No. 2288

Hash a la Sam Ward-Tenderloin of Beef

Hachis de Filet de Boeuf a la Sam Ward

Have a pound and a half of cold braised or roasted tenderloin of beef; three ounces of cooked mushrooms, three ounces of cooked potatoes, all cut in three-sixteenths of an inch squares, and one ounce of cooked ham cut in one-eighth of an inch squares. Fry in butter without browning an ounce of chopped shallot, then add the ham, mushrooms, meat and potatoes; mix in a little veloute sauce (No. 415) and puree of tomatoes (No. 730); do not allow to boil. Season to taste and arrange the hash on a very hot dish; surround it with pieces of bread fried in butter.

← No. 2287 Fat Livers a la Toulousaine-Whole Miscellaneous Entrées No. 2289 Hash a la Sheppler-Tenderloin of Beef →

For the Modern Kitchen

A leftovers dish dressed for a Delmonico's menu: cooked beef reheated in sauce rather than cooked again. The whole thing takes about fifteen minutes once the components are ready.

Never let it boilThe recipe is explicit about this. The sauce should only be brought up to serving heat; boiled, the already-cooked beef turns dry and stringy. Keep it at a bare steam, just hot enough to serve.
Velouté and tomato puréeVeloute and tomato puree -- No. 415 is a white stock thickened with blond roux; No. 730 is a tomato puree, tomatoes cooked down and strained. Substitute about 1/2 cup of a good chicken or veal gravy plus 2 to 3 tablespoons plain passata. Canned tomato sauce with garlic and herbs will overwhelm the dish.
The diceThree-sixteenths of an inch is a scant 5 mm; the ham at one-eighth is about 3 mm. The ham is cut smaller than everything else, which may be so that it seasons throughout rather than turning up in lumps. Cut the beef cold and firm.
An ounce of shallotAbout two to three tablespoons chopped, or one large shallot. Sweat it in butter over low heat until translucent only; any browning puts a fried note into a dish meant to taste of beef and butter.
The beefA pound and a half of cold braised or roasted tenderloin means genuine leftovers, cooked through and chilled. If you are cooking specifically for this, any cold roast works, though tenderloin gives the tenderness the name implies.
Mushrooms and potatoesBoth go in already cooked. Three ounces of cooked mushrooms means roughly half a pound raw, sauteed dry so they do not water down the sauce. Potatoes should be boiled and cooled before dicing or they will collapse.
The fried breadCut trimmed white bread into triangles or small rounds and fry in clarified butter until crisp on both sides. Do it last and arrange them at the moment of serving; they soften quickly against the sauce.
YieldServes four generously as a lunch or supper entree, six in the Epicurean's own sequence of many small courses.

A Little History

Sam Ward (1814-1884) was a New York financier turned Washington fixer, known in his own day as "King of the Lobby" and remembered as much for his table as his politics; he was Julia Ward Howe's brother and a habitual patron and friend of the Delmonico establishment where Charles Ranhofer presided as chef. The Epicurean (1894) is thick with dishes named for such regulars, and a name attached to a hash is a particular kind of compliment: it says the man was known for caring how the humble end of the kitchen was handled. Hash in a fine restaurant was a discipline of proportion and knife work rather than economy, the cold roast reheated in sauce so gently that it never cooks a second time.