Soup -- Beef Stock ( Homemade Broth)
Submitted by dvdlee on August 27, 2004 at 9:46 am

DESCRIPTION
Soup -- Beef Stock ( Homemade Broth)

SUMMARY
Yield 0 File under Misc. Recipes & Requests

INSTRUCTIONS
Note: with the concern over 'mad cow' disease, please be aware that all beef stock/broth may contain material (prions) that might transmit this disease. ALL beef stock and broth is an 'at risk' substance (commerical and homemade). If you are confident your beef is Mad Cow-free, beef stock is still fine! Just be aware that beef stock is a danger-prone item.

This is an incredible long "recipe", but that's because it took me years to discover how to make a good beef stock. I had tried a LOT of recipes (from Julia, Claborne, the Joy, FF, etc.) and was never really happy.

The process I now use is not difficult, but I typed all this so that you can understand the process and all the discoveries I've made. Beef Stock is nothing like making a chicken or fish stock. Those are easy & simple to make and always taste great. Beef stock is more difficult due to the fact that fish & chicken have more concentrated flavors than beef. Hence this essay!

Making homemade beef broth is not difficult, but it does take time and it is expensive!! A real full-bodied beef broth requires a LOT of meat so that it comes out with a really intense beef flavor. I only make beef broth for "special" things -- such as French Onion Soup where beef broth is a critical component in the recipe.

Otherwise, if the broth is going to be combined with other things you can usally get away with consumme (much better flavor than the watery thin canned commerical "beef broth" in the soup section, even though you have to watch the salt). Read the label to see how little beef there is in those cans of stock! I also like using the Beef Soup Base from Pensey's. I have not like any frozen stock I have tried -- its too expensive and not that much better (and not nearly as good as homemade).

I have tried different recipes for homemade beef stock, and it was not until I read the technique formulated by Cook's Illustrated that I was able to make a really good one (with a few modifications). Quantities and notes are mine...

The most important element in making a good beef stock are your ingredients.

First, you should use both veal bones with the beef. The veal is very rich in marrow and gelatin, so it helps give a smooth taste and finish to the stock. I can find veal neck bones (which also have some meat attached) at an ethnic market. You will NOT find anything at a regular grocery store (and even if they had it, they would charge a fortune for it!). I pay around $1.75 per pound -- but anything below $2.00 is good. If you find pieces of shank that would be great -- but don't buy "real eating shank" at the price of maybe $8 - $10 a pound!!!

On what kind of beef. You have several choices. Do NOT buy those "beef soup bones" you see for sale at the grocery store at $1.50 or so per pound. They are worthless. To make a good strong beef stock you don't need that many bones -- you need MEAT. It may be cheap, tough, & scrappy meat -- but it has to be MEAT.

The most commonly availble meat is beef shank. This is a piece of the leg that has been sawed into medium slices so that you have meat and a thin circle of bone. Only buy it on sale!

Other good cuts to use are neck chuck (which are the neck bones with attached meat), a chuck roast on a major sale (we recently had a sale of chuck roasts here for $1.25 with an additional $20 purchase. I bought one for to roast and one for stock.)

NEVER use any kind of ground meat. ANY cheap cut of beef is OK, but there should be a lot of meat and not much bone. (Otherwise you will have a stock that tastes of "bone" and not beef meat.)

The amount of meat I buy depends on the cut and the size of my pot! I have a 6-qt. Dutch Oven which I use for my stock pot.

I sugggest you use a 3 to 1 ratio of beef to veal. (So if you have 3 pounds of beef you would have 1 pound of veal.) If your beef is a little "boney" use a 4 to 1 ratio.) These are approximate of course and you may prefer a different ratio, but this is the one I have grown to like.

I usually buy enough to completly fill the 6-qt. pot with beef meat, bones & veal. This last batch I made used a 4 lb. chuck roast, 3 lb. of chuck neck and 2 lb. of veal bones (the veal only has a little meat on it). (You can see where I said that it is EXPENSIVE to make -- and I make beef stock only when I can get things on a super sale.) This will give around 2 quarts of stock (plus one cup or so)!!!

Here is where there is some controvery as the best way to begin the stock. Some cooks say to roast the meat & bones to brown them. Others to brown, others to not do anything at all before adding the water and cooking.

In the past, when I have just added water and beef together without any browning I have not been happy with the results. The flavor was just not rich and deep.

