Meat Extract and Bouillon Cube
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the beef
Cut the beef into small pieces and place them in a steam pressure tank filled with water until three-fourths full.
Securely close the manhole and gradually turn on the steam until it reaches 20 pounds of pressure.
Cook for 3 to 5 hours, depending on the quantity and quality of the beef.
Avoid overcooking to prevent a burnt flavor and dark color.
Extract and concentrate
After cooking, withdraw the liquid extract and strain it while hot, but not boiling.
Press the solid residue to extract more liquid, then reduce the liquid to 20 to 30 Baumé in a porcelain-lined kettle with an agitator.
Add salt and optional spices to taste, and reduce the moisture content to 15 to 20 percent.
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
- Fresh lean beef
- Provides the meat flavor and the protein-rich extract that forms the cube.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the concentrate and lowers moisture activity for shelf stability.
The step that matters
Avoid overcooking. Prolonged high-pressure cooking can scorch the meat and drive sugar-protein browning, producing a burnt flavor and dark color that spoil the clean broth taste.
“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.
You might also like
Delicate Cake246 recipes
Boiled Frosting69 recipes
Citron Cake68 recipes
Scotch Cake63 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.