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Drink

Beef Tea

A beverage made by simmering chopped beef in water with hydrochloric acid.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Beef Tea

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 160°F (70°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the beef

  1. Chop the beef into pieces about ¼ inch in diameter.

  2. Soak the beef in cold water for 5 to 6 hours.

Extract the broth

  1. Add the hydrochloric acid to the beef and water mixture.

  2. Heat the mixture gradually to 160°F (70°C) for 15 to 30 minutes using a water bath.

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

What each ingredient does

Lean raw beef
Supplies the protein and meat flavour that is drawn into the liquid.
Hydrochloric acid
Acidifies the soaking liquid, helping draw flavour out of the meat.

The step that matters

Heat the mixture gradually to 160°F (70°C) in a water bath. Slow, gentle heating keeps the broth clear and limits how tightly the meat proteins contract. Rapid or high heat makes proteins coagulate and fat disperse, giving a cloudy, greasy and tougher-tasting broth.

“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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