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Savory Beef Tea

A simple beef broth made by simmering beef, onion, celery, carrot, and herbs in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Savory Beef Tea

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the beefsteak into pieces and place it in a pot.

  2. Add salt, onion, celery, carrot, and herbs.

  3. Cover with cold water.

  4. Let it sit for 1-2 hours.

Cook and serve

  1. Heat gradually.

  2. Boil gently for 5 minutes.

  3. Strain the mixture.

  4. Serve.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Beefsteak
Provides the meat flavor and dissolves gelatin and savory compounds into the broth.
Onion
Adds sweet, savory aroma to the broth.
Celery
Contributes a vegetal, aromatic background flavor to the broth.
Carrot
Adds mild sweetness and body to the broth.

The step that matters

Heat gradually. Starting the meat in cold water and warming it slowly lets proteins and fat release gradually, so the broth stays clearer and less cloudy than if it is brought to a hard boil quickly.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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