roast-meats-msg - 1/16/08
Helpful directions and recipes for roasting meats. Pork Roast, Beef Roast. Medieval recipes.
NOTE: See also the files: roast-pork-msg, larding-msg, broths-msg, sauces-msg, cheap-meats-msg.
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Date: Wed, 3 May 95 20:37:26 EDT
From: jtn at cse.uconn.edu (J. Terry Nutter)
To: jtn at cse.uconn.edu, markh at sphinx
Subject: Re: Cooking for 50 at Pennsic (was YKYITSCAW)
Beef was normally boiled; on the few occasions when it was roasted, it was
partially roasted and then simmered (in sauce usually). The "theory" reason
was that beef was considered (in terms of the humors) to be a very dry
meat, and roasting was the method that most dried; you wanted food to be
moist and warm when eaten, which dictated boiling, and serving with a
sauce (or in a pottage) that was relatively moist (not in the sense of
very liquid, but again, as defined by the theory of the humors, which
dictated what kind of fluids formed the base of the sauce).
The reason that people bought this, (i.e. the reason that they didn't
ignore the rules the theory gave) is that what they were eating was
_ox_. Free range ox at that. You don't want to roast the stuff.
Roast beef largely postdates the agricultural advances of the 18th C
that resulted in developing (in England) a strain of beef cattle that
provided meat incommensurably better than what had gone before.
-- Angharad/Terry
From: mfgunter at tddeng00.fnts.com (Michael F. Gunter)
Date: Mon, 21 Apr 1997 12:51:00 -0500
Subject: SC - Roast beef w/"barbecue sauce"
Hi all,
This weekend I went to the college library and finally found that recipe I teased y'all with. I'm sorry but I don't have the original recipe with me but I do have the redaction. I got this from _Fabulous Feasts_ so I'm not sure about how good the source documentation is. Anyway, the dish is good.
A Roste
Beef Roast with Crisps
Ingredients: Batter:
4 or more T. oil or butter 1 c. flour
for searing meat
5 lbs beef roast tied with 1 egg
butcher's cord
1/2 c. flour 1/4 t. salt
1 t. dried sweet basil, crushed 1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. cinnamon 1/4 c. chopped parsley
1 t. salt 2/3 c. milk
1 t. dried sweet basil
1/2 t. dried rosemary
1/4 t. thyme
1 c. dates, pits removed, cut in half
1 c. dried figs, stems removed, cut in strips
1/2 c. dried apple rings, cut in halves
2 T. brown sugar or honey
1 1/2 c. beef stock
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In Dutch oven or cast-iron pot (either having tight covers) melt the butter.
Dredge the roast with the mixture of flour, cinnamon, and salt, and thoroughly
sear in the heated butter, browning all sides.
Mix basil, rosemary, and thyme. Mix spices with combined dates, figs, and apples.
Arrange spiced fruits around the meat. Sprinkle sugar or drizzle honey on fruits.
Carefully pour on beef stock around edges of the pot so as to avoid "flooding"
any food surfaces. Cover tightly.
Bake at 350 degrees for 3 hours, or until tender. Remove from oven to cool for 30 minutes. Increase oven heat to 450 degrees.
Prepare a very thick batter by vigourously stirring all ingredients, except
parsley. Add extra flour if necessary.
Add chopped parsley to the batter.
Pour batter over roast allowing the excess to trickle into the gravy. Return the
meat to hot oven for 5 to 10 minutes so that coating browns nicely.
Cut the roast in its dough "jacket" (somewhat reminiscent of the modern "Beef
Wellington")
Serve the "crisps", which formed in the juices, along with the gravy and fruit.
This really is very good tasting.
Yers,
Gunthar
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 1997 14:28:43 -0500
From: maddie teller-kook <meadhbh at io.com>
Subject: Re: SC - chicken on string (and beef)
Donna Kenton wrote:
> I still can't cook a decent roast beef, not even mundanely. It's
> something we rarely had as a kid, so I can only cook a pot roast. Of
> course, it's a wonderful pot roast, but beef by itself is something I
> tend to shy away from -- it's such an expensive mistake.
>
> Any fool proof medieval recipes for a beef roast? I've got a great pork
> roast recipe that I'll trade for it!
