QUICK BITE:. What the Heck is Beef Juice?

Have you ever seen something listed on a menu and wanted to try it just because how strange it sounded?  That was me last night at Toros, which is the steakhouse here at Hard Rock Riveria Maya. I was handed a menu and started scrolling through. Under soups I saw something called Beef Juice.  How could I not order such a strange soup?

First out came the broth. 

This was a slightly separated broth, such as when fat rises to the top of a soup and you skim it off.  In this case it wasn't fat but merely some solids that sunk to the bottom, leaving a clear liquid on top.  Mixing the two liquids together produced something close to a slurry.  Now for the taste.   It had a good amount of beef flavor and some salt but was a little flat.   The solids also had a grittiness,  almost chalkiness, that didn't match your palates expectations for a broth. While there was no help provided for the texture, a separate bowl of condiments was provided.  

Here we had line wedges,  cilantro, chopped onion and diced Serrano.   I added some of each of these, one at a time, and then tried the "juice" again.  The lime definitely brightened it up.  The onions added some sharpness. The cilantro some punch.  And finally the Serrano some much needed heat.  The flavor was actually very pleasing after mixing in all the add-ons.  But the texture was still playing games with my taste buds.  I am certainly glad I tried it, but wouldn't recommend this unless you want the challenge of being able to come up with the pefect mix of juice and condiments.  After rereading the ingredients, I saw where beer was listed. Perhaps that was in the broth?   Or maybe it was a recommendation for what to have after the soup to cleanse your palate from the grit.  

#HRRiveriaMaya #Mexico #Soup