Wipe a filet of beef with a damp cloth. Trim it neatly and remove all the connective tissue and the skin covering the filet. Rub with butter and with salt and pepper to taste. Roast in a moderate oven for 25 to 35 min, depending on the size of the filet. The usual weight of a filet of beef is about 3 ¾ to 4 pounds. Baste frequently with hot beef stock for the first 15 min., then with the juices from the pan for the remaining roasting time, being careful not to let these juices burn.

Trim, remove the connective tissue and the skin from a whole filet of beef, and lard it with equal parts of narrow, matchlike strips of fat pork and cooked ox tongue, trimming the protruding ends. Put the larded roast in an earthenware dish. Sprinkle with very little salt. Pour over the meat 1 cup red Burgundy, ½ cup tarragon vinegar, 1 generous dash each of thyme, powdered bay leaves, nutmeg, and ground cloves and 1 onion, thinly sliced. A few thin slices of lemon and raw carrot may be added. Cover with a cloth and marinate in the refrigerator for 3 days, turning the meat twice a day. Drain and dry the filet, reserving the marinade for use in making the sauce, and roast it as indicated for roast filet of beef, basting frequently. Arrange the roast on a heated platter, slice enough portions to around once, and reshape it.

Prepare a sauce poivrade, using the reserved marinade, and pour part of it over the slices of roasted filet, serving the rest in a sauceboat.

Wipe a 3 ½ to 4 pound filet of beef with a cloth dipped in brandy. Trim it neatly and slice it into 6 equal parts, after removing the tail end, without separating the slices. Between the parts put thin slices of cooked ham spread with pate de foie gras. Reshape the filet and roast it in a moderate oven for about 12 min., or until it is half done, basting frequently with ½ cup rich beef stock. Brush the tenderloin with melted meat glaze. Cool slightly, then spread the filet thinly with pate de foie gras and sprinkle it with chopped black truffles. Roll out a puff paste dough into a thin sheet and wrap the tenderloin in it, securing it neatly. Brush the paste with cold water. Bake the meat on a baking sheet in a hot oven for 12 to 15 min. Brush the paste with slightly beaten egg yolk and continue baking until the crust is nicely browned. Served with mushroom sauce flavored with Madeira.

Wrap several thin slices of larding pork around a filet of beef and roll it securely in a sheet of fell, the thin, paperlike tissue from the outside surface of a leg of lamb. Drive a long, thin, sharp knife lengthwise directly through the center of the filet. Into the tunnel-like opening introduce small truffles or truffle pieces, forcing them into the slit from both ends. Thus there will be an interior row of truffles through the center of the filet.

Melt 4 tbsp butter in a heavy kettle of frying pan. Sprinkle the filet with salt and pepper and brown it well on all sides in the hot butter. Cook for 10 to 12 min. per pound for rare meat. For 14 to 16 min per pound for medium, and for 18 to 20 min per pound for well done. Turn it frequently and moisten from time to time with a little Madeira or port. When the filet is cooked to taste, cool it, remove the fell and chill the filet in the refrigerator.

Flavor 2 cups aspic jelly for meat with ¼ cup port and heat it very slightly until just softened. Place the filet on a cake rack and spoon the aspic over it thickly. Pour the remaining aspic ½ to 1 inch deep into a shallow pan and place it in the refrigerator, along with the filet, until the aspic is set and will hold its shape.

Serve the filet on a long oval platter. Rake the aspic surface with a fork to achieve a crystalline effect on top of the filet. Garnish the platter with small balls of pate de foie gras rolled in finely chopped truffles and bouquets of water cress and make a border of crescents cut from the aspic. The remaining aspic should be broken up with a fork and used to garnish the platter as a bed for the foie gras balls

Saute 2 rib steaks cut about 2 inches thick, each weighing about 3 pounds in clarified butter. When they are half done, add to the pan 1 medium sized onion, finely sliced. Cook, stirring the onions from time to time until the steaks are done. Remove the steaks to a heated platter, deglaze the skillet with 2 tbsp wine vinegar, and add ¾ cup reduced veal stock. Heat thoroughly and pour the sauce and onions over the steaks.