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Marinade for Beef
Pour into a stewpan equal quantites of water and vinegar, the quantity depending upon the size of the sirloin to be marinaded, add a few sliced onions and carrots, salt, peppercorns, and a clove of garlic. Place the pan on the fire, boil until all the goodness is extracted from the vegetables, then strain and let it get cold. The meat should be left for fully twenty-four hours to soak.
A working sauerbraten-style pickle rather than a finished dish: it gives no quantities, so the proportions are yours to set from the size of the roast. A few things are worth pinning down before you start.
- The one thing that mattersCool the marinade completely before it touches the meat. Warm acidulated liquid poured over beef both grays the surface and holds it in the temperature range where bacteria multiply; the recipe says "let it get cold" for good reason.
- ProportionsEqual water and vinegar is aggressive by modern taste, especially with today's 5% distilled vinegar. The recipe gives no quantities at all; for a 4-5 lb sirloin, 2 cups each of water and vinegar with two onions, two carrots, a teaspoon of peppercorns and a tablespoon of salt is one workable reading. If you want it milder, reduce the vinegar to one part in three.
- VinegarCider and wine vinegars were both common in a late-nineteenth-century kitchen, though distilled white vinegar was also available; the recipe does not specify. Distilled white is harsher and flatter, and a red wine vinegar gives a rounder result.
- "Boil until all the goodness is extracted"Twenty to thirty minutes is enough to soften the vegetables and pull their flavor into the liquid; the recipe says boil, so a gentle boil will do. Cooking it down much further only reduces the volume you need to cover the meat.
- Where to keep itThe recipe says nothing about where to stand the meat; a cool cellar or larder is the likely period answer. Marinate in the refrigerator, in a non-reactive container: glass, glazed ceramic, or a zip bag. Aluminum and bare cast iron will react with the acid and taint the meat.
- TurningUnless the meat is fully submerged, turn it two or three times over the day so both faces pickle evenly. A weighted plate keeps a large cut down in the liquid.
- After the soakDry the beef thoroughly before browning or it will steam rather than sear. The strained marinade can be reduced and used as the base of the braising liquid, but it must be brought to a full boil first, having been in contact with raw meat.
- YieldThe recipe sets no quantity; on the suggested proportions above, roughly a quart of marinade, enough for a sirloin of 4-5 lb in a snug container.
Oscar Tschirky's book (1896) records the working methods of the Waldorf's kitchens, and this entry is less a recipe than a standing preparation of the kind a brigade kept on hand. A cooked, cooled vinegar-and-aromatic pickle for beef is close to the German sauerbraten technique, though cooked marinades of this kind were also long-standing French practice, and the Waldorf's savory repertoire sat between the two; Oscar himself was Swiss. Such a marinade flavored and tenderized a large cut, and the acid was often credited with keeping meat a little longer, though it is no substitute for refrigeration. The vagueness about quantity is characteristic of the book.