Saturday Share - Chef Mama's Beef Stock

Who is Chef Mama? That would be my Mom who was an amazing home chef. She had family recipes, contemporary fad recipes, and cookbooks from churches as well as the most popular ones of her era.

She never watched a chef teach how to make something in a video or anything like that, but her food was amazing.

She made stock in her kitchen, and she didn't call it bone broth. It was called stock, and it smelled so good and tasted so good, you wanted to drink it.

Today, I want to tell you how she made beef stock to produce a liquid that would make gravies, sauces, and soups mouthwateringly delicious.

You'll need a roasting pan and a large stock pot or Dutch oven, and you'll need what were once called soup bones.

Mom used real beef trimmed from roasts as well as soup bones which could be bought for cents a pound. 

In today's world when short ribs cost $9.99 a pound, just look for the cheapest bone-in beef you can find. If you frequent a butcher shop, you can probably get soup bones from them.

You'll also need celery, onion, carrots, salt, and herbs. I do like my mother. When I cook with those vegetables, I wash and trim them then save the trimmings in a big container in the fridge for the sole purpose of making stock.

CHEF MAMA'S BEEF STOCK

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pounds meaty beef bones
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 10 cups of cold tap water
• the equivalent of 2 celery staoks, 2 carrots, 1 onion, all coarsely chopped
• a bouquet garni which is usually a bundle of herbs placed in a cheesecloth square and tied together. Use 2 sprigs each of fresh thyme and marjoram, 6 black peppercorns, 6 sprigs fresh parsley, and  bay leaf.
• 1 teaspoon of salt

Sieve from Amazon

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350º F. (180º C.).
•  Place the soup bones in a roasting pan and drizzle with the oil.
• Bake for 1 hour or until the bones are well browned.
• Remove from the oven and transfer everything to a Dutch oven or stock pot. Add the cold watr and all the other ingredients.
• Turn the heat to high and bring everything to a boil.
• Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook uncovered for 3-4 hours.
• Skim any impurities that rise to the top of the simmering stock.
• At the end of the cooking time, remove the soup bones. If there's any meat on them, reserve it for use later. Discard the bones.
• Strain the stock throough cheesecloth or a fine sieve and discard the bouquet garni and veggies.
• Chill at least 24 hours before using the stock.
• Fat will accumulate on the top of the stock. You can scoop this fat off and use as you would use butter, shortening, or cooking oil. If the source of the bones was organic, this fat is very healthy. Saute vegetables in it, use to make roux, sauces, etc.

TAKEAWAY TRUTH

I make stock on a weekend. After it's chilled and I've removed the fat, I pour it into quart-sized freezer containers, mark the date, and stack the containers in the freezer so I'll always have this quality ingredient on hand.

 

Joan participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, affiliate advertising designed to help websites earn advertising fees by linking to products on Amazon. If you click an Amazon link in her post, she may receive a small commision at no extra cost to you.

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