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Common Broth

A clear broth made by simmering a sliced beef leg in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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Common Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the leg of beef into thin slices and break the bone.

  2. Place the beef in a pot that holds about 14 quarts.

Simmer and skim

  1. Fill the pot with cold water and place it over the stove.

  2. When it begins to boil, skim off the scum.

  3. Add 1 pint of cold water and stir the meat to help the scum rise.

  4. Continue to skim and add cold water to prevent fast boiling.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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

Leg of beef
Meat and bone release flavor and gelatin into the water as they simmer.

The step that matters

Skim off the scum as it rises. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities. Left in the pot, it clouds the broth and can add bitter, off flavors. Adding cold water and keeping the boil gentle lets it rise to the surface where it can be removed.

“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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