Oh! The roast beef of England, And old England's roast beef!

-Fielding, Henry
Grub Street Opera, act 3, sc.3.

'Oh, where are you going to, all you Big Steamers, With England's own coal, up and down the salt seas?' 'We are going to fetch you your bread and your butter, Your beef, pork, and mutton, eggs, apples and cheese.'

-Kipling, (Joseph) Rudyard
  'Big Steamers'.

Give but an Englishman his whore and ease, Beef and a sea-coal fire, he's yours forever.

-Otway,Thomas
  Venice Preserved, or a Plot Discovered, act 2, sc.3.