Name: Beef Broth
Ingredients: 20 pounds neck and shin beef, trimmed and skinned; 20 pounds beef bones; 15 quarts cold water; 1 quart oil for lamp

Beef Broth

Ingredients

20 pounds neck and shin beef, trimmed and skinned
20 pounds beef bones
15 quarts cold water
1 quart oil for lamp

Directions

Prepare

Cut the meat into strips.
Crack the bones.
Pack the meat and bones in a cooker.
Add cold water.
Place the cooker in a cold oven.

Cook

Light the lamp at 4 o'clock.
After 4.5 hours, check that the water is 160°F.
After 7.5 hours, check that the water is 200°F.
After 9 hours, check that the water briefly reaches 212°F.
Replace the lamp with a freshly filled one at 6:30 PM.

Finish

Strain the broth through a colander at 6 AM.
Add boiling water to make 25 quarts.
Cool the broth quickly in cold water to remove the fat.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Beef neck and shin: Provides meat flavor and gelatin as it slowly breaks down in the water.
Beef bones: Release collagen and marrow flavor into the water during the long, gentle cooking.
Cold water: Extracts flavor from the meat and bones as the temperature rises slowly.

The step that matters

Bringing the water up through the temperature checkpoints. Heating slowly from cold lets proteins and collagen release flavor and gelatin gradually, while the water must still reach 212°F briefly to be safely pasteurized. Skipping or rushing these checks can leave a weak or unsafe broth.

“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.