Beef Ragout

Ingredients

• lean beef
• fat of smoked beef
• good gravy
• allspice
• cloves
• pepper
• salt
• 1 glass port wine
• lemon juice
• 0.5 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• mushroom ketchup
• forcemeat balls

Instructions

1. Lard a small well-cut piece of lean beef with the fat of smoked beef. Stew it in good gravy highly seasoned with allspice, cloves, pepper, and salt until the meat is well done.
2. Remove the meat from the gravy and skim the gravy carefully, removing every particle of fat. Add to the gravy a glass of port wine, the juice of a lemon, half a teaspoonful of cayenne pepper, and a little mushroom ketchup.
3. Poach a few very small forcemeat balls in the gravy. Glaze the beef when required for an elegant appearance.
4. Pour the gravy over the meat and arrange the forcemeat balls around the dish.