Beef Tea: Ubiquitous Medicine of the 19th Century Doctor

In the gray area between food and beverage sits the broad spectrum of preparations we call soup. From thick and hearty chowders to thin and translucent broths, soups beguile rigid classification. On the beverage side, the Arabic شوربة (shooraba for soup also Hindi) comes from the root for the word to drink. Muddling the linguistic picture is the Latin ius for soup which lends itself to both the English beverage juice and the Slavic meal уха (ukha or clear Russian fish soup). In reality, some soups are likely foods while others are more beverage-like. It is safer to say that some clear broths can enter the realm of the drink. Such is the case of beef tea.

Green tea, black tea, even white tea–but what about beef tea? Towards the end of the 18th century this surprising infusion entered into the realm of folk medicine. A 1784 American text, Domestic Medicine, wrote on women during childbirth: “When the stomach will not bear any kind of nourishment, the patient may be supported for some time by the clysters [enemas] of beef-tea, or chicken-water.“ Yes, the earliest mention of beef tea readily available to us may have endorsed beef broth enemas. Let’s hope clysters meant something else here.

Later editions would go on to echo the utility of beef tea in infant health. ‘A nurse who has not milk enough is apt to imagine that this defect may be supplied by giving the child wines, cordial waters, or other strong liquors. This is an egregious mistake. The only thing that has any chance to supply the place of the nurse’s milk, must be somewhat nearly of the same quality, as cow’s milk, or beef-tea, with a little bread.” (Domestic Medicine, 1807)

Relegated to the folk medicine of the early American nursemaid, the story of beef tea take a turn in Europe in the mid-19th century. In 1835, a Frenchman discovered creatine in beef extract. The German chemist Jusust Freiherr von Liebig built upon this discovery in 1847 when he showed that creatine was present in animal muscle and higher levels indicated higher levels of muscular activity. (Kramer et al) As the field of nutrition and the science of chemistry matured, these discoveries would enter the mainstream in one of the first major capitalistic forays of modern science.

Von Liebig’s stature in organic chemistry was considerable enough that he founded his own academic journal. On the side, the scientist became entrepreneurial and formulated a recipe for “Liebig’s Extract of Meat.” This extract, made in a factory in the Uruguayan city of Fray Bentos from the cows that roamed Las Pampas, hit the European market in 1865. The extract allegedly concentrated 30 pounds of beef into 1 pound of thick, dark juice. While this was not beef tea, it could readily be diluted into the concoction. Von Liebig knew about the medicinal rumors surrounding beef tea and readily promoted the healing values of his meat extract. He even used his own academic journal to make health claims about the product.

As beef tea’s medicinal qualities became associated with a commercial product promoted by an accomplished scientist, the abilities of both Liebig’s Meat Extract and beef tea in general came under scrutiny. It had become common practice during the second half of the 1800s for hospitals to regularly dose patients with cups of beef tea. Doctors, especially in England, believed the broth was unparalleled in its ability to nurse convalescing patients back to health.

Medical journals from the 1860s into the early 1900s were filled with the scribblings of doctors criticizing beef tea and its commercial renditions, defending the healing reputation of the drink, and generally attempting to measure the efficacy of the infusion. Infamously, a study by one Dr. Kemmerich alleged to prove the poisonous attributes of beef tea by injecting copious amounts of the liquid into the stomachs of rabbits and dogs. The volume of liquid, rather than the essence of beef, must have been the end of these animals.

The detractors of beef tea argued that the simple broth infusion did not absorb anything nutritious from beef. Rather, they said, the nutritious part was thrown away after the tea was made. In 1879, one doctor complained in the British Medical Journal, “In fact, almost the whole of this enormous mass of nutritious matter, i.e. 50,000 lbs per annum-was simply wasted.” (Markham) The same writer notes that one woman did make passable meat pies out of the beef tea waste for sale at Paddington Railway Station.

Medical doctors also took issue with the commercial claims of Liebig and his competitors. Meat extracts, they advertised, could cure scrofula, scurvy, typhus, inflamed ovaries, and gastrointestinal distress. Hospitals did not ascribe to these claims, but tended to see beef tea as a consistent part of the nutrition in convalescing patients. A 1902 text says “it is regarded as an unpleasant but necessary drug.” (Dorman) The 1883 Holmes’ System of Surgery allowed a cup of either tea or beef tea 2 hours prior to surgery and anesthesia. (Strunin)

For all the criticism directed towards meat extracts, beef tea lasted well into the 1900s. Famously, Florence Nightingale stood by its restorative abilities. The British army rationed Bovril, another commercial meat extract, to its entrenched soldiers during WWI.

Beef tea’s popularity declined as the 20th century wore on, but Liebig’s Meat Extract somehow navigated these changing markets. When the medical community came for his quackery, von Liebig pivoted into the domestic pantry where he enjoyed great commercial success. Today, Liebig Benelux traces its roots back to the original beef extract of 1865 and manufactures modern soups, broths, and bouillon.

The commercialization of beef extracts brought the queer domestic tradition of beef tea into the public eye. This attention proved to be scrutinizing. Doctors began to seriously question the medical efficacy of beef broth. Patients in modern hospitals do not expect to take doses of beef-tinted water as they recover from illness, yet many still believe a good broth is good for sickness. Perhaps beef tea has just disguised itself as chicken noodle soup.

