Beef Tea.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 898, 17 May 1889, Page 5

Beef Tea.

The following recipes were given by firstrate sick nurses—l. Cut lib of lean beef (hough will do, bnt stewing steak is best) into dice, and lay it in an earthenware jar with a lid (a table salt jar is capital for the purpose), with a pinch of salt, and threequarters of a pint of cold water. Place the jar for an hoar in a moderate oven, and at the end you will have a cupful of really nourishing beef tea. When the first lot of water is drained off, a second may be poured on to the meat, and the process repeated. Of course, this second brew is not as strong as the first, bnt does very well for savoury custards, &c. But, remember, no fresh meat can ever be added, or the whole thing will be spoilt. 2. Scrape a piece of beefsteak fine till you have a Jib. free from all fat or gristle (sheer pulp in fact). On this meat pour a gill of cold water, let it stand for ten minutes, then bring it to the boil very slowly over a gentle fire, and let it continue to boil gently for a quarter of an hour. Strain it carefully, take off all fat with a piece of clean blotting paper, add a pinch of salt, and serve with strips of dry toast. This is excellent when beef tea is required quickly. 3. Neither of these is precisely an economical recipe ; but when beef tea is needed something strong, thening is required, not the horrid decoction that passes too often as beef tea. In cases of extreme exhaustion the following is use.

ful: Scrape some meat as in the previous recipe, taking either beef alone or equal parts of beef and veal, and place it in an earthen jar with a lid, strewing salt ovor it, but adding no water. Let it stand on a hot plate or in the bain marie, simmering for three or four hours till all the juice is extracted; strain off all fat. In thi3 case* 21b. of meat makes very little gravy, but then a tablespoonful is equivalent in strength to many cups of ordinary beef tea, being sheer extract of meat. For ordinary beef tea almost any lean part of beef will do ; but for the extraot, or the beef tea in hasto, beefsteak should be used.