65. Real Essence of Beef

The Modern Housewife · Soyer, Alexis · 1849
Source
The Modern Housewife
Status
success · extracted 12 days ago
Not a recipe
No
Ingredients (5)
Instructions (6)
  1. Lay the beef slices upon a thin trencher, and scrape quite fine with a large and sharp knife.
  2. Put the scraped meat into a stewpan or saucepan.
  3. Stir over the fire five to ten minutes, until thoroughly warmed through.
  4. Add a pint of water.
  5. Cover the stewpan as tightly as possible, and let it remain close to the fire or in a warm oven for twenty minutes.
  6. Pass the mixture through a sieve, pressing the meat with a spoon to extract all the essence.
Original Text
65. Real Essence of Beef.—Take one pound of solid beef from the rump, a steak would be the best, cut it into thin slices, which lay upon a thin trencher, and scrape quite fine with a large and sharp knife (as quickly as possible, or the juice of the meat would partially soak into the wood, your meat thus losing much of its strengthening quality), when like sausage-meat put it into a stewpan or saucepan, and stir over the fire five or ten minutes, until thoroughly warmed through, then add a pint of water, cover the stewpan as tightly as possible, and let it remain close to the fire or in a warm oven for twenty minutes, then pass it through a sieve, pressing the meat with a spoon to extract all the essence. I beg to observe that here you have the real juice of the meat; but if wanted stronger, put only half instead of one pint of water; seasoning may be introduced, that is, a little salt, sugar, and cloves, but no vegetables, as they would not have time to cook, thus leaving a raw, bad flavor.
Notes