Cold-dinner Beef
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Sprinkle salt on the beef flank if it is fresh.
Prepare stuffing as you would for fowls and spread it over the beef.
Roll the beef up tightly and tie it with strings to keep it in place.
Tie or sew the rolled beef in a cloth.
Cook and press
Drop it into rapidly boiling water and cook for several hours.
Check for doneness with a fork. Note that larger pieces will take longer.
Once cooked, lay the beef between boards and place a weight on top, keeping the cloth on.
Let it cool; it will slice beautifully when cold.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Beef flank
- Forms the main body of the roll and becomes tender and sliceable after long simmering.
- Stuffing
- Adds moisture and flavour inside the roll as the beef cooks around it.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the beef directly and helps bring out its flavour.
The step that matters
Keep the water rapidly boiling and cook for several hours. A vigorous boil keeps the water near 100°C and cooks the tough flank muscle through slowly, breaking down connective tissue so the meat becomes tender. Water that drops to a lazy simmer cooks unevenly and leaves the meat tougher.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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