>
> Rosalinde
OK, this is how I cooked the beef for the roman event. It is not from
any recipe except for what I put together. The ingredients are all
'period'. I made a rub of herbs, salt, pepper and fresh garlic. I used
top sirloin for the meat. I rubbed the meat with this mixture and
slashed each roast about 10 times to push the garlic cloves into the
meat. I then smoked it in my weber (too bad this is not a period item
to cook in...sigh)..over a pan of red wine/fresh rosemary/fresh oregano
and the coals I used are a hardwood charcoal. I cooked until the meat
until medium rare (I use a meat thermometer to monitor). When the meat
was done, I let it cool for 20 minutes, sliced it up, bagged it and
froze it until the day of the event. OK, the day of the event, I used a
product called 'Better then Bouillon'. It is a concentrated stock
instead of powdered bouillon. EXCELLENT stuff! I reconstituted it to
make a beef broth. Placed the meat in pans and let it heat up in the
stock. I had people coming back for thirds and fourths. HRM Kein ate
plenty! His server came over at least 3 times for more! Try this, I can
guarantee it will make some excellent roast beef!
meadhbh
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 1997 15:44:29 -0400 (EDT)
From: Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy at abel.MATH.HARVARD.EDU>
Subject: Re: SC - chicken on string (and beef)
Let's start with the basics, and then we can move on to medieval.
I use the technique I found in (da-da) Joy Of Cooking. I've not yet found
anything that beats it. Rub a roast beef with minced garlic, pepper (NO
SALT) and worcestershire sauce. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Put the
roast in the oven, and immediately reduce the heat to 325, and bake for
12-14 minutes a pound for rare meat. Use your temperature probe, to check.
(Lightly, lightly grease the pan with butter in advance, to make cleanup
easier. Place a couple of cloves of garlic and some quartered onions in the
pan too, and use the juice that runs off to make a gravy. If you want
gravy, keep the glass pan as small as possible, and put the meat down so it
is kind of like a can on a counter, narrow end touching the pan.)
I may drizzle the meat with wine as it cooks, if it appears to be dry.
Note for the advanced: if I use a glass pan for the beef, I turn the
temperature down a tad further. Ovens heat up, and cool down in a cycle:
but a pyrex or glass pans have such high heat indices that they keep the
heat, and keep the temperature of the meat higher than an aluminum pan
would.
Remove the roast when done, let it stand on the counter for 10-20 minutes
while you rescue the pan drippings for gravy, slice at the end of the time
period, and serve. YUM. Gravy, for me, is taking the pan, deglazing with
wine, using a non-period roux and serving.
I've had a wonderful marinade, about 3 times, made of South Keype Jalapeno
wine and garlic. Very nice. Soak the RB in the wine and minced garlic for
about 2 hours at room temperature before cooking.
Tibor
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 1997 15:40:01 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - chicken on string (and beef)
At the risk of seeing all my perfectly good pompous pontification about
period cookery go to waste, I'd advise making sure you have an
appropriate cut for roasting. Despite what the supermarket, with their
generally odd sense of humor, says, this usually includes neither chuck
nor bottom round. But wait! There's more! Make sure there is at least
SOME fat on the outside. Health considerations notwithstanding, it
usually provides for a tastier roast.
If you are lucky enough to have a good butcher, you could ask him to
bard the roast, which involves wrapping the roast in paper-thin slices
of pork fat. It helps keep the meat moist, and can be removed after
cooking. If you have an insane butcher, like I have (but also am) you
can ask for it to be larded. This introduces the fat inside the meat,
and means that a tough piece of meat can be cooked for a long time (till
tender) without drying out.
In general, though, I'd say the thing to do is to season the meat highly
on the outside with salt and pepper, slivers of garlic, etc. Your call.
Put in a pan on a rack or on a bed of chopped carrots, onions, and
celery (1:2:1) Roast for 20 minutes at around 400 degrees F., then lower
the heat to 350 or 375 degrees F., and roast for 18-20 minutes per pound
of beef. 18 for rare, 20 and up for more well done. About 45 minutes or
half an hour before your impeccable math says it will be done, check
with a meat thermometer. Unless it is a really small piece of meat (like
under 2 pounds), it will continue to cook after it is out of the oven.
So, take it out when the thermometer reads 110-120 degress F. for rare
(the temperature will go up to around 140, which is really the
temperature for rare beef.
120-130 will carry over to about 145-150 for medium rare / medium.
140 or so will get you 155-160 for medium well.
Anything above that will get you well done beef (gag!)
