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To Clarify Broth or Gravy

A method to clarify broth or gravy using egg whites and shell.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 2 ingredients
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To Clarify Broth or Gravy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Put the broth in a clean saucepan.

  2. Break the egg.

  3. Beat the white and shell together.

Clarify and strain

  1. Add the egg mixture to the broth.

  2. Stir with a whisk.

  3. Boil for a few minutes.

  4. Strain through a fine sieve or cloth.

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

Egg white
Its proteins coagulate when heated, trapping cloudy particles so they can be strained out.
Broth
The liquid being clarified; its cloudiness is what the egg white removes.

The step that matters

Boiling after adding the egg mixture. Egg proteins must be stirred through the broth and then heated so they set and form a raft that traps impurities. Stirring while it heats too early or too hard can break the raft and cloud the broth again.

“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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