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Beef Tea-No. 2
1 pound meat, 1 pint cold water. The meat should be juicy, having as little fat as possible. After removing the skin and all the fat, cut the meat into small pieces, and put into a bowl with the water. Let stand for several hours in a cool place, until the meat has parted with its juices. Then heat slowly until it becomes steaming hot; remove from the fire and strain, to remove the meat. Cool quickly as possible, in order not to absorb any odors from the room. Serve hot or cold, seasoning it when used. If reheated, care must be taken to heat no more than to steaming point.
This is invalid cookery rather than soup: a cold-water extraction of beef juices, deliberately never boiled. The whole point is the low finishing temperature, so a thermometer is worth more here than a clock.
- The hinge: never let it boilBoiling coagulates the soluble proteins into grey flecks, clouds the liquid and flattens the flavour. The book gives no temperature; "steaming hot" is best read as somewhere below a simmer -- wisps of vapour and no bubbles breaking the surface.
- Bring it to a measured temperatureBecause the beef is raw and has sat for hours, take the pan to at least 165F on an instant-read thermometer and hold it there a minute before straining. That is still well below a simmer and does not harm the tea.
- "A cool place" means the refrigeratorA period larder ran perhaps 45-50F. Do the "several hours" soak covered in the refrigerator, not on the counter.
- UnitsA pint here is most likely 2 cups (16 fl oz), though a British source would mean 20 fl oz. One pound of beef to a pint of water yields something under a pint of finished tea after straining.
- The cut"Juicy meat with as little fat as possible" points to lean round or shin, trimmed hard of fat, gristle and silverskin. Chop it fine or scrape it with the back of a knife; the more cut surface, the more juice passes into the water.
- Season at the end, and lightlyThe original withholds salt until the tea is used, so season in the cup; a pinch is enough.
- Cooling and keepingCool it in a shallow bowl set in ice water rather than leaving it out, then refrigerate covered and use within 24 hours. Reheat single cups only, again to steaming, never twice.
- YieldOne serving, about a cupful. Beef tea is a restorative drink, not a course, and was served in a cup rather than a soup plate.