Name: Peptonised Beef-Tea
Ingredients: 1 pound thinly-minced lean beef; 1 pint water; 10 grains bicarbonate of soda; 1 tablespoon liquor pancreaticus

Peptonised Beef-Tea

Ingredients

1 pound thinly-minced lean beef
1 pint water
10 grains bicarbonate of soda
1 tablespoon liquor pancreaticus

Directions

Simmer the beef

Mix the minced beef with water and add bicarbonate of soda.
Simmer the mixture in a covered saucepan for 1.5 hours.
Decant the beef tea into a covered jug.

Finish and cool

Beat the undissolved beef residue into a pulp and add it to the beef tea.
Allow the mixture to cool to about 140°F (60°C).
Stir in the liquor pancreaticus and mix well.

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: Provides the meaty flavour and the protein that dissolves into the tea.
Bicarbonate of soda: Raises the pH of the liquid, which helps the meat break down and release its flavour.
Liquor pancreaticus: Contains digestive enzymes that break down the remaining protein in the tea.

The step that matters

Stir in the liquor pancreaticus only after cooling to about 140°F (60°C). Digestive enzymes are heat-sensitive. At high temperatures they denature and lose activity, so adding them to hot liquid would weaken their effect. Cooling first keeps them active.

“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.