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Just canned 2.5 gallons of beef stock
We bought a half a cow last winter (it was already dead! ; ) and had mostly soup shanks and neck bones left, all with tons of meat on them. I love onion soup and other dishes that use beef stock, so wanted to make a good batch for some 'special' meals over this winter. I looked at a bunch of different methods & recipes and decided to just go with the general approach most seemed to agree on. Started with between 10 and 15 pounds of meaty bones. Put them in a roasting pan with a tiny bit of olive oil to prevent sticking, salt and a little pepper, into a hot (480) oven. Gave them a head start of probably 15 minutes, then made up another roasting pan with a bunch (3 pounds?) of carrots cut into rough chunks and probably 8 large onions sliced in halves and quarters. A little oil, into the oven.
Roasted everything until browned and aromatic, turning the vegetables once or twice. At the same time, I started a HUGE stockpot on the stove with, again, a little olive oil, some carrot chunks, some onion halves, and a whole bunch of celery, leaves included, we picked from the garden. Sauteed this for a little while to soften everything up and get the liquids moving.
When the meat and veggies were well browned (45min +/-) I took them out, put all the meat and pan veggies into the stock pot on top of the sautéing veggies, then deglazed the pans with a bit of red wine (not too much) and dumped that mixture in (probably +/-1 cup of wine liquid with bit of veggie and meat).
Then I filled the pot to near full with cold tap water. As it turned out, +/- 2.5 gallons of the stuff. Probably 3, accounting for what cooked off. I then simmered on the lowest temp (you don't want a boil) overnight, probably 9 hours. In the morning, I skimmed off the foamy, nasty bits (byproduct of the gelatins) that had accumulated on the surface, then tonged out as many solids as I could get into another pan. Strained the liquid from that pan back into the stock pot; it wasn't a ton.
At this point I let the big stock pot cool for a few hours yesterday so I could handle/pour through a sieve without killing myself (3 gallons of boiling liquid is heavy/dangerous). Poured through a cheesecloth sieve into another large stockpot that just held the 2.5 gallons. Simmered that for a few hours just to lose a little liquid and concentrate the flavor a bit, then pressure canned 12 quart jars.
Came out really excellent; rich, brown color, deep beefy, complex flavor, versatile for reducing to sauces/glazes as well as being a base for soups & stews.
Learned:
- You need a TON of meat/bones to make a large batch of stock. The last time I tried, I used too little it came out really thin and disappointing, with very little flavor. I don't think over flavoring stock is possible, but under flavoring sure is. So use a ton of meat. If you were buying at a butcher/supermarket you probably won't save any money vs. buying stock in a can/box, but the flavor will be better for sure, and it will have a lot less crap in it. (and less salt)
- You need bones AND meat. I couldn't believe how much meat was on these neck bones and soup shanks. It felt kind of criminal to 'waste' all that meat on stock, but I now realize that is what helped the result be so delicious. The meat gives flavor; the bones mostly give up gelatin which gives body.
- I added 2 whole cloves and a bunch (10?) of bay leaves. I don't taste clove when I taste the stock, but it has a lot of flavor, and I think the clove helps add something.
- We've gotten much better about canning rather than freezing as our confidence level with the canner has increased. It really is much more efficient and cost-effective to can, and as long as you do it properly, you can virtually eliminate any safety concerns.
Anybody else have stock-making experience to share?
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Originally Posted by HSTFixed
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