Recipe no. 204 from Jean-Baptiste Reboul's La Cuisinière provençale (1909), page 104.
Ingredients
- Topside beef
- Salt pork
- Clove of garlic
- Parsley
- Salt
- Pepper
- Spices
- Strips of bacon fat
- Carrot
- Onion
- White wine
- Broth
- Bay leaf
- Thyme
- Cornflour
- Water
Preparation
- Preparing the slices and stuffingCut 7 or 8 small thin slices of topside beef of 7 to 8 cm, beat them well with the cleaver to flatten them. Prepare a small stuffing with the trimmings, a little salt pork, chopped clove of garlic, parsley, salt, pepper and spices.
- Filling and rollingArrange the slices, season them, put a spoonful of the stuffing on each, roll them up and tie them with a length of string. Arrange them in a saucepan at the bottom of which you have placed a few thin strips of bacon fat, sliced carrot and onion.
- Initial cookingPut on the heat, cover and let it sweat. When the bottom begins to catch, drizzle with a glass of white wine, let it reduce. Moisten with 2 or 3 ladlefuls of broth.
- Seasoning and slow cookingAdd a bay leaf and a sprig of thyme. Cover and let cook over low heat.
- GlazingWhen they near the end of cooking, push them into the oven and baste them often for a fine glazed colour.
- Final sauceStrain the remaining juice into a small saucepan, skim off the fat, bring it to a boil and bind it with a spoonful of cornflour mixed with water. Just before serving, dress the paupiettes and coat with the sauce.
Reboul's text
Cut from a piece of topside beef 7 or 8 small thin slices no more than 7 to 8 centimetres to the side, beat them well with the cleaver to flatten them; prepare with the trimmings of your slices and a little salt pork a small stuffing, to which you add a clove of garlic chopped with a little parsley, salt, pepper and spices; mix well. Arrange the slices on the table, one beside the other, season them, put on each a spoonful of the prepared stuffing, roll them up, tie them with a length of string, and arrange them then in a saucepan at the bottom of which you will have placed a few thin strips of bacon fat, a carrot and an onion, sliced.
Put on the heat, cover the saucepan and let it sweat. When the bottom begins to catch, drizzle with a glass of white wine, let it reduce then moisten with 2 or 3 ladlefuls of broth; add a bay leaf and a sprig of thyme, cover and let cook over low heat. When they near the end of their cooking, push them into the oven and baste them often so they take on a fine glazed colour. Then strain the remaining juice into a small saucepan; skim off the fat, bring it to a boil and bind it with a tablespoon of cornflour mixed with a little water. Just before serving, dress the paupiettes on a platter and coat with the sauce.
Small Provençal glossary for this recipe
Reboul himself gives certain Provençal names in this recipe: Paupiettes de bœuf ou Alouettes sans tête. The table below gives the Provençal equivalents of the other words used, in mistralian spelling: each of these forms is attested in our Provençal-English dictionary, and the link opens the entry. Our dictionary does not yet attest the word Paupiettes de bœuf ou Alouettes sans tête: we therefore quote it as the author printed it, without adding a form of our own.
| Provençal | English |
|---|---|
| aplati | flatten |
| susa | sweat |
| muia | moisten |
Source: Jean-Baptiste Reboul, La Cuisinière provençale, Marseille, 1909, recipe no. 204, page 104. Public domain. Transcription, formatting and Provençal glossary by Lingua Nostra.