2 lb beef bottom round, fat trimmed
1 oil
4 oz soy sauce
6 oz dry sherry
4 garlic cloves
2 ginger slices
3 scallions, in 1 lengths
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise star
4 basil sprigs
1 tbsp sugar
1 water to cover
2 tbsp gelatin
4 oz cold water
1 sesame oil
Directions
Wash meat and pat dry. Brown quickly on all sides in a little oil.
Combine next 9 ingredients in a large kettle. Bring to a boil. Add
meat and water to cover. Lower heat and let simmer at lowest heat for
2 hrs. Off heat, let steep for 1 hr. Remove beef, chill, and slice
thin.
Strain and defat liquid. Soften gelatin in water; add to liquid in a
fresh pot. Bring to a boil and reduce to 2 - 2 1/2 c. Let cool.
Arrange beef in a serving bowl or dish or mold that has been oiled
with a dash of sesame oil. Pour cooled liquid over. Chill in fridge.
To serve: unmold on a bed of greens.
From: Michael Loo
Servings: 8 servings
Aromatic Beef (Cold) Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Beef; Meat
The History of Recipes
We can track the history of `recipes` way back into the far past, certainly as far as pharonic Egypt, and possibly even further than that. Interesting though that maybe, generally, these early cook books were just basic hieroglyphic recipes for preparing meals.
In fact, the oldest recipe in existence, according to historians are some clay tablets in Sumerian describing the making of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made people feel `exhilarated, wonderful and blissful`. Later on, in Roman times around 25BC a roman called Apicius assembled a collection of scripts detailing recipes prepared by the Romans. In his publication, Apicius recounts how the meals were split into hors d`oeuvre, main meal and desserts, something that is very familiar to us today. Additionally, he describes how the cooks of his times were skilled in the use of a wide range of herbs and spices, including many that are still in use today like thyme, rue and asafoetida. Later on, we have a couple of cookery books which were published in the 14th Century : one book titled `Forme of Cury`, and another, similary titled `Curye on Inglish`. Amusingly, these are unconnected to the indian curry that appears on menues today, but instead accounts of the types of meals on the menues of the rich and powerful of the period. Later on in the 1400s, knights returning from the crusades brought back a variety of foods and spices from Arab cooking, such as parsley, basil and rosemary. These new spices and herbs prompted an eruption in recipe books, some of which are now in private cookery archives. For the next few years, the upper-class families of Wesstern Europe competed to lay on the most extravagent banquests, and as a consequence, cooks and their collection of recipes were greatly in demand. Even so, it wasn`t until the 19th century that cookery and recipe publications rose to prominence. Mrs Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Farmer in the US, spent years to assembling, verifying, and recording recipes to allow everyone to enjoy them. By the advent of the twentieth century, cooking books are highly popular as a result of more people being able to read, people having more free time and having more money. |
We hope you enjoy this Aromatic Beef (Cold) recipe.
