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Modern Cookery

A roast beef larded with large pieces of firm fat, baked at 400°F for 4–5 hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Modern Cookery

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Prepare the beef by larding it thoroughly with large pieces of firm fat.

Roast

  1. Roast the beef for 4 to 5 hours, basting it constantly.

  2. Ensure the beef is young and of fine quality for the best results.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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
Forms the main body of the roast, and its quality determines the texture of the finished meat.
Firm fat (udder or bacon)
Lardoons melt slowly during roasting, adding moisture and richness to the lean beef.

The step that matters

Basting the beef constantly. Lean roasted meat loses moisture as its surface dries out over hours in the oven. Frequent basting keeps the surface moist and helps it brown evenly.

“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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