Braised Meat (Beef, Lamb or Veal)

Recipe No. 236 from the U.S. Army’s WWII cookbook — Meat. Quantities are exactly as printed, for 100 servings; a scaled-down 8-serving version is in the notes.

Ingredients

• Meat, carcass — 60 pounds
• or — as needed
• Meat, boneless — 42 pounds
• Fat — 8 ounces (¼ No. 56 dipper)
• Salt — 6 ounces (¼ mess kit cup)
• Pepper — ½ ounce (2 mess kit spoons)
• Onions, chopped — 5 pounds (5 No. 56 dippers)
• Water or stock, hot — 1 quart (1 No. 56 dipper)

Directions

1. Cut meat into pieces weighing 6 to 8 pounds each.
2. Cook meat until brown in its own fat or in the ½ pound added fat.
3. Add salt, pepper, onions*, and water or stock.
4. Cover tightly and heat to boiling point; reduce heat and simmer on top of stove or in slow oven (300° F.) 3 hours or until tender, turning meat two or three times while cooking. Add small amounts of liquid as needed.
5. Remove from pans; slice in thin slices across the grain.

Notes

SCALED TO 8 SERVINGS (the original is ÷12.5): Meat, carcass — 4 lb 12¾ oz or — to taste Meat, boneless — 3 lb 5¾ oz Fat — ⅔ oz Salt — ½ oz Pepper — a pinch Onions, chopped — 6⅓ oz Water or stock, hot — 5 tbsp

Onions may be cooked in fat until brown. Heavy utensils are best for cooking pot-roasts.

— TM 10-412, Army Recipes (War Department, 15 August 1944), recipe No. 236, Meat. Army measures: 1 No. 56 dipper = 1 qt; 1 No. 55 dipper = 1¾ qt; 1 mess kit cup = 1½ pints.