Beef olives are an English meat dish consisting of slices of beef rolled and tied round a stuffing and braised in stock. Veal is sometimes used instead of beef, but the latter has been more common since the 18th century. Similar dishes are familiar in cuisines of other countries including France, Italy, Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic.
History and etymology
The word "olives" in the name of the dish is a corruption of "aloes" or "allowes", from the Old French ''alou'', meaning
lark
Larks are passerine birds of the family Alaudidae. Larks have a cosmopolitan distribution with the largest number of species occurring in Africa. Only a single species, the horned lark, occurs in North America, and only Horsfield's bush lark occu ...
.
[Ayto, p. 26] It was held that the small stuffed beef (or veal) rolls resembled little birds, particularly those whose heads had been cut off in being prepared for the table. In ''
The Oxford Companion to Food
''The Oxford Companion to Food'' is an encyclopedia about food. It was edited by Alan Davidson and published by Oxford University Press in 1999. It was also issued in softcover under the name ''The Penguin Companion to Food''. The second and th ...
'',
Alan Davidson observes that although the standard French term for similar beef rolls is ''
paupiette
A ''paupiette'' is a piece of meat, beaten thin, and rolled with a stuffing of vegetables, fruits or sweetmeats. It is often featured in recipes from Normandy. It is often fried or braised, or baked in wine or stock. They are very popular in Franc ...
s'' they have an alternative name – ("larks without heads").
[ Likewise, an alternative English name is "veal birds".][Davidson, p. 69]
In English usage the term beef (or veal) olives dates back to at least the 16th century. John Florio
Giovanni Florio (1552–1625), known as John Florio, was an English linguist, poet, writer, translator, lexicographer, and royal language tutor at the Court of James I. He is recognised as the most important Renaissance humanist in England. F ...
in his '' A Worlde of Wordes'' (1598) refers to "That meate which we call oliues of veale".[ By the 18th century, beef was more commonly used than veal. ]Elizabeth Raffald
Elizabeth Raffald (; 1733 – 19 April 1781) was an English author, innovator and entrepreneur.
Born and raised in Doncaster, Yorkshire, Raffald went into domestic service
A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works wit ...
in ''The Experienced English Housekeeper
''The Experienced English Housekeeper'' is a cookery book by the English businesswoman Elizabeth Raffald (1733–1781). It was first published in 1769, and went through 13 authorised editions and at least 23 pirated ones.
The book contains so ...
'' (1769) gives a recipe for the beef version, as in the 19th century does Mrs Beeton
Isabella Mary Beeton ( Mayson; 14 March 1836 – 6 February 1865), known as Mrs Beeton, was an English journalist, editor and writer. Her name is particularly associated with her first book, the 1861 work ''Mrs Beeton's Book of Household ...
(1861).[
Davidson comments that similar rolled and stuffed beef (or veal) dishes are found in the cookery of Germany (),][ Poland (),][ and the Czech Republic ();][ in Italy, there are several names for versions of the dish, including ,][ and .]
Ingredients
Elizabeth David
Elizabeth David CBE (born Elizabeth Gwynne, 26 December 1913 – 22 May 1992) was a British cookery writer. In the mid-20th century she strongly influenced the revitalisation of home cookery in her native country and beyond with articles and bo ...
remarks of the French ''paupiettes'' that every cook has a different recipe for them.[David, p. 351] Recipes vary likewise for the English equivalent:
References
Sources
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{{English cuisine
English beef dishes