Hope this helps! You can mess around with things like seasoned fresh
bread crumbs or flour, usually applied sometime during the cooking
process, but these aren't essential, and you should probably experiment
with these when you are feeling confident. (Sorry, Aoife!!!)
Adamantius
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 1997 15:51:12 -0400 (EDT)
From: Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy at abel.MATH.HARVARD.EDU>
Subject: Re: SC - chicken on string (and beef)
> If you are lucky enough to have a good butcher, you could ask him to
> bard the roast, which involves wrapping the roast in paper-thin slices
> of pork fat. It helps keep the meat moist, and can be removed after
> cooking. If you have an insane butcher, like I have (but also am) you
> can ask for it to be larded. This introduces the fat inside the meat,
> and means that a tough piece of meat can be cooked for a long time (till
> tender) without drying out.
Barding. oooohhhmmmm Larding. ooohhhmmmm (For bizarreness, try wrapping
with fatty prosciuto. ooohhhhmmmm, or bacon. oooohhmmmm)
God, I am drooling. This is gross.
Larding is not that hard to do, if you have some slightly dull large sized
stainless steel nails. DO NOT go to the hardware store and by Galvanized or
Dipped nails. Poison is bad for you.
If you are a purist, blunt the tip of the nail slightly. (If it is sharp,
it will tear the fibers of the meat). Make a hole, put a tiny ball of lard
at the opening, and push the lard down into the meat. Vary the location and
depth.
God. All I have here is some instant cous-cous. I think I'll die. Must
Eat Now.
Tibor (Crazed Vegetarian on the Loose)
Date: 31 Jul 97 16:10:21 -0400
From: "SUZANNE_POWELL" <SUZANNE_POWELL at aspentec.com>
Subject: SC - Roast Beef Recipe
As I've said before, I'm an absolute novice at medieval cooking, but I wanted
to share the following roast recipe with you. The accompaniment was homemade
mashed potatoes (are they period?) and garlic seasoned green beans (same
question).
Because of my budget constraints, I had to use a "pot roast" cut of beef, but
this should work well for the real thing, too.
Burgundy Roast
- --------------
First (the night before you cook your roast) mix together the following
marinade (you may need to adjust amounts depending on the size of your roast,
mine was about 6 pounds, and time according to the tenderness of your beef):
1/4 c. burgundy wine
2 tbsp. virgin olive oil
1/4 c. minced onion
1 tbsp. minced garlic
1 tbsp. minced carrots
1 tbsp. dried rosemary, crumbled
Pierce your roast all over using a fork, then place in one of those nifty oven
roasting bags and pour your marinade over the top. Seal the bag and place in
the refrigerator. The bag should be turned several times so that the marinade
has a chance to reach all surfaces of your beef.
I served the finished roast with a garnish of grilled portobello mushrooms. If
you want to do the same, make another batch of the marinade to use on the
mushrooms, place the mushrooms in a glass dish, pour the marinade over the
mushrooms and place in the refrigerator at the same time you put in the roast.
When you turn the roast/bag over, turn the mushrooms over too.
The next evening, while your roast is cooking (about 1/2 an hour before you
plan on taking it out of the oven), slice 2 or 3 onions thinly and cook them
slowly over the stove using virgin olive oil until they are caramelized.
By the time the onions are done, it should be time to take the roast out of
the oven. Take the roast out to rest and turn on the broiler. Put in your
portobello mushrooms (reserve the marinade) and grill for about 5 minutes on
each side.
Use the reserved drippings from your roast and your leftover mushroom marinade
for the gravy. I started out with a basic roux (not period, I've just found
out), added beef bouillon to the roux and cooked for a few minutes, then added
the drippings and reserved marinade. Rounded out the sauce by adding about 1/2
to 1 cup of burgundy wine.
This turned out really well -- even using the cheap cut of meat.
Your thoughts?
- -- Suzanne
****************************************
** Lady Suzanne de la Ferte, AoA **
** Scribe and Illuminator **
** Stargate, Ansteorra **
** suzanne.powell at aspentech.com **
****************************************
Date: Fri, 1 Aug 1997 03:25:11 -0500
From: gfrose at cotton.vislab.olemiss.edu (Terry Nutter)
Subject: Re: SC - chicken on string (and beef)
Hi, Katerine here. Rosalinde asks for medieval recipes for beef roast. The
following are two recipes the use roast beef that I am particularly fond
of. In both cases, you want to be very sure that you use a good grade of
roast. (Making them for myself, I use a standing rib or ribeye.)
