Name: Beef Broth
Ingredients: 1 lb lean beef; 2 cups cold water; coarse sea salt to taste

Beef Broth

Ingredients

1 lb lean beef
2 cups cold water
coarse sea salt to taste

Directions

Prepare the beef

Use juicy round steak; remove all fat and wipe with a damp cloth.
Grind or cut the beef very fine and place it in a glass or stone jar.

Make the broth

Add cold water and let it stand for 1 hour.
Heat slowly to 135°F and maintain that temperature for 1 hour.
Strain the broth and season with salt.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Lean beef: Provides the meat flavor and the dissolved protein that gives the broth its body.
Cold water: Slowly draws juices and flavor out of the meat as it stands and heats.

The step that matters

Heat slowly to 135°F and hold. Heating gently keeps the broth from boiling, so it stays clear rather than turning cloudy. Holding the temperature lets the meat release its flavor gradually, while higher heat would toughen the protein and muddy the liquid.

“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.