Beef extract

“ The method of preparing beef extract is practically that described for making a soup stock under pressure. Instead of using only the trimmings and refuse of the animal, however, usually the whole of the flesh is employed. The bones are sometimes used in the making of a beef extract. The sound, fresh meat is cut into small pieces and extracted under pressure as already described. ”

“ The amount of the extractives which will be brought out into the water when meat is boiled depends upon the size of the pieces into which the meat is cut and on the length of time they are soaked in cold water before being heated. A good way to hinder the escape of the flavoring matter is to sear the surface of the meat quickly by heating it in fat, or the same end may be attained by plunging it into boiling water. Such solubility is taken advantage of in making beef tea at home and in the manufacture of meat extract, the extracted material being finally concentrated by evaporating the water. ”

“ Extractum Carnis (Ext. Carnis) , Extract of Beef, N.F. (Beef Extract) .—Residue from evaporation of beef broth.
Action and Uses: Stimulant and flavor; not a nutrient tonic, as was believed at one time. The “wines” are without real value and can easily be misused as beverages.
Vinum Carnis (Vin. Carn.) , Wine of Beef, N.F. (Beef and Wine) .—Extract of beef (3%) in water, syrup, alcohol, compound spirit of orange and sherry wine. Absolute alcohol content about 20 per cent.
Dosage: 8 Cc. or 2 fluidrachms (N.F.) . [Pg 57]
Vinum Carnis et Ferri (Vin. Carn. et Ferr.) ”

“ Extract of Beef adds the distinctive touch to many meat and fish sauces, soups and gravies. It is a valued meat extender as it adds the meat flavor necessary to make a small amount of meat, flavor a large amount of cereal in a loaf or croquettes. Many salads and vegetable dishes are greatly improved by the addition of a bit of Extract of Beef to the sauce. ”

“ BEEF TEA. Cut one pound of fleshy beef in dice, or thin slices, simmer for a short time without water, to extract the juices, then add, by degrees, one quart of water, a little salt, a piece of lemon peel, and a sprig of parsley, are the only necessary seasonings; if the broth is required to be stronger put less water. ”

“ Beef peptonoids and peptonised beef-jelly are also most valuable preparations for the sick-room. Unlike beef-tea and beef extracts, which consist only of the juice of the meat, more or less perfectly extracted, they are the meat itself in a fluid form, fit to be taken at once into the body without any work for the feeble digestion of the invalid. ”

“ The liquids in which the cooking and parboiling are done are sometimes used in the preparation of beef extracts. Salt, saltpeter, and condiments are generally added during the canning process. Saltpeter is used, as it assists in retaining the natural color and prevents some objectionable fermentation changes. In moderate amounts it is not generally considered an adulterant. An extensive examination by Wiley and Bigelow of packing-house products and preserved meats showed that of the latter only a small amount contained objectionable preservatives. ”

“ When the extract is thus far prepared, it may be poured from the meat into a basin, and allowed to stand until any particles of fat on the surface can he skimmed off, and the sediment has subsided and left the soup quite clear, when it may be poured off gently, heated in a clean saucepan, and served. The scum should be well cleared as it accumulates.
1221. Potted Beef
Take three or four pounds, or any smaller quantity, of lean beef, free from sinews, and rub it well with a mixture made of a handful of salt, one ounce of saltpetre, and one ounce of coarse sugar ”

“ EXTRACTIVES IN MEAT.--The appetizing flavor of meat is due to substances called extractives. The typical flavor that serves to distinguish pork from beef or mutton is due to the difference in the extractives. Although necessary for flavoring, these have no nutritive value; in fact, the body throws them off as waste material when they are taken with the food. In some methods of cookery, such as broiling and roasting, the extractives are retained, while in others, such as those employed for making stews and soups, they are drawn out. ”

“ Since vinegar is a preservative this suggests a method by which a surplus of beef may be kept for several days and then converted into a palatable dish.
Flavor in meat depends mainly on certain nitrogenous substances which are called extractives because they can be dissolved out or "extracted" by soaking the meat in cold water. The quality of the extractives and the resulting flavor of the meat vary with the condition of the animal and in different parts of its body. They are usually considered better developed in older than in very young animals. ”

“ The curing process enhances meat flavor and improves shelf life by retarding bacterial growth. Salt and nitrites inhibit bacterial growth and enhance flavor and color; sugar counteracts the hardening effect of salt and also enhances flavor. Beef is generally cured by making corned beef or dried beef using the above-mentioned ingredients.
Corned Beef
Corned beef is generally made from cuts of the round, brisket, plate, or chuck. ”

“ The thick pieces of belly meat, packed in a two-gallon jar and covered with salt or brine, will make a supply of fat pork to cook with beans and other vegetables. The tenderloin makes good roasts, the head and feet may go into head cheese or scrapple, and the trimmings and other scraps of lean meat serve for a few pounds of home-made sausage. In some large families it is found profitable to "corn" a fore quarter of beef for spring and summer use. Formerly it was a common farm practice to dry beef, but now it seems to be more usual to purchase beef which has been dried in large establishments. ”

“ The solution is then filtered, the bitter principle, formed during the digestion, removed by the addition of a little pancreatic emulsion, and the liquor, which has been neutralised by the addition of carbonate of soda, evaporated to a thick syrup or extractive consistence.
Fluid meat is the only preparation which entirely represents, and yields the amount of nourishment afforded by, lean meat; it differs altogether from beef tea and extracts of meat, as all these contain only a small portion of the different constituents of meat. A patent has been granted to its inventor, Mr Darby. ”

