A-LA-MODE BEEF

  A pound of fresh beef weighing from eighteen to twenty pounds.
  A pound of the fat of bacon or corned pork.
  The marrow from the bone of the beef, \ chopped together
  A quarter of a pound of beef-suet,    /
  Two bundles of pot herbs, parsley, thyme, small onions, &c.
    chopped fine.
  Two large bunches of sweet marjoram,\sufficient when powdered to make
  Two bunches of sweet basil,         /make four table-spoonfuls of each.
  Two large nutmegs,      \
  Half an ounce of cloves  } beaten to a powder.
  Half an ounce of mace,  /
  One table-spoonful of salt.
  One table-spoonful of pepper.
  Two glasses of madeira wine.

If your a-la-mode beef is to be eaten cold, prepare it three days
before it is wanted.

Take out the bone. Fasten up the opening with skewers, and tie the
meat all round with tape. Rub it all over on both sides with salt.
A large round of beef will be more tender than a small one.

Chop the marrow and suet together. Pound the spice. Chop the
pot-herbs very fine. Pick the sweet-marjoram and sweet-basil clean
from the stalks, and rub the leaves to a powder. You must have at
least four table-spoonfuls of each. Add the pepper and salt, and
mix well together all the ingredients that compose the seasoning.

Cut the fat of the bacon or pork into pieces about a quarter of an
inch thick and two inches long. With a sharp knife make deep
incisions all over the round of beef and very near each other. Put
first a little of the seasoning into each hole, then a slip of the
bacon pressed down hard and covered with more seasoning. Pour a
little wine into each hole.

When you have thus stuffed the upper side of the beef, turn it
over and stuff in the same manner the under side. If the round is
very large, you will require a larger quantity of seasoning.

Put it in a deep baking dish, pour over it some wine, cover it,
and let it set till next morning. It will be much the better for
lying all night in the seasoning.

Next day put a little water in the dish, set it in a covered oven,
and bake or stew it gently for twelve hours at least, or more if
it is a large round. It will be much improved by stewing it in
lard. Let it remain all night in the oven.

If it is to be eaten hot at dinner, put it in to stew the evening
before, and let it cook till dinner-time next day. Stir some wine
and a beaten egg into the gravy.

If brought to table cold, cover it all over with green parsley,
and stick a large bunch of something green in the centre.

What is left will make an excellent hash the next day.
