Take a piece of fresh beef, about five or six pounds, not too fat. Put into a pot with just enough water to cover it. Set over a _slow_ fire and let stew an hour, then add salt and pepper. Stew until tender, putting in a little onion if liked. Let nearly all the water boil away. When thoroughly tender take the meat out and pour the gravy in a bowl. Put a large lump of butter in the pot, dredge the meat with flour and return it to the pot to brown, turning it often to prevent burning. Skim fat from gravy poured off of meat; pour gravy in with the meat and stir in a large spoonful of flour; wet with a little water; let boil ten or fifteen minutes and pour into gravy dish. Try sometimes cooking in this way a piece of beef which has been placed in spiced pickle for two or three days.
Cut two pounds of the upper round of beef into inch squares, dredge them with salt and pepper and roll them in flour. Put into a saucepan some butter and some drippings, or a little suet, and let it fry out, using enough only to cover the bottom of the saucepan; when the grease is hot, turn in the pieces of meat and let them cook until well browned on all sides; watch and turn them as soon as browned, then draw the meat to one side of the pan and add a tablespoonful of flour; let the flour brown, and add a cupful of stock or water, and stir it until it comes to a boiling point; then add a teaspoonful of salt, one-half teaspoonful pepper, one-half teaspoonful kitchen bouquet, one carrot cut into blocks, and one teaspoonful onion; cover the saucepan, and let it simmer, not boil, for an hour. Serve a border of rice around the ragout.
Clean roast by wiping with a wet cloth. Place on a rack in oven, add suet to baste with. Cook a six-pound round roast an hour and twenty minutes; a three-rib roast one and one-half hour. Use no water.
Cover round steak with raw, chopped onions and bacon. Roll and tie. Put into deep kettle, sear or brown. Cover with water and pot roast for two hours. Boil down and thicken the gravy.
Take four or five pounds of the middle of the rump, the flank or the round. Wipe with a clean, wet cloth and sear all over by placing in a hot frying pan and turning until all the surface is browned. Put it in a kettle with one-half pint of water, and place it where it will keep just below boiling point. Add just enough water now and then to keep meat from burning. Have close-fitting cover to keep in the steam. Cook until very tender. Serve hot or cold.
