A consomme is defined as a clarified meat broth. What they mean by clarified is that all of the impurities that are in the broth are filtered out. A beef consomme is made similar to a broth. Ground meat is added into the mixture and simmered along with the bones. Once the consomme is done, all of the meat is at the top of the broth, and then filtered out. The ground meat takes the impurities in the broth with it.