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Drink

To Make Beef or Mutton Tea

A clear broth made by simmering lean meat in cold water, skimming scum and fat, then straining.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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To Make Beef or Mutton Tea

Ingredients

Directions

Make the tea

  1. Cut the meat into thin slices.

  2. Place the meat in a pot with the cold water.

  3. Heat the pot gently until warm.

  4. When scum rises, remove it and cover the pot.

  5. Let it boil for about 2 hours.

Strain and serve

  1. Skim off the fat and strain the liquid through a sieve.

  2. Let it stand for 10 minutes to settle, then pour off the clear tea.

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 gravy meat
Releases its flavor and natural juices into the water to form the tea.
Cold water
Extracts flavor and gelatin from the meat slowly as it heats and simmers.

The step that matters

Heating gently until warm, then removing scum. Starting with cold water and heating slowly lets impurities and proteins rise as scum, which can be skimmed for a clearer tea. Rapid heating would cloud the liquid.

“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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