Beef Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the meat from the bones and bind it with a cord or cut it into strips.
Crack the bones thoroughly with a mallet.
Place the bones in a pot, then add the meat.
Pour in 4 quarts of filtered water for every 2 pounds of beef.
Simmer
Heat the mixture very slowly without covering the pot completely.
Do not add salt until the meat is nearly cooked.
Boil the meat until it falls apart, skimming the soup occasionally.
If using vegetables, remove them with a skimmer once tender.
After 6 to 7 hours, remove the meat and strain the soup through a fine strainer.
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
What each ingredient does
- Beef
- Provides flavor and gelatin-rich connective tissue that gives the broth body as it cooks.
- Bones (in the method)
- Release collagen and marrow flavor into the water, adding body and richness to the soup.
The step that matters
Adding salt. Salt added too early can toughen the meat's proteins and concentrate as the water reduces, so waiting until the meat is nearly cooked lets you season the finished broth accurately.
“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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