2l6 



Tlic Country Gaitkivomaii 



WHAT IS A RUMP STEAK? 



ASK for a " bifstek " in the Palais Royal, 

 par cxcmple, and Francois or Pierre 

 will bring you a little lump of beef of a 

 l)leasant savoury brown colour, a little 

 crimsoned, embedded in crisp shavings of 

 baked potatoes. You know that the white- 

 capped chef has longed to anoint it with 

 sauce Robert, Sorel, Sharp, or Tomato, to re- 

 move its barbarous simplicity. It eats well 

 and tender, but a litde tasteless, and it is 

 without much natural fat of its own, the Nor- 

 man beast being of the lean kine genus, and 

 b}- no means a bull of Bashan ; you eat, and 

 as you eat patiently, you ruminate on the 

 past life of the unknown animal, part of which 

 you are devouring. But a London steak is a 

 far different thing — it is thicker, fatter, juicier, 

 and of a rarer merit ; it has been beaten worse 

 than any Christian galley slave by the Turks, 

 and has been broiled with a learned and al- 

 most unerring instinct. It requires no effort 

 of digestion, it melts in the mouth like a peach, 

 passes at once into the blood, and goes 

 straight to recruit the heart. It is a sort of 

 meat fruit, and merely requires the soft pres- 

 sure of the lips. Broiling, to tell the truth, 

 however, requires no common mind. "To 

 broil" is to perform an operation which is 

 the result of centuries of experience acquired 

 by a nation that relishes, always did relish, 

 and probably always will relish, broils. It 

 requires cleanliness, watchfulness, patience, 

 profound knowledge of great chemical laws, 

 a quick eye, and a swift hand. The Homeric 

 heroes are supposed to have lived on broils. 



and this branch of cooking is deserving of the 

 utmost respect. A young cook should be 

 always informed that it takes years to learn 

 how to broil a rumpsteak ; for a thousand 

 impish difficulties surround the broiler, and 

 do their worst to spoil the dainty morsel, and 

 prevent its reaching the expectant jaws. If 

 the gridiron be not bright as silver and clean 

 between the bars, the meat will suffer. \'i 

 the bars be not rubbed with suet the}' will 

 print themselves on the steak. If the fire 

 be not bright and clear there is no hope for 

 the broiler. If the broil be hurried, it will 

 be smoked or burnt. If the gridiron be 

 over-heated before the steak is put on it, it 

 will scorch the steak. If the gridiron be cold 

 the part of the meat covered by the bars will 

 be underdone. If the gridiron be not kept 

 slanting, the constant flare and smoke, from 

 the fat streaming into the fire, will spoil the 

 steak. If no salt be si^rinkled on the fire, 

 the meat will very likely taste of brimstone, 

 which the salt should exorcise. Few people 

 seem to know that rumpsteaks are not at 

 their best except from October to April. It 

 is only in the colder months that they can be 

 taken from meat hung at least four days to 

 make it tender. When fresh they are mere 

 fibrous masses of unconquerable gristly fibre. 

 A good steak, often turned to prevent burn- 

 ing, and to keep the gravy at the centre, takes 

 ten minutes to broil. It should be eaten with 

 a tablespoonful of warm catsup, and a little 

 finely minced shalot. — Dickens' " All the 

 Year Round.'' 



