During all 4 of the wife’s surgeries this year the surgeons kept remarking how pliable her skin was and how good her general health was. She is convinced that the beef broth she drinks every day did that for her so I’m now in charge of making beef broth. This week I put 2 quartered yellow onions, 1 bunch of celery, a package of baby carrots, some garlic, and about 3 pounds of assorted beef bones and beef shank meat in a large dutch oven with no lid. I put it on the smoker at 325 with apple wood for smoke and left it 4 hours. When I took it off the meat and bones were lightly browned, the veggies were soft, and it all smelled wonderful. I put it all in our stock pot and added 2 gallons of filtered water. On the advice of our daughter I slow simmered it with the lid on for 24 hours. With a true low simmer I only lost about a half inch of liquid. The broth was a nice deep brown color that is caused by putting the onion peel in the mix I’m told. Late yesterday I strained all the solids out, but did not truly filter it. I wanted to leave as much nutrition in the broth as I could. After it spent the night in the fridge all the fat had congealed on top and was easy to remove. I don’t think it was bad at all for a first effort. It did need to be salted to taste. The wife said it tasted much better than what she had been buying. It looks like this will be an every 2 weeks job for now. I’ll take all the advice I can get on broth or stock making. How do you make them?
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That is quite an elaborate process. Kudos. I can taste it from here.
I spend about 1/10 the time on my broth. I find a cheap cut of beef on sale (boneless short ribs, bottom sirloin, etc). Cut it up into large chunks, salt and pepper and brown it well in a Dutch oven. Add a tomato, little soy sauce, onion quartered, 1 qt cheap beef broth, 3 qts water. Simmer, covered for 4 hours, remove lid and reduce by half. But I am sure yours tastes much better. -
I think you Gave Us The Advice! Your method is beyond spot on.Comment
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You are doing it the way I do although I don't always smoke the meat and veggies - you can oven roast them in a pinch for more flavor. I make stock/broth from venison bones and scraps - very similar flavor to beef broth and interchangeable in recipes. Plus, I save any uncooked bones and scraps (chicken, pork, etc) - what doesn't go into sausage (mostly the fats are for sausage) goes to make stock periodically. I often add a little thyme, rosemary, and/or parsley from the garden to the stock as it simmers but I do not salt it - that comes when using it to make something such as beans or gumbo.Comment
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I have the place that processes our beef every year save me some soup bones and shank with bone in. I’ve been actually using them in soups until now. -
About to smoke a rump roast. Found the turkey neck and giblets from Thanksgiving in the freezer while rummaging so I'm now making turkey stock too - I'll put them on a rack above the hot zone of the pit to smoke/grill then into the pot which is already going with onions, carrots, celery, tops from a leek, and thyme. should yield two quarts when done.
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10 lbs. beef bones (knuckles and the like)
2 lbs onions chopped
1 lbs carrots chopped
1,pound celery chopped
garlic cloves
tomato paste
bouquet garni
Whole pepper corns
1. Roast bones in 450 degree oven for 30 minutes. Add tomato past and roast for another 30 minutes
2. Put bones in stock pot. Pour off fat from roasting pan and deglaze with water over med heat, scraping up nubby bits. Add to stock pot.
3. Add remain ingredients to stock pot and cover with cold water.
4. Bring to simmer, uncovered, and let simmer, not a boil, for 8 to 10 hours.
5. Strain through a china cap then strain again through a chinoise. Should yield 4 quarts of stock.
I’ve done it this way for 20 plus years.
Rob
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I make beef broth in either my 8 quart Instant Pot (for smaller batches) or my humongous stock pot for larger batches. I like to make it partially with a good commercial beef broth (as Chef Jean Pierre does).
About using commercial beef broths: While Better than Boullion Beef Base is good, it's too salty for me (510mg sodium per tsp) to use in this application. It's great when used in smaller recipes, though. I like Pacific Foods Low Sodium Beef Broth (125mg sodium per serving) if I can find it. If I can't, I use Zoup! Beef Bone Broth (470 mg sodium per serving), substituting about 1/3 of the amount listed in the recipe out for water, doubling the amount of short ribs called for in the recipe, and tasting at the end before adding any additional salt.
Kathryn's Beef Bone Broth
(makes about 7 quarts)
Ingredients:
For the Roasted bones, veggies and meat:
4 to 5 lbs beef leg bones, 2 to 3 inches long
1.5 lbs beef short ribs
2 halved onions
4 stalks celery
2 carrots
1 whole head of garlic, sliced horizontally in half (2 halves). Use 1/2 head in roasting pan with the meats.
2 Tbl tomato paste
For the Broth:
20 cups (5 quarts) low sodium commercial beef stock (see note on commercial broth choices), or water if you prefer, but double the amount of short ribs if you go with water.
8 cups (2 quarts) water
remaining 1/2 head of garlic
15 peppercorns
2 TBL dried parsley
4 bay leaves
1 tsp dried thyme
2 cups pinot noir for deglazing the roasting tray
Directions:
1. Place bones and ribs on an aluminum-lined rimmed half sheet pan in a cold gas grill and turn on all the burners. You can use a 375° to 400° oven instead.
2. Allow temp to rise to 400° (about 15 min), then adjust the burner settings to maintain around 375-400° at the grate. The burners directly under the food tray should be set to Off if possible.
Summit gasser's 6 burners set at:
Far Left and Far Right on full
Second From Left and Second From Right on 1/2
Two center burners Off
Keep an eye on the food in the oven or gasser and adjust heat accordingly!
