Beef Olives

Beef Olives

This recipe may be a bit of a trick to modern cooks. It does not contain any olives at all. Rather, the author, Hannah Glasse referred to the dish’s finished appearance – it is rolled round and stuffed like an olive. “To Olive” any kind of meat was a very popular technique to impress guests.



For stuffing:

5 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 yellow onions, 1 peeled and finely chopped, 1 peeled and coarsely chopped

1 pound ground pork

1 pound ground beef

4 eggs

2 egg yolks

2 scallions, trimmed and finely chopped

1 cup soaked bread

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley


Freshly ground black pepper


For roulades:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 large white onion, peeled and sliced

1 cup button mushrooms, quartered

6 slices lean beef top round, 8 to 10 inches long, 3 to 4 inches wide, and 1/4 inch thick


Freshly ground black pepper

1 large bunch fresh curly-leaf parsley, stemmed and chopped

1 pound caul fat

2 cups red wine

3 cups Demi-Glace or prepared brown sauce

Fresh curly-leaf parsley sprigs, for garnish


  1. Set the caul fat in cold water to soak for 1 hour.
  1. For stuffing, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a small sauté pan over medium heat, add the finely chopped onion, and sauté until softened and any liquid it releases has evaporated, about 2 minutes. Set aside to cool completely.
  2. Combine the cooked and cooled onion with the pork, beef, eggs, egg yolks, scallions, soaked bread, and parsley in a large bowl, season with salt and black pepper, and mix thoroughly but gently with clean hands.
  3. For roulades, heat 2 tablespoons of the butter in a medium sauté pan over high heat. Add the onion and mushrooms, and sauté until softened and translucent. Remove from the heat to cool completely.
  4. Line up the beef slices on a work surface, laying them flat, and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle evenly with sautéed onion, parsley, and bacon. Put stuffing mixture on flattened meat and roll up.
  5. Drain the caul fat, and wrap pieces of it around each roulade, completely encasing each one.
  6. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
  7. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a medium ovenproof sauté pan over medium-high heat (the pan should be just large enough to hold all the roulades snugly).
  8. Season the roulades with salt and pepper, arrange them in the sauté pan, and brown well on all sides. Add the wine to deglaze, stirring with a wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits on the bottom of the pan, and simmer until the pan is nearly dry.
  9. Pour in the demi-glace, cover, and set in the oven to roast until the meat is fully cooked but still tender, about 30 minutes. (Check the roulades after about 15 minutes and be careful not to overcook them or they will fall apart.)
  10. To serve, arrange them on a platter, and garnish with parsley.