1075—Filet de Bœuf Froid (Relevé)

Fillet of beef, when properly dished, makes an excellent cold Relevé.

For this purpose lard it, roast it (keeping it somewhat underdone towards the centre), and, when it is quite cold, trim, and coat it with half-melted jelly.

Then set it either directly upon a dish or upon a cushion of bread or carved rice, which makes the dish more sightly when the garnish is added.

Before setting the fillet on the dish or on the cushion of rice, it is well to cut a slice one-fifth inch thick from the whole of its base; leave this slice under the fillet when dishing; by this means, when the carving is proceeded with, each slice will be found to be neatly trimmed.

Cold fillet of beef allows of every possible cold vegetable garnish.

The vegetables should be cooked with the greatest care and be left to cool naturally.

When they are quite cold, either cohere them by means of jelly, or set them round the fillet in neat heaps, taking care to alternate their shades, and coat them with almost melted aspic.

Finally, between each heap of vegetables lay a little chopped and very clear aspic, and, round the whole, arrange a border consisting of bits of aspic (round, oval, square, lozenge-shaped, &c.) very regularly cut.

I see no reason for devoting any further space to this subject. What has been said should, I think, suffice to show how varied and numerous are the possible ways of dishing cold fillet of beef, the minute details of which may, with advantage, be left to the ingenuity of the operator.