I brown the meat/bones by hand in the dutch oven. I have settled on this mainly because I don't have a roasting pan (or oven) big enough to process all of the meat in one batch -- and I'm not going to take the time to roast multiple batches. (If you roast the meat in an oven, it has to be in one layer -- you shouldn't pile it on top of other pieces or everything won't get brown, and even if you stir it the meat still won't brown evenly.)

So after all this background, here is the recipe!!!

7 to 8 pounds beef (with some bones -- see notes above)
2 to 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 to 2 pounds veal bones with some meat (see above)
1 large onion
1/2 cup red wine (approximately)
2 quarts filtered or spring water (8 cups)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cut the beef into chunks if the pieces are very large. Remove the skin from the onion and cut it in 1/2 (pole to pole, not through the equator)

In a dutch oven over medium-high heat add 1 & 1/2 Tablespoons of the oil. (A cast-iron Dutch Oven is ideal for this task.) When the pan is hot, begin browning the meat and bones. Be sure and brown all surfaces of the meat. Brown it very well -- there should be very dark charred spots or areas on the meat. (I usually put a spatter screen over the pot as the browning occurs to try to minimize the mess.)

Do not crowd the pan. When a chunk of meat is browned, remove from the pan and add some more. Add additional oil as needed through the browning process -- but do not drench the pan in oil. About 2/3 of the way through browning all the meat, add the onion and begin to brown the onion with the meat.

After all of the meat has been browned remove the onion. Still on medium-high heat, add the wine. Using a wooden spoon or spatula scrape the bottom of the pan until the bottom has been completly deglazed and all of the brown bits have been scraped up. Cook until the wine has been reduced so it is a light syrup (when you draw a spatula across the bottom of the pan, the liquid doesn't rush back into the clear area -- but will flow there after a couple of seconds).

Add the meat and onion back to the pan. Cover and reduce heat so it is just a little higher than the lowest setting (if you have a numeric value (low 1-10 high) on your stove control put it on 2 or 2 & a twitch) and "sweat" the beef & onion for 30 minutes. (You don't stir, just let them slowly simmer just above the low setting.

Add water to the pan until the beef is just barely covered. (A few pieces might even stick out above the water -- that's OK). Add additional water if needed. Add salt.

Increase heat to high until the water starts to boil. Immediately decrease the heat to very low and partially cover the pot. The beef should be lightly and slowly boiling. Cook for around 2 & 1/2 hours but no more than 3 & 1/2. The stock is ready when the meat is falling off the bone and very tender. You do not need to skim the beef as it is cooking, as it will be strained later.

After the stock is finished, remove the beef & onion. (If you are making beef soup, you can keep and use some of the beef for the soup. The meat will be very dry to eat and not really good for much.) Strain the remaining stock through a sieve.

Then take a colendar (or a chinoise if you are rich!) and line it with 2 thinknesses of cheesecloth (the brand KA sells is the best I've ever used -- almost like muslin!). Wet the cheesecloth with water so the cheesecloth stays in place. Strain the stock through the cheesecloth. Place in a bowl and chill the stock overnight.

The next day remove the congealed fat on top of the stock. (I remove it all, you may want to keep just a tiny bit.) Reheat the stock (which should have gelled) until liquid, but not hot.

Strain the stock through 4 layers of cheesecloth and you are done. The stock HAS to be well-strained to make sure that it does not develop off flavors if you reduce it. If the stock is not strong enough, boil until the stock is the strength you prefer. (You can make demi-glace from this stock, but that's too much trouble for me!)

If you want a truly 100% clarified stock you will have to warm the stock and then clarify it. (I normally don't do this -- the time I tried to clarify chicken stock was a disaster. I need to get a good clarification technique worked out before giving a suggestion.)

This is an "unseasoned" stock -- very little vegetable, very little salt, etc. The main taste is of beef. This is "raw material" for another recipe where you will add salt, pepper, sauted veggies maybe, etc. So don't be surprised by the very lightly salted plain beef taste.

The finished stock can be used right away or frozen or stored in the fridge for several days. Before using refriderated or frozen stock always boil it for at least 2 or 3 minutes to make sure no "critters" have grown!

As you can see, a great beef stock is not done quickly and is not cheap. However, it IS worth it for some dishes. The difference in flavor is there -- otherwise I would never bother. But as the Bible says "Count the cost before you begin!".