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To Clarify Beef Drippings

A method to clarify drippings from cooked beef or veal by boiling with a raw potato and removing impurities.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,052 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

To Clarify Beef Drippings

Ingredients

Directions

Clarify the drippings

  1. Place the drippings in a basin.

  2. Slice the raw potato and add it to the drippings.

  3. Boil until the potato browns, which will remove impurities.

  4. Remove from heat and let it cool.

  5. Drain off the sediment that settles at the bottom.

  6. Transfer the clarified drippings into basins or small jars.

Store and use

  1. Store in a cool place for future use.

  2. When ready to use, mix with an equal amount of butter for frying and basting meats.

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

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,847 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Drippings from cooked beef or veal
Provide the rich, meaty fat that is clarified and used for frying and basting.
Raw potato
Browns as it boils, helping draw out impurities from the drippings.
Butter
Mixed with the clarified drippings to add flavour and richness for frying and basting.

The step that matters

Boil until the potato browns. The potato must brown fully so impurities are drawn out. Removing the heat too early leaves impurities behind, which can burn or spoil the fat during storage.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, butter):

  1. Potatothe original
  2. Onionfits about as well
  3. Chivefits less well
  4. Tomatofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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