British Beef

Jamaica Observer Eating Well: British Beef

The meat of meats for the English has always been Beef. Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, steak and kidney pie and all that solid, sustaining food that dates from the time of the Tudors has characterized the British menu over the years. Mention roast beef charred on the outside and tender and moist on the inside and you have the expatriate English among us thinking of home. British beef is taking a beating lately, and all the upheaval over the mad cow disease has gone right to the heart of every true-blue Englishman. There is still some good beef left in England, we are told, even if it is only a matter of faith and trust; certainly, there will always be Englishmen who are willing to eat it.

Let us hear from the esteemed Alexandre Dumas on the subject of British Beef which today is full of irony. He was writing in 1869: “I saw the birth of the bifteck (beefsteak) in Paris after the three-year occupation by the English in 1815. Before that our cookery had been as far apart as our opinions. It was therefore with some trepidation that we saw the bifteck surreptitiously insinuate itself in our cuisine. However, since we are an eclectic and unprejudiced people, we soon perceived that although the Greeks bore this gift, it was not poisoned, and we handed the bifteck its certificate of citizenship. However there is still a big difference between an English beefsteak and a French bifteck. We make ours from the fillet of the sirloin, while our neighbours cut theirs from the rump. But in England this part of the steer is much more tender than in France, because they feed their cattle better and slaughter them younger. They slice it about an inch thick, flatten it a bit, and fry it on special cast-iron skillets over coal rather than charcoal. The true bifteck fillet should be grilled over hot charcoal and turned only once, to conserve the good juices… “The rump of the English beef (and I eat with renewed pleasure every time I go to England) is infinitely more savoury than the cut we use in biftecks. It must be eaten in an English tavern, sautéed with Madeira or anchovy butter or served on a bed of cress with vinegar…

“In general,” he continues. “the meat of ruminants is better in England than in France, because they are given particular attention in feeding and care. Nothing can compare with those whole roasted beef quarters that are trundled about on the miniature railways that separate the guests of an English tavern. Those pieces of beef veined with fat, weighing up to a hundred pounds, from which one cuts one’s chosen portion, have no peer for the stimulation of the appetite. The English grow beef so fat the cattle seem to have lost the use of their legs and walk on their stomachs. The cattle breeders and the feeders make the animals drink up to 20 gallons of water a day. Where English cooking is weak is in the sauce department. But large fish and butcher’s meat are infinitely finer in London than in Paris”.

Comparisons may be invidious, but we do have some pretty good beef in Jamaica these days. There are some beef farmers who are taking their business seriously. We even export some of it, but apparently not to Britain or to France. Here is Dumas’ own Beef a la Mode, a la Bourgeoise. Do give it a try. “Take, preferably, the centre cut of rump and lard with bacon. Put in a heavy covered pot with 2 carrots, 4 onions (1 with 2 cloves stuck in it), garlic, thyme, bay leaf, salt and pepper. Pour over it, a large glass of water, ½ glass of white wine or 1 tablespoon of brandy, and cook slowly until tender (5 or 6 hours, at least). Skim the fat off the gravy, then strain. Serve.”

© Elizabeth North 28/08/1996