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To Stew a Rump of Beef (Wash it well and season high)
362. Wash it well, and season high with salt, allspice, pepper, cayenne, three cloves, and a blade of mace, all in fine powder. Bind it up tight, and lay it in a pot that will just hold it. Fry three large onions sliced, and put them to it, with three carrots, two turnips, a shalot, four cloves, a blade of mace, and some celery. Cover the meat with good beef broth or weak gravy. Simmer it as gently as possible for several hours, till quite tender. Clear off the fat; add to the gravy half a pint of port-wine, a glass of vinegar, and a large spoonful of ketchup; simmer half an hour, and serve in a deep dish. Half a pint of table-beer may be added. The herbs to be used should be parsley, thyme, basil, marjoram, or knotted marjoram, and some chives if at hand, but observe to proportion the quantities to the pungency of the several sorts; let there be a good handful all together. Garnish with carrots, turnips, mushrooms, or pickles of different colours, cut small, and laid in little heaps separately; chopped parsley, chives, beet-root, &c. If, when done, the gravy is too much to fill the dish, take only a part to season for serving, but the less water the better; and to increase the richness, add a few beef-bones and shanks of mutton in stewing- A spoonful or two of made mustard is a great improvement to the gravy.
A braise in all but name: a large boneless joint, aromatics, and just enough liquid, held below a simmer for hours. The finishing of the gravy with port, vinegar and ketchup is the part that makes it worth doing.
- The cutRump of beef here means a joint from the hindquarter, boned and tied (the recipe's "bind it up tight"). Period rumps were often far larger than a joint you would buy today, so scale to what you can get. Modern top rump, silverside or a boned and rolled brisket all behave the same way. Ask for it tied, or tie it yourself at regular intervals so it holds shape through the long cook.
- "Season high"This means season assertively, not to a fixed amount. For a 5 lb joint, about 1 tablespoon salt with roughly a teaspoon total of the ground spices is generous without being harsh; the cayenne is a pinch, not a spoonful.
- A blade of maceOne blade is a single fragment of the dried outer covering of nutmeg, worth roughly a quarter to a half teaspoon ground. Whole blades are easier to fish out later. If you only have nutmeg, use a scant grating in its place.
- KetchupIn this period ketchup means mushroom or walnut ketchup, a thin dark savoury condiment with no tomato or sugar in it. Mushroom ketchup is still sold; a dash of Worcestershire sauce plus soy is the nearest substitute. Tomato ketchup will pull the gravy sweet and is the wrong direction.
- Table-beerA weak, lightly hopped everyday beer, well under modern strengths. A mild ale or a brown ale diluted with a little water gets closer than anything strongly hopped; skip an IPA, whose bitterness concentrates badly over a long reduction.
- The hinge: keep it below a simmer"As gently as possible" is the whole instruction. Barely trembling liquid, around 180-190F, for 3 to 4 hours; a rolling boil squeezes the muscle fibres and gives you dry, stringy meat in a good sauce. A 300F oven with the lid on holds this more steadily than a burner.
- Liquid level and the pot"A pot that will just hold it" is deliberate. Too wide a pan means more broth, more dilution, and a weak gravy. Cover the meat and no more, and use the beef bones and mutton shanks if you can get them, since they supply the gelatin that gives the finished gravy body.
- The herbsA good handful all told, tied in a bundle so it can be lifted out. The warning about proportion is sound: thyme and basil dominate quickly, so lead with parsley and marjoram and use the stronger herbs sparingly.
- FinishingSkim the fat thoroughly before the port goes in, as the recipe directs. Half a pint here is an imperial half-pint, about 10 fl oz; taste after the half-hour simmer and reduce further if it is still thin. The optional mustard goes in at the end, off the heat, so it does not turn bitter.
- YieldReckon on eight to ten servings from a five-pound joint, scaling up or down with the piece you buy. Rest it 15 minutes before carving across the grain in thick slices, with the gravy in a deep dish as directed and the chopped garnishes in separate heaps.