Beef Tea
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Finely chop the gravy beef, removing all skin and fat.
Place the meat in a stone jar and add the water.
Cover the jar with a lid and tie a piece of paper over it.
Cook
Stand the jar in a saucepan of boiling water for three hours, or in the oven at 350°F (175°C) for one and a half hours. Ensure the water does not cover the jar.
Remove the jar, pour the beef tea into a cup, and add salt to taste if desired.
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 dissolved protein that give the tea its savoury body.
- Water
- Slowly extracts the beef's juices and flavour during the gentle, covered cooking.
The step that matters
Keep the water below the jar's rim. Water covering the jar can boil into the contents and dilute the tea, while gentle, indirect heat draws out flavour without toughening the meat.
“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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