Or, Vert Strong Plain Beef Gravy Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Trim all skin and fat from the beef and chop it finely.
Mix the chopped beef with 1 pint of cold water.
Make the soup
Heat the mixture very slowly on the side of the stove, stirring occasionally.
Allow it to stand for 2 to 3 hours before simmering.
Simmer gently for about 15 minutes.
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
- Beef
- Provides the meat flavour and the savoury body of the soup as it gently releases its juices into the water.
- Cold water
- Acts as the liquid that slowly extracts flavour and gelatin from the beef.
The step that matters
Heating the mixture very slowly. Starting the beef in cold water and heating gradually lets the juices and flavour dissolve out before the meat toughens. Rapid heating seizes the proteins, squeezes out moisture, and leaves the soup less rich and clear.
“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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