Beef Tea
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the beef into small squares or mince, removing all fat.
Make the broth
Place the beef in a clean stewpan with cold water and bring to a boil.
Skim off the scum that rises to the surface.
Add a small amount of salt and cold water at the edge of the stewpan to help with skimming.
Boil 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 some of the beef tea in a cup with dry toast and salt.
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
- Gives the broth its meaty flavour and dissolves into the liquid to create the body of the tea.
- Cold water
- Extracts flavour and gelatin from the beef slowly as it heats, producing a clear, savoury liquid.
The step that matters
Skim off the scum. Proteins and impurities rise to the surface as the liquid heats. Removing them while the broth is still clear keeps the final liquid clean-tasting and clear rather than cloudy.
“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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