3. Start a stock pot with these ingredients. With lid on, heat to a gentle boil.
20 cups (5 quarts) low or no-sodium commercial beef stock or water, if preferred.
8 cups (2 quarts) water
1/2 head garlic
15 peppercorns
2 TBL dried parsley
4 bay leaves
1 tsp dried thyme
4. After 30 minutes at 400° (or 375°in oven), turn the bones and beef and add the onions, celery, carrots and 1/2 of the garlic head
5. Roast for 20 minutes longer.
6. Brush bones with the tomato paste.
7. Roast for 10 minutes longer, keeping an eye on it so the tomato paste doesn't burn
8. Transfer the bones, beef and roasted veggies to a large metal bowl or an aluminum foil-lined half-sheet pan to transport to stockpot.
9. Add the hot bones/veggies to the hot stock mixture. Reduce the heat to low so that the mixture simmers.
10. Let the tray cool enough in the gasser or oven to allow the grease to be poured off safely into a metal bowl. If not saving for Beef Love, fill the bowl with paper towels to soak up the grease before disposing in trash. Freeze Beef Love for future use.
9. Deglaze the tray with 2 cups pinot noir, pour into metal bowl, and transfer to stock pot.
10. Simmer, lid on, 4 hours or longer if you prefer. I like about 12 hours.
11. Cool, strain, and pour in 4 cup, 2 cup, or 1 cup portions into Ziploc bags, burping out the air in the bags, for flat storage in freezer.
KathrynComment
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In addition to bones I put some ground beef in my stock. I roast everything in the oven for about 20 minutes and then slather the bones with tomato paste and let ‘er go for about 40 minutes. Then it all goes into a 16 quart stock pot with water and some red wine. It simmers uncovered for 6 hours or so.Comment
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Venison or beef stock for me is
bones
carrots
onions
celery
garlic
lemon
All roasted in oven until dark. All skins on. Then I add water, whole black peppercorns, bay leaves, rosemary, thyme, salt, ACV, and dried ancho pepper.Comment
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I have not done beef broth, but make chicken broth fairly often.
I imagine it would work out similarly.
add 2 left over roasted chicken carcasses, onions, bay leaf, salt, pepper to a crock pot (I think it's 5 QT). cover with tap water, and add a couple of generous splashes of apple cider vinegar. Cover and cook on high for a couple of hours, then turn to low and cook for at least 24 hours. strain through cheese cloth, and portion out into containers and freeze. I usually portion into 1 and/or 4 cup portions.
not sure what the ratio of beef bones to water would be.
I may have to try it out.
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I haven't done beef stock but do chicken stock all the time. We save onion, carrot, and celery scraps and keep them in a bag in the freezer. And for bones we generally just use Costco rotisserie chicken carcasses. We have our dinner and then pick most of the meat off the bones and the carcasses and parts we don't eat go into the pot with the vegetables, some salt, and peppercorns. If we have some fresh herbs like thyme or sage we might throw those in too. Then we just let it simmer on the stove until we are tired of smelling it and feel motivated to strain it off and throw it in the freezer. Usually 24 hours but when we are extra lazy it might be 60+ hours. If the water level gets a bit low we will add some more water to the party.
One thing to be warned about... my nephew's wife tried to make some beef stock. Put everything in the pot with plenty of water and went and ran some errands for a few hours. When she got home the house was filled with a horrible, nasty smoke. All the water had evaporated and the bones were just burning in the pot. Every soft surface in the house (carpets, bedding, clothes, towels, etc.) had to be replaced and they needed to have a smoke damage restoration company refinish the floors, paint the walls, and basically redo the whole house. So if you are making stock make 100% sure you have plenty of liquid in the pot. Burnt bone smoke is nothing you ever want.Comment
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For those looking for the commercial stock bases that Kathryn ( fzxdoc) references, I use Minor's low sodium bases almost exclusively, which are manufactured by Nestle's commercial division. By coincidence, I ordered some base this morning from https://soupbase.com/ (I'm not a shill, just couldn't find it elsewhere), as I was running low on chicken base and have been using a lot lately. I ordered some RC Fine Foods low-sodium ham base, too, just to give it a try.Comment
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I use essentially the same recipe - sometimes roasting on the smoker, sometimes in the oven. I used to simmer 24 hours, but a few years ago I got a large Instant Pot pressure cooker, which cut it down to about 2 hours. Also, if I have spare kale, spinach, or other greens I'll toss them in for the simmer.Comment
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Basics for beef broth include roasting the beef bones at 475 F for an hour with about 40 minutes in adding sliced carrots and celery so they get blackened by the end of the cook. Cold water in a pot with all that stuff from the oven dumped in. Then I spend 3 to 12 hours boiling this down. I don't salt until the end. Tasty, tasty, goodness of life. Your wife is right. This stuff is life-giving.
I should also add that one time beef bones, roasted and made into broth are not done. Save the beef bones and do a second run with them. They will make wonderful beef broth a second time too.Comment
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A cautionary tale:
One time when I was making beef broth outside in summer to avoid heating the house, after all was done and cooled I tossed the dog (RIP) a small bone. After all that boiling it was soft so he just crushed and swallowed it. He knew not to grab food off the counters inside, but it didn't occur to me that he wouldn't understand that outside. So when I took a bunch of stuff in and came back, I found he had pulled down the whole bowl of bones and was devouring them.
Poor boy got ridiculously constipated. It took me a couple days to realize, and then I was right on the edge of taking him to the vet when - with much pain and enough frantic howling to alarm the neighbors - he managed to clear himself.Comment
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I received my soupbase.com order a couple days ago and I want to share this (my experience and a promo code):
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