Homemade Beef Stock

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   A good stock, be it meat, poultry or fish is indespensable in the kitchen. This here is from Wiki: 

 Stock is a flavoured water preparation. It forms the basis of many dishes, particularly soups and sauces.
Stock is made by simmering various ingredients in water, including some or all of the following:
            Meat-
Leftover cooked meat, such as that remaining on poultry carcasses, is often used along with the bones of the bird or joint. Fresh meat makes a superior stock and cuts rich in connective tissue such as shin or shoulder of beef  or veal  are commonly recommended, either alone or added in lower proportions to the remains of cooked poultry to provide a richer and fresher-tasting stock. Quantities recommended are invariably in the ratio of 1 part fresh meat to 2 parts water.

Bones- 

Veal, beef, and chicken bones are most commonly used. The flavour of the stock comes from the cartilage and connective tissue in the bones. Connective tissue has collagen in it, which gets converted into gelatin that thickens the liquid. Stock made from bones needs to be simmered for longer than stock made from meat. Pressure cooking methods shorten the time necessary to extract the flavour from the bones.

Julia Child taught me how to make a good stock, back when I was a kid and watched her shows on Saturday afternoon (in black and white) television. Good stock makes a wonderful start to so many good soups and dishes. Today, the bouillion cubes and instant stock powders you find at the store are amazingly good - I use them all the time - but sometimes if you have the time and ingredients, make it at home!

The plan was to make some French onion soup this weekend. Forecast is snow, icy rain and blustery winter weather, so what better dish for that? Since I have beef shank soup bones, I decided to make the beef stock that will go into the soup from scratch. 

First, I put the shanks in the oven for 30 minutes at 400 degrees fahrenheit. I put them in frozen, and as the time passed, they began to separate a little. After about an hour or so, (depending on the amounts of blue smoke in the kitchen ) I turned down the heat to 375 F and let them cook until they were well-browned, but not burned. At this point, the marrow is cooked, and a lot of it has melted into the fat in the pan. No worries, it all goes into the stock pot, fat and all (to be de-fatted later).

Next, I deglazed the roasting pan to get all the bits of goodness. I started with a quarter cup of wine because I found that much in a bottle in the cupboard. You can use just water. I added a cup of water after the wine boiled off and there was still deglazing to do. 

Next, I put the meat, the juices and the deglazings into a big stockpot. I also added a teaspoon pepper, salt and about a tablespoon each oregano and tarragon. This is a secret from Julia that I still remember. After that, into the stockpot go all the vegetable trimmings you've been saving all week. Onion tops, carrot peelings, whatever. We normally keep a "boiling bag" of these things, but had used it this weekend for the leftover turkey boiling. I rooted around and found a moribund red onion and about 5 or 6 garlic teeth, lost and forgotten in the bottom of the garlic bowl. I also discovered a small tupperware container of diced tomatoes, which I tossed into the pot as well. Any other leftover veggies are fine, but this was it for today. Some of these veggies, such as large pieces of carrots, onions, celery garlic or tomatoes, can be pre-roasted along with the meat, in order to bring out an incredible, rich, brown quality to your stock - just be sure not to burn them.

I filled the stock pot with cold water (critical) and put it on the heat. I brought it just to a bubbling simmer, where it will remain all afternoon. This should boil at least 4 hours or so; longer is just fine, even preferable - but certainly no less. Be sure to skim off any and all foam, scum and other undesireable material that rises to the top, or your end product will be filled with cloudy sediments.

After about 7 hours, I drained the stock in a colander and discarded the solids. The remaining liquid went back over heat to boil off and further reduce. Once we get that down to about 8 cups, I poured it into a glass bowl in order to cool. Once it is cool enough, it went into the fridge overnight.

The next day, the fat had solidified, making it very easy to remove with a spoon or fork. Just pop into it and the disc shoud break up into 3 or 4 pieces which you then lift out. The fat can be discarded, or saved in a ziploc bag in the freezer for about 6 months, maybe more. If you want to take home-fried potatoes up a notch, add a tablespoon of this beef fat to the frying oil - wow! An addition of a touch of this delicious beef fat will make many dishes improved. Remember, fat is flavour, we humans are hard-wired to like it; the beefy taste that this carries is very nice. I don't encourage adding tons of it to your food, as it is saturated beef fat, but a tea- or tablespoon to an entire recipe can be very good. 

The skimmed and finished stock was covered and returned to the fridge until Saturday, when it will become part of the French onion soup!