I don’t know if this started with cowboy boots or our No Knead Bread Baking but somehow Karen, you know BakeMyDay, & I got it into our heads we should cook together across that big pond some call the Atlantic. Having taken 6 weeks to sail across that big pond twice, I know that’s a long distance to share a cooking experience but with the internet, ha, ha, it is more than possible, it can be hysterically fun. Bones are all about connecting and supporting.  Cooking with friends is all about connecting and supporting.  The internet is a great facilitator.

We had set a precedent with our No Knead experience here and here.  That “event” was serendipitous and resulted in such belly laughs as to leave us wanting more. 

Some where between cowboy boots, countless cups of coffee and easily over 200 emails, we determined to enjoy that cooking/baking across the pond again.   For reasons that will become clear over time, we determined to make beef stock. 

And yes, it does get cold in Dallas.

These babies get brown in a very hot (475° F ) oven, taking all of 45 to 50 minutes oven time.  Since this is where a lot of that deep beef brown broth color is going to come from, do not worry about getting these really dark. 

Add the drained meaty bones back to the pot along with water to cover them.  Simmer.  Skim.  Simmer.  Skim.  Simmer.  Skim.  Simmer.  Skim.  Simmer.  Skim.  Simmer.  Skim.  And do that for 5 hours.  Yes this is slow.  Not difficult but slow.

At what point will my fancy All Clad stainless steel skimmer take on history?  When you acquire some of these fine kitchen gadgets/things, have you ever wondered how your young child or grandchild will see them?  Will this thing take on a life of it’s own and become the next generation’s treasure or land in the discard pile?  There was a time Karen’s grandma’s trusted enameled skimmer was new and had no history.

Sometime during all this simmering and skimming, I roasted some onions, leeks, and carrot for about 50 minutes until they were blackened.  And we asked each other how brown is your meat, how dark is your stock getting?

For the last hour, I added the caramelized onions, leek and carrot along with some bay leaf, thyme and peppercorn.  No more skimming, just left to simmer into broth heaven.  Straining the finished stock was very specific.

So, where did I get this involved recipe for the beef broth?  I considered Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking and Cook’s Illustrated.  In the end I went with one of my newest additions Thomas Keller’s Bouchon.   Keller surprisingly doesn’t use celery in this stock, saying he feels it becomes bitter.  Cook’s indicated garlic was too powerful a flavor if what you are aiming for is the beefy flavor.  It can become bitter so easily also, so I left it out.

Why take on such a labor intensive recipe? Well, sometimes you just want to find out what all the hullabaloo is about and sometimes you just want to be able to say yeah, I’ve done that.

Beef Broth

(with some adaptations from Bouchon by Thomas Keller)

2 T canola oil

5 pounds meaty beef shank bones, 2 to 3 inch sections

2 small Spanish onions (8 oz total) quartered

1/2 t sea salt

1 large (3 oz) carrot, cut into 4 pieces

1 large (3 oz) leek - trim, split, well rinsed, 2 inch pieces

thyme sprig large

3 bay leaves

1/4 t black peppercorns

Preheat oven to 475°F.

Oil a roasting pan and spread meaty bones in a single layer.  Roast about 25 minutes until undersides well browned; turn pieces and roast another 20 minutes until well browned on both sides.

In another roasting pan: put the onions, carrot and leeks.  Toss with 1 T oil.

Remove meaty bones from oven and place in colander over a baking sheet to drain.

Lower oven temperature to 400° F.  Roast veggies for 20 minutes, toss and roast another 20 minutes until well caramelized.  Set aside when caramelized.

Pour fat from roasting pan and discard.  Add about 1 c water to pan and over medium heat and scrape pan bottom clean.  Allow liquid to reduce by half.  Add meaty bones and pan dripping reduction along with enough water to cover the bones & meat in a deep stock-pot.  Simmer gently and skim often for 5 hours.  Keep the water level just above the meaty bones.

After 5 hours of simmering and skimming, add in the caramelized veggies, thyme and peppercorns.  Simmer an additional hour.  Turn off the heat and allow to rest 10 minutes.

Keller now admonishes the cook that removing the bones or pouring the liquid out of the stock-pot through the bones will cause the stock to cloud.  The choice seems to be between a cloudy day or a sunny day.  I let myself buy into his obvious sun over cloud choice.  Carefully ladle the stock out of the pot through a strainer over a bowl.  Strain this liquid through a chinois or cheesecloth.

Measure the stock: there should be 3.5 quarts, more than 3.5, reduce it down.  Keller recommends chilling the stock quickly in an ice bath.  I simply put it into 4 small containers and into the refrigerator.

And it does give you a beautifully sweet sunny gelatinous beef stock.  I’m sure this is the broth my grandmother simmered 100 years ago.

Alanna’s got soup on at Veggie Venture, featuring soups all this month and this fits right in.  Go check out all the soups she’s collected here.

Karen’s Beef Stock can be found here.

As Karen says

Now, what do we do with it?

Coming soon on a blog near you...