Beef Tea
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the beef
Chop the beef finely using a meat grinder.
Place the beef in an earthen jar with a lid.
Add the cold water and let it sit for 1 hour.
Stir occasionally and press the meat with a spoon.
Simmer
Put the jar in a saucepan large enough to cover it with water, ensuring the water does not enter the jar.
Keep the water at a gentle boil for 3 hours, adding more water as needed to replace evaporation.
Remove the jar and drain the beef tea from the meat.
Strain and clarify
Press the meat through a coarse straining cloth to extract all liquid.
Let the beef tea stand until clear, with sediment settling at the bottom.
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 broth its body.
- Cold water
- Extracts flavour and juices from the chopped beef into the liquid.
The step that matters
Keep the water at a gentle boil. A vigorous boil can push water into the jar and cloud the broth, while too low a heat extracts flavour slowly. A gentle simmer over the full 3 hours gives a clear, well-flavoured result.
“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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