Beef Stock

Homemade beef stock is a wonderful thing. I came across this recipe when I wanted to make French Onion Soup. I have found that if you use the canned stuff in French Onion Soup, you don't have the same richness and flavor as you would if you used homemade beef stock. Here are some step by step instructions for making the best beef stock you'll ever have. Use for the soup (recipe posted separately) or freeze it and use it in some other type of soup, or reduce it really down to make a rich demi glaze. Emeril is the person responsible for this recipe, and trust me, once you've tried it, (warning, it does take a while, but worth it), you'll want to always make it.


Here are the ingredients:

7 pounds beef bones, sawed into 2-inch pieces**this time I used spare ribs bones, actually about 6.25 pounds)
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
2 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
2 cups claret wine
20 peppercorns
5 garlic cloves, peeled
5 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried leaf thyme
1 1/2 gallons water

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and put your bones in a roasting pan into the oven for 1 hour. After the hour is up, take the pan out, and "paint" the bones with tomato paste:





Next, add your chopped veggies on top of the "painted bones":


And then roast for 30 minutes more. After that, add these ingredients to a big stock pot, we used "Big Bertha" since this is a job that requires it.


Then you want to "deglaze" the roasting pan with 2 cups of the wine:


Add this to the pot and then add the herbs:


Then cover everything with water and bring to a simmer. You'll want to simmer this for about 4-5 hours, so it's reduced down quite a bit and the veggies are practically falling apart. Here it is all together before the simmer:


Since you do have to "babysit" your stock, might as well finish off the bottle of wine that you used to make the stock, hate for it to go to waste, besides you can't go anywhere for the next 4-5 hours, unless you are the type of person that doesn't mind a big pot of stuff simmering on your stove when you're not around.


There isn't a whole lot to do at this point, as the simmering is going on, but every now and then you may want to skim the fat off the top of the stock. Here is what it looks like after 5 hours of simmering and not totally skimmed yet.


At this point, you can take it off the flame, and let it cool. Either put it in the fridge to use later, or start making some soup. I found that its easier to put it in the fridge, then you can scoop the fat off when it has cooled off. I hope you give this a try, its the best beef stock ever!