Quickly-made Beef Tea
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beef
Scrape or chop the beef as finely as possible, avoiding all fat and gristle.
Combine the beef, cold water, and salt in a bowl and let it stand for 30 minutes.
Make the tea
Transfer the mixture to a saucepan and stir over low heat, pressing the meat against the sides to extract juice.
Cook until the liquid turns brown, ensuring it does not boil.
Strain the liquid, pressing as much juice through the strainer as possible.
Remove any fat with paper and serve hot, seasoned with salt to taste.
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
- Lean beef
- Provides the meat juices that give the tea its flavour and body.
- Cold water
- Draws juices out of the meat gently when it is steeped before heating.
The step that matters
Cook over low heat without boiling. Boiling toughens the meat proteins and can cloud the liquid, so gentle heat keeps the tea clear and well flavoured.
“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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