Beef Tea
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the beef into small squares or mince it.
Make the broth
Place the beef in a clean stewpan with cold water and bring to a boil.
Remove any scum that rises to the surface with a spoon.
Add a small amount of salt and cold water at the edge of the stewpan to help with skimming.
Simmer gently for about 30 minutes until reduced by half.
Strain and serve
Strain the broth through a clean sieve or napkin into a basin.
Serve in a cup with dry toast.
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
- Fresh lean beef
- Provides the meat flavour and dissolves gelatin and savoury compounds into the broth as it simmers.
- Cold water
- Extracts flavour from the beef slowly as it heats, and the cold start helps impurities rise for skimming.
The step that matters
Remove the scum as it rises. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that cloud the broth and taste bitter if left in. Skimming early, while the liquid is just reaching a boil, keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting.
“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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