Beef Essence
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beef
Remove all fat and gristle from the beef.
Finely chop the lean beef and place it in a jar with a little salt and 2 tablespoons of water.
Simmer
Cover the jar and tightly seal it with paper.
Place the jar in a saucepan half-full of boiling water and simmer for 6 hours.
Ensure the water does not boil too fast to prevent the meat from drying out.
Finish
Pour off the liquid into a basin without straining, and remove any fat.
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
- Provides the meat flavour and gelatin that give the stock its body.
- Water
- Carries the flavour out of the meat and keeps it moist during gentle cooking.
The step that matters
Keep the water barely simmering. If the water boils hard, the meat dries out and tightens, so less flavourful juice is released into the liquid. A gentle, steady heat draws out the juices slowly and keeps the stock 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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