Baked Minced Beef

Ingredients

• cold roast beef
• cayenne pepper
• mace or nutmeg
• salt
• 1 or 2 eschalots (shallots)
• mushrooms, fresh or pickled
• 2 tablespoonsful mushroom catsup
• 1 cupful good gravy
• 1 inch thick layer bread-crumbs
• clarified butter

Instructions

1. Mince the inside of a cold roast beef tolerably fine, including a moderate proportion of its own fat; choose the least cooked (rarest) portions.
2. Season the minced beef rather highly with cayenne and mace or nutmeg, and moderately with salt.
3. If liked, add one or two shallots minced small, a few chopped fresh or pickled mushrooms, or two tablespoonsful of mushroom catsup.
4. Mix the whole well with a cupful of good gravy and put it into a deep dish.
5. Place on the top an inch-thick layer of bread-crumbs.
6. Moisten the bread-crumbs plentifully with clarified butter passed through a small strainer over them.
7. Send the mince to a slow oven for twenty minutes, or brown it in a Dutch oven.