Meat extract

250 g jar of Bovril, a meat extract

Meat extract is highly concentrated meat stock, usually made from beef. It is used to add meat flavour in cooking, and to make broth for drinking.

Meat extract was invented by Baron Justus von Liebig, a German 19th-century organic chemist. Liebig specialised in chemistry and the classification of food and wrote a paper on how boiling meat destroys its nutritional value. Liebig's view was that meat juices, as well as the fibres, contained much important nutritional value and that these were lost by boiling or cooking in unenclosed vessels.[1] Fuelled by a desire to help feed the undernourished, in 1840 he developed a concentrated beef extract, Extractum carnis Liebig, to provide a nutritious meat substitute for those unable to afford the real thing. However, it took 30 kg of meat to produce 1 kg of extract, making the extract too expensive.

Commercialisation

Liebig's Extract of Meat Company

Liebig went on to co-found the Liebig's Extract of Meat Company, (later Oxo), in London whose factory, opened in 1865 in Fray Bentos port Uruguay, took advantage of meat from cattle being raised for their hides—at one third the price of British meat. Before that, it was the Giebert et Compagnie (April 1863).

Bovril

Main article: Bovril

In the 1870s, John Lawson Johnston invented 'Johnston's Fluid Beef', later renamed Bovril. Unlike Liebig's meat extract, Bovril also contained flavourings. It was manufactured in Argentina and Uruguay which could provide cheap cattle.

Effects

Liebig and Bovril were important contributors to the beef industry in South America.

Today

Meat extracts have largely been supplanted by bouillon cubes and yeast extract. Some brands of meat extract, such as Oxo and Bovril, now contain yeast extract as well as meat extract. Indeed, these brand names have been used in some markets for products which contain mainly yeast extract with little or no meat content. The only brand of pure meat extract today is Liebig Benelux’s, which contains concentrated meat stock and 4% salt. The current formulation of Bovril contains 41% beef stock, 24% yeast extract, 1% dehydrated beef and also contains salt (3.88g sodium per 100g), spice extracts and flavour enhancers among other ingredients.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Brock, William H. (1997). Justus von Liebig : the chemical gatekeeper. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press. pp. 218–219. ISBN 9780521562249.
  2. ↑ Justinevb (2 August 2013). "Bovril Beef Extract 125g (Product Information)". Ocado website. Ocado. Retrieved 22 June 2014.

Bibliography

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