Extract of Beef; or, Very Strong Plain Beef Gravy Soup

Ingredients

• 1 lb good, juicy beef
• 1 pint cold water
• salt

Instructions

1. Remove all skin and fat from the beef.
2. Chop the meat finely, like sausage-meat.
3. Mix the chopped meat thoroughly with an exact pint of cold water.
4. Place on the side of the stove to heat very slowly indeed, stirring occasionally.
5. Allow it to stand two or three hours before it simmers.
6. Once simmering begins, add salt.
7. Continue boiling gently for at most fifteen minutes.
8. Skim scum from the surface as it accumulates.
9. Pour the extract from the meat into a basin.
10. Allow it to stand until the fat on the surface can be skimmed off entirely and the sediment has settled, leaving the soup quite clear.
11. Pour the clear liquid gently into a clean saucepan.
12. Heat in the clean saucepan and serve at once.