Beef tea is gone, but we can still enjoy the simplicity of its 19th century formulations. Here are a sampling of recipes given for a healthful cup of beef tea:

“To make a small quantity of beef-tea, cut a pound of beef, free from fat, bone, and gristle, into very small pieces, and put them in the receiver of the apparatus [a pressure cooker designed by the author for beef tea]. Add eight ounces of water; screw the cover of the receiver tightly and boil for three hours, or, if with the addition of salt to the boiler, for one hour ; then remove it from the fire or gas, and lift the receiver out of the boiler.”

From Leared, Arthur. “BEEF-TEA.” The Lancet 103.2629 (1874): 88-89.

In an entry between Eel Broth and Restorative Pork Jelly

“Beef Tea: Cut a pound of fleshy beef in thin slices; simmer with a quart of water twenty minutes, after it has once boiled, and been skimmed. Season, if approved; but it has generally only salt”

From Rundell, Maria Eliza (Ketelby), A New System of Domestic Cookery, New York, Forbes for M’Dermut & Arden, 1814. p. 269.

“Meat which had been as far as possible deprived of its fat and tendinous matter, by scissors, was cut up in very small pieces, weighted, and placed in a jar loosely stoppered. This jar was then placed in a vessel containing cold water, which was gradually brought to the boiling point. When the meat had lost its red colour and became blanched–a result usually obtained at the end of two hours–it was removed, thoroughly pressed, and the fluid which was obtained, added to what had collected in the jar, passed through a hair-sieve”

From Hare, Horace Binney. “ART. VII.–A Contribution to our Knowledge of Beef-tea.” The American Journal of the Medical Sciences (1827-1924) 72.143 (1876): 49.

The same text as above lists a recipe from a certain Dr. Pavy, which is a raw version of beef tea. Note that muriatic acid is added. 19th century doctors had discovered that creatine and hydrochloric acid create creatinine. (Kramer et al)

“Take half a pound of raw lean beef (chicken or any other meat may be similarly used) and mince it finely. Pour on to it, in a glass or any kind of earthenware vessel, three-quarters of a pint of water, to which have been added four drops of muriatic acid and about half a salt spoon of salt. Stir well together, and allow it to stand for an hour. Strain through a hair sieve, and rinse with a quarter of a pint of water. It is to be taken cold, or, if warmed, must not be heated beyond 120 Fahrenheit.”

Sources Cited

Buchan, William. Domestic medicine: or, A treatise on the prevention and cure of diseases by regimen and simple medicines. With an appendix, containing a dispensatory for the use of private practitioners. By William Buchan, M.D. Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh. Printed for Joseph Crukshank, Robert Bell, and James Muir, of Philadelphia: And for Robert Hodge, of New-York., MDCCLXXXIV. [1784, 1784. Readex: Readex AllSearch, infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=ARDX&docref=image/v2%3A0F2B1FCB879B099B%40EAIX-0F301641B34CD3E8%40-0FA706A1F75C7C40%40409. Accessed 10 July 2022.

1807 Domestic Medicine. First Charleston Edition. Charleston, S.C., Hoff, 1807. p51 “On Children”

Cansler, Clay. “Where’s the Beef?” Science History Institute, 27 Aug. 2021, https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/wheres-the-beef.

Domestic Medicine 1807….First Charleston Edition. Charleston, S.C., Hoff, 1807. p51 “On Children”

Dorman, Marcus RP. “Beef Tea and Meat Preparations: III. Nourishing Meat Preparations.” The Hospital 31.802 (1902): 329.

Finlay, Mark R. “Quackery and cookery: Justus von Liebig’s extract of meat and the theory of nutrition in the Victorian age.” Bulletin of the History of Medicine 66.3 (1992): 404-418.

Hare, Horace Binney. “ART. VII.–A Contribution to our Knowledge of Beef-tea.” The American Journal of the Medical Sciences (1827-1924) 72.143 (1876): 49.

Kramer, Holly, Sylvia E. Rosas, and Kunihiro Matsushita. “Beef Tea, Vitality, Creatinine, and the Estimated GFR.” American Journal of Kidney Diseases 67.2 (2016): 169-172.

Leared, Arthur. “BEEF-TEA.” The Lancet 103.2629 (1874): 88-89.

Liebig, Baron. “ON THE ALLEGED POISONOUS QUALITY OF BEEF-TEA AND EXTRACT OF MEAT.” The Lancet 92.2360 (1868): 678-679.

Markham, W. O. “Beef-Tea.” British Medical Journal 2.982 (1879): 676.

Rundell, Maria Eliza (Ketelby), A New System of Domestic Cookery, New York, Forbes for M’Dermut & Arden, 1814.

Strunin, L. “How long should patients fast before surgery? Time for new guidelines.” BJA: British Journal of Anaesthesia 70.1 (1993): 1-4.

“Uselessness of Beef Tea.” Daily Constitution, vol. III, no. 683, 12 Oct. 1874, p. [2]. Readex: Readex AllSearch, infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=ARDX&docref=image/v2%3A110215FE05459C00%40EANX-1110FD9C9EF05578%402405809-1110FD9CD2ECF498%401-1110FD9DA805BE28%40Uselessness%2Bof%2BBeef%2BTea. Accessed 10 July 2022.

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Beef Tea: Ubiquitous Medicine of the 19th Century Doctor

Sources Cited

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