Name: Peptonised Beef Tea
Ingredients: 1 lb lean, juicy beef; 1 tablespoon Banger's; 1 pint cold water; Liquor pancreaticus

Peptonised Beef Tea

Ingredients

1 lb lean, juicy beef
1 tablespoon Banger's
1 pint cold water
Liquor pancreaticus

Directions

Make the broth

Shred the meat finely.
Put it into a lined saucepan with the cold water.
Simmer very slowly for 1.5 hours.
Pour into a jug and let it cool to lukewarm (not exceeding 140°F).

Finish and strain

Add the pancreatic liquor and stir well.
Cover the jug and keep warm for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
Bring to a boil and strain off the liquid part.

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 beef: Supplies the meat flavour and protein that dissolve into the liquid as it simmers.
Liquor pancreaticus: Contains digestive enzymes that break down meat proteins, making the tea more easily digested.

The step that matters

Cooling to lukewarm before adding the liquor. The pancreatic liquor is an enzyme preparation, and enzymes lose activity when heated too much. Letting the broth cool to lukewarm, not above 140°F, protects the enzymes so they can keep working during the warm holding period.

“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.