Beef Tea
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beef
Choose good gravy beef, such as steak or topside. Remove the fat and skin.
Cut the meat into thin strips and shred quickly with a sharp knife, or use a mincing machine.
Make the broth
Put the shredded meat, cold water, and salt into a saucepan. Let it stand for 15 minutes to soak if possible.
Heat slowly, stirring gently all the time. The juice will come out of the meat, leaving it white.
Cook gently until the liquid turns a rich red-brown.
Strain and skim
Strain through a fine wire strainer.
Remove any speck of grease by drawing a piece of paper across the top.
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
- Gravy beef
- Its juices and connective tissue supply the main flavour and colour of the broth.
- Cold water
- Draws the juices out of the shredded meat as it heats, forming the liquid base.
The step that matters
Heat slowly and stir gently. High heat makes the meat proteins tighten and cloud the liquid, while gentle heating lets the juices release and keeps the broth clear and rich.
“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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