Auter brawn en peuerade
(Two Fifteenth Century, H279 Potage Dyvers xxxii)
This is roast beef served with a peverade sauce (i.e. a sauce which includes
and tastes of pepper), in which the beef is simmered to finish cooking. The
meat is served cut up in small pieces in the sauce. The "auter" in the name
means "other"; this recipe is the second of two in a row for meat in peverade
sauce (and to my mind, by far the better).
Recipe:
Take myghty brothe of Beef or of Capoun, and thenne take clene Freysshe Brawn,
and sethe it, but not y-now; An ghif if be Freysshe Brawn, roste it, but not
I-now, and then leche it in pecys, and caste it to the brothe. An thanne take
hoole Oynonys, & pylle hem, an thanne take Vynegre ther-to, and Canelle, and
sette it on the fyre, an drawe yt thorw a straynoure, and caste ther-to; then
take Clowys, Maces, and powder Pepyr, and caste ther-to, and a lytil Saynderys,
an sette it on the fyre, an let boyle tylle the Oynonys an the Brawn ben euyne
sothyn, an nowt to moche; than take lykoure y-mad of Bred an Vinegre an Wyne,
an sesyn it vp, an caste ther-to Saffroun to make the coloure bryth, an Salt,
an serue it forth.
In more modern English:
Take a strong beef or chicken broth, and then take clean fresh meat, and boil
it, but not completely. And if it be fresh meat [i.e. not salted], roast it,
but not completely, and then slice it in pieces, and put it in the broth. And
then take whole onions, and peel them [and put them in the pot], and then add
in vinegar, and cinnamon, and set it on the fire, and draw it through a
strainer, and put it in. Then take cloves, mace, and ground pepper, and add
them, and a little saunders, and put it on the fire, and let boil til the
onions and the meat are fully boiled, and not too much. Then take liquid made
of bread and vinegar and wine, and season it up, and add saffron to make the
color bright, and salt, and serve it forth.
Amounts as I make it:
2 lb standing rib roast, less bones 1 tsp pepper
1 can beef broth + 1/2 can water 1/4 tsp saunders
3 med. large onions, quartered 6 slices bread
1 T vinegar 1 T vinegar
1 tsp cinnamon 1/4 cup red wine
1/4 tsp cloves 2 lg pinches saffron
1/4 tsp mace
Step-by-step:
1. Preheat oven to 550°.
2. Put in roast and turn down immediately to 350°.
3. Roast 15 minutes to the pound.
4. Cut into bite-sized slices. (Try not to make it look like chunks, to
make it clearer to modern eyes that this is really a roast with sauce,
not a stew.)
5. Put in a pot with ingredients through saunders, and simmer until meat
is cooked and tender (how long this takes will depend on how much you
make; for this amount, about 10 minutes is usually enough.)
6. Trim crusts off bread.
7. Put bread into blender with wine, vinegar, and broth from the pot.
Blend until smooth, then stir mixture back into the pot.
8. Taste; add salt if needed, and any other spices you think it needs (if
you can't taste the pepper, add more now).
9. Grind saffron (or break into little crumbs in the palm of your hand),
and stir in. When the saffron is fully mixed in, it is ready to serve.
Notes:
As often happens with medieval recipes, the order of operations gets a little
confused in places. What you are doing is this. First, partially cook your
meat; if it is fresh, you may roast it; for salt meat, boil it. Next, cut it
into bite-sized pieces. (Medievals never delivered meat in larger than
bite-sized pieces to diners; it was cut up, either in the kitchen or at table
by a carver, to simplify eating.) Then put the meat and some peeled onions
(the recipe says whole ones; I either use pearl onions or quarter regular ones)
into a pot of strong broth. Season. (The straining part is to avoid lumps of
cinnamon, which would be freshly ground in a medieval kitchen.) Boil until the
meat and onions are fully cooked, but not longer, or you will kill the spices.
Then thicken, correct seasoning, color, and serve.
The list of ingredients above calls for a very fine cut of beef, which you may
not be able to afford. Be sure to try out your recipe on a small scale with
any changes, including in cut. Different cuts may need very different
treatment; some inexpensive cuts may do far better initially boiled than
roasted. To retail a browner look, sear the meat in a pan before boiling.
This is wonderful! I suspect it might be even better the second day, but there
has never been