AllenOK
Executive Chef
Beef Stock 101 - long, lots of pics
Ok, here's how I make Beef Stock:
I went and bought about 10 lbs. of beef knuckles from a local Chinese grocery store, which is the only place I can seem to find them around here. I paid about $1.00 / pound for them. Here they are before I roasted them.
Here's the other ingredients that I used to roast the bones with. Unfortunately, I didn't have any carrots at the time I roasted everything, or I would have put them in as well. I roasted the bones for an hour total before mixing with some mirepoix. It fact, the first hour was at 350 degrees F, but they bones weren't caramelizing enough for me, so I increased the temp to 400 degrees F.
Ok, after the first hour of roasting, I mixed the onions, celery, and tomato paste with the bones, and put them back into the oven to caramelize the mirepoix. I think I roasted that mix for 45 minutes, but I forgot to record that. However, I will tell you that I should have either roasted at a higher temperature, or roasted longer, as my beef bones just weren't as caramelized as I would have liked. I think that's because this is really the first time I've used bones this large.
I ended up cooking my stock for 30 hours. Normally, I go 36 hours. However, I got called in to work on my last day off, so I had to finish it off earlier than I wanted. Here's the stock, before I strained it. It's hard to tell in this pic, but that layer of fat is about an inch deep.
Ok, this is one pic, of two, that shows how long I cooked the bones. You'll notice that the marrow fell out of the bone. Also, most of the meat, cartiliage, and other tissues have cooked away.
Here's side two of the same bone. This is part of the femur, and is actually the hip joint. I was going to try to show how this bone will fall apart when it's cooked long enough. Another six hours and it should have happened. Basically, the rounded surface, even though it's solid bone, will detach from the rest of the bone, like a fixed joint that separates. I've noticed this more with the knee joints than hip joints, so maybe this is the wrong bone to show. Unfortunately, I took this picture yesterday, and have since gotten rid of the bones.
Time to strain the stock. In this pic, I've already strained the stock out of my 22-qt stockpot, and into my 16-qt stockpot. This is easily accomplished with my "China Cap" strainer. This is a commercial product. The strainer itself is conical, and fits down into the pot. It's help up by the handle, and a hook on the other side. The pitcher on the right is full with about a quart of nothing but GREASE! After I strained the stock, I reduced it for 45 minutes, to concentrate it, so I don't completely fill up my freezers with stock.
And now it's time to chill it down. Luckily, my 16-qt stockpot just barely fits into my sink, and actually doesn't fit all the way down. This is a good thing. This means a little water will circulate under the pan, as well as around it. This helps the product chill down faster. I've also taken a 2-liter pop bottle, filled it with water, froze it, then plunged that straight into my stock. 2 gallons of boiling stock cooled down to 40 degrees F in 30 minutes. Here, you can see that fat that is starting to congeal on the surface.
I didn't take a pic after I removed the stock from the ice bath, but the majority of the fat in the stock congealed onto the 2-liter. Some of the fat was dispensed with the stock into ice cube trays and frozen. However, by the time I was ready to portion and freeze the last of the stock, all the grease had congealed and was removed from the stock. I won't need the gravy separator for a lot of my sauces this time around!
One more pic to post, but will have to do in the next post after this.
Ok, here's how I make Beef Stock:
I went and bought about 10 lbs. of beef knuckles from a local Chinese grocery store, which is the only place I can seem to find them around here. I paid about $1.00 / pound for them. Here they are before I roasted them.
Here's the other ingredients that I used to roast the bones with. Unfortunately, I didn't have any carrots at the time I roasted everything, or I would have put them in as well. I roasted the bones for an hour total before mixing with some mirepoix. It fact, the first hour was at 350 degrees F, but they bones weren't caramelizing enough for me, so I increased the temp to 400 degrees F.
Ok, after the first hour of roasting, I mixed the onions, celery, and tomato paste with the bones, and put them back into the oven to caramelize the mirepoix. I think I roasted that mix for 45 minutes, but I forgot to record that. However, I will tell you that I should have either roasted at a higher temperature, or roasted longer, as my beef bones just weren't as caramelized as I would have liked. I think that's because this is really the first time I've used bones this large.
I ended up cooking my stock for 30 hours. Normally, I go 36 hours. However, I got called in to work on my last day off, so I had to finish it off earlier than I wanted. Here's the stock, before I strained it. It's hard to tell in this pic, but that layer of fat is about an inch deep.
Ok, this is one pic, of two, that shows how long I cooked the bones. You'll notice that the marrow fell out of the bone. Also, most of the meat, cartiliage, and other tissues have cooked away.
Here's side two of the same bone. This is part of the femur, and is actually the hip joint. I was going to try to show how this bone will fall apart when it's cooked long enough. Another six hours and it should have happened. Basically, the rounded surface, even though it's solid bone, will detach from the rest of the bone, like a fixed joint that separates. I've noticed this more with the knee joints than hip joints, so maybe this is the wrong bone to show. Unfortunately, I took this picture yesterday, and have since gotten rid of the bones.
Time to strain the stock. In this pic, I've already strained the stock out of my 22-qt stockpot, and into my 16-qt stockpot. This is easily accomplished with my "China Cap" strainer. This is a commercial product. The strainer itself is conical, and fits down into the pot. It's help up by the handle, and a hook on the other side. The pitcher on the right is full with about a quart of nothing but GREASE! After I strained the stock, I reduced it for 45 minutes, to concentrate it, so I don't completely fill up my freezers with stock.
And now it's time to chill it down. Luckily, my 16-qt stockpot just barely fits into my sink, and actually doesn't fit all the way down. This is a good thing. This means a little water will circulate under the pan, as well as around it. This helps the product chill down faster. I've also taken a 2-liter pop bottle, filled it with water, froze it, then plunged that straight into my stock. 2 gallons of boiling stock cooled down to 40 degrees F in 30 minutes. Here, you can see that fat that is starting to congeal on the surface.
I didn't take a pic after I removed the stock from the ice bath, but the majority of the fat in the stock congealed onto the 2-liter. Some of the fat was dispensed with the stock into ice cube trays and frozen. However, by the time I was ready to portion and freeze the last of the stock, all the grease had congealed and was removed from the stock. I won't need the gravy separator for a lot of my sauces this time around!
One more pic to post, but will have to do in the next post after this.
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