin from beef feet, closer to fromage de tête than to anything served hot. The wording is compressed and one word is a printer's error, so read the whole thing before you start.
- "Chopped fire"A typesetting slip for "chopped fine," as in the later repetitions of the phrase. Nothing is being charred.
- Beef feetCow's feet, split, are the whole point: they supply the collagen that sets the dish without added gelatin. Ask a butcher to split them lengthwise, or substitute 3-4 lb of oxtail plus two split trotters. Scrub and blanch them first, then discard the blanching water, or the finished jelly will be cloudy and smell strongly of the barnyard.
- Timing"Set on the fire at eight o'clock in the morning" and "when the bones have dropped off" point to an all-day simmer; the recipe gives no finishing time, so go by the cue, which is reliable: the meat should slide off the bone with no resistance.
- The waterFour gallons in one pot and two in another is a hearth-scale quantity meant to reduce hard. Halve or quarter everything for a domestic stove; halved, two feet in about 8 quarts of water fits a 12-quart stockpot.
- "Half a gallon nice pieces of beef"A volume measure of cubed meat, roughly 3-4 lb of chuck or shin. It is the second pot's job to give the loaf its texture and flavour, since the foot meat alone is largely gristle and skin.
- Red peppersProbably dried red pepper pods (cayenne) rather than fresh sweet or bell peppers, though the recipe does not specify. Three pods in all -- two in the first pot, one in the second -- across six gallons is mild seasoning; scale to taste.
- Setting and pressing"Press as souse cheese" means pick the meat from the bones, chop it, return it to enough of the strained reduced broth to just bind, pack it into a loaf pan or crock, weight the top with a plate and a heavy tin, and chill overnight. Test the broth first: a spoonful chilled on a saucer should set firm in 10 minutes, and if it does not, reduce further.
- CoolingDo not leave gallons of hot broth on the counter to cool. Strain it, divide it into shallow pans, get it under 40F within a couple of hours, and keep the finished loaf refrigerated. Meat jellies spoil quietly.
- ServingTurn out, slice cold about a quarter-inch thick, and serve with vinegar, mustard or pickle. Reduced as written this feeds a very large household; a quarter batch gives a standard loaf pan, about 10 slices.
This is the technique Virginia cooks knew as souse or head cheese, made after hog-killing from the ears, snout and feet; the direction "press as souse cheese" assumes the reader is already familiar with it. Here it is done with beef rather than pork and seasoned with onion, parsley and red pepper rather than sage and vinegar, the nearest French equivalent being fromage de tête. Housekeeping in Old Virginia (1879), assembled by Marion Cabell Tyree from contributions signed with initials, is full of this kind of frugal, gelatin-heavy cookery, which made full use of cuts that could not be roasted or sold.