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Beef Tea

A clear broth made by steeping shredded lean beef in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Beef Tea

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Wipe the beef with a damp cloth.

  2. Shred the beef finely, discarding any fat or skin.

  3. Place the shredded beef in a strong jar or basin.

  4. Add salt to the shredded beef.

  5. Stir in cold water.

  6. Cover the basin with a plate and let it stand for 30 minutes.

  7. Stir the beef again.

Cook

  1. Cover the basin with buttered white paper and tie it down.

  2. Place the covered basin in a saucepan with enough cold water to reach halfway up the basin.

  3. Cover the pan.

  4. Boil slowly for 3 hours, adding more cold water if needed.

  5. Remove the basin from the pan.

Strain and serve

  1. Stir the beef tea.

  2. Strain through a coarse strainer.

  3. Press the meat dry with a wooden spoon.

  4. Wipe the surface with soft white paper to remove grease before serving.

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

Beef
Provides the flavour and the dissolved protein that give the tea its body.
Cold water
Slowly draws juices and flavour out of the shredded meat into the liquid.
Salt
Seasons the tea and helps draw flavour from the meat.

The step that matters

Boil slowly for 3 hours in a covered basin. A gentle, sustained heat extracts flavour from the meat without toughening it or making the tea cloudy. A hard boil can churn fat into the liquid and reduce clarity, so the pan should only simmer.

“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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