“ Certainly meat cooked in a pot requires very little attention and too frequently receives none at all, as is evidence by the ragged mutton and hard-flavourless beef to which the term BOILED meat may be correctly applied. Although meat loses less weight when boiled than when roasted or baked, there is more loss of nutritive constituents, unless both the meat and the liquor in which it is cooked be consumed, for certain mineral salts, soluble substances, and a considerable quantity of gelatin, are abstracted during the process of cooking, and remain dissolved in the liquor. ”

“ Any kind of meat can be used to make a meat-and-potato hash; but, of course, nothing is so good as corned beef. Cold roast, boiled, or broiled beef, mutton, lamb, veal, or tongue can be freed from skin, fat, and bones, seasoned highly with salt and pepper, and cooked like corned beef hash. Even two or three kinds of meat can be used. If it happens that you have a bit of steak, a part of a chop, and perhaps a slice of tongue, use them all. ”

“ During the sultry summer months, it is difficult to procure meat that is not either tough or tainted. It should, therefore, be well examined when it comes in, and if flies have touched it, the part must be cut off, and the remainder well wiped with a clean cloth dipped in warm water and vinegar. In loins of meat, the long pipe which runs in the cavity of the bone should be taken out, as it is apt to taint, as also the kernels of beef. Rumps and aitch-bones of beef, should not be purchased when bruised. ”

“ Likewise, a certain part of an old animal contains more extractives than the same part of a young one. For these reasons a very young chicken is broiled while an old one is used for stew, and ribs of beef are roasted while the shins are used for soup.
Meat that is allowed to hang and ripen develops compounds that are similar to extractives and that impart additional flavor. A ripened steak is usually preferred to one cut from an animal that has been killed only a short time. ”

“ Do not let your butter be turned to oil before putting it on. It is best to have beef tongs to turn beef, as pricking it lets out the juices. Often turning prevents the surface from hardening and cooks it more equally.
Beef Liver.
Cut it in slices half an inch thick, pour boiling water on it, broil it with some thin slices of salt pork dipped in flour; then cut the liver and pork up into mouthfuls, put them in a frying-pan with a little butter, pepper, and salt, and stew them three or four minutes. ”

“ This exception should be duly noted, inasmuch as it is the one redeeming feature of such proceeding that renders it fairly well adapted for the cookery of such [125] meat as cow-heels, sheeps’-trotters, calves’-heads, shins of beef, knuckles of veal, and other viands which consist mainly of membranous, tendinous, or integumentary matter composed of gelatin. To treat the prime parts of good beef or mutton in this manner is to perpetrate a domestic atrocity. ”

“ The suet should be dry and crumbly and of a darker shade than the fat. In old beef both flesh and fat will be darker, much coarser in fiber and decidedly dry compared with young beef. If the beef is of a pale, dull color, and flabby, it is not well matured; if very dark and colored and coarse grained with deep yellow fat it will be found tough and tasteless and if it bears greenish tints and feels slippery on the surface it is already stale and unfit for use. When meat is tough add a little vinegar or a piece of lemon to the water in which it is boiled. ”

“ If there is not a good quantity of fat running through it, the beef will be tough and not well flavored. The fat should be a rich clear white, just tinged with yellow, and firm, and the suet also. Heifer or cow beef is paler than ox beef, firmer grained, the fat a clear white, and the bones smaller, but it is not as rich or juicy. When the animal is too old or badly fed, it is of a dark red, the fat skinny and tough, and in very old beef a horny substance will be found running through the ribs. When it is pressed, if the meat rises quickly from the finger it is good ”

“ It seems to be the consensus of opinion among scientific investigators who have studied this question that the food value of these meat extracts is rather limited, and although they are a source of energy to the body they must not be looked on as representing in any notable degree the food value of the beef or other meat from which they are derived. ”

“ Lean, fresh meat trimmings are employed and some add a small proportion of heart, all chopped very fine. While being chopped, spices and seasoning are added, with a sufficient quantity of salt. The meat employed is for the most part beef, to which is added some fresh or salted pork. When almost completed, add gradually a small quantity of potato flour and a little water. The mixture being of the proper consistency, stuff in beef casings, tie the ends together into rings of fair length and smoke thoroughly. ”

“ Professor Robert Bartholow has also stated that the chemical composition of beef-tea closely resembles urine, and is more an excrementitious substance than a food. Those whose business it is to make a pure meat-broth, for the purpose of preparing therefrom a nutrient for experimenting with bacteria, cannot fail to recognise its similarity both in odour and colour to urine. Little consideration is needful to show the untruthfulness and the absurdity of the statements made by manufacturers as to the food value of these extracts. Fresh lean beef contains about 25 per cent. ”

“ Juicy beef produces well-flavoured, stimulating beef tea, but such a liquid, strained of its floating particles of coagulated albumin, has no value as a food, and notwithstanding its rich flavour of meat would be regarded as too thin and watery to form the basis of a good consommé, which must combine both flavour and substance. ”

“ First, the albuminoids, which are represented by the albumin in eggs, the casein in milk and cheese, the myosin of muscle and the gluten of wheat. Second, the gelatinoids, which are represented by the ossein of bones, which can be made into glue, and the collogen of tendons. Third, nitrogen extractives, which are the chief ingredients in beef tea. They are easily removed from flesh by soaking it while raw in cold water. They are rich in flavor and are stimulating. They have absolutely no food value. Beef tea, and other related extracts, are not foods. They are stimulants. ”

“ A certain degree of consistency is established by each manufacturer for each variety of potted goods made, and to obtain this consistence more or less fat [52] meat of some kind is added. It may thus be of some advantage to add the fat of pork rather than the fat of beef or mixtures of the two. It is claimed by many manufacturers that a single kind of meat does not give the desired flavor in potted and deviled goods. Therefore, meats of different origin are finely ground and mixed together, and a sufficient quantity of oil or fat added to secure the required physical consistence. ”