Best Beef Stock Recipe
The best beef stock there is.
Servings Prep Time
1liter 40minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
60minutes 22-24hours
Servings Prep Time
1liter 40minutes
Cook Time Passive Time
60minutes 22-24hours
Ingredients
Ingedients for Day 1
Ingredients for Day 2
Instructions
Day 1
  1. Spread the the bones on a metal baking tray, drizzle with vegetable oil.
  2. Roast at 225 ºC (430 ºF) for 45 minutes in conventional oven.
  3. Cut the onion in two, stud each half with 2 cloves.
  4. Over medium heat (5 out of 10), melt the butter in the medium size pan. Add to the pan and brown celery, carrots and garlic.
  5. Pour 3 liters of cold water into a 5 liter stock pot and add roasted bones. Pour off oil from the pan, put aside.
  6. Add onions halves spiked with the cloves, herb bouquet and browned carrots, celery and garlic.
  7. Heat up the pan you roasted the bones in, on a stove top. Deglaze it with vermouth and pour off in the stock pot.
  8. Over medium heat (5 out of 10), bring an uncovered stock pot to a simmer. During this time (it will take about 1 hour) skim off any scum forming on top.
  9. Partially cover stock pot (leave small crack, about 5 mm), reduce the heat and have the stock pot on a low simmer (gentle bubbling) for next 12 hours. It is very important to avoid vigorous boil!
  10. After 12 hours, turn the heat off and let the stock pot cool off for 30 minutes before removing and discarding the bones.
  11. Pour the stock through a sieve into a new pot with a lid, do not rub vegetables. Cool the pot off in a cold water bath in the kitchen sink. Add ice to the water bath. The goal is to cool the stock off to about 10-15 ºC (50-60 ºF) as quickly as possible and than put the lid on and refrigerate overnight. See recipe notes.
Day 2
  1. Use a spoon to skim the stock fat, strain out any liquid. This is important as any liquid left in the fat will cause excessive splattering in the next step.
  2. Over medium heat (5 out of 10) warm up the stock, lid on the pot.
  3. Coarsely cut onion, carrots and celery, set aside.
  4. Rub some coarsely ground paper on the beef shoulder cuts. Sprinkle both meat sides with garlic powder.
  5. Over medium high heat (7 out of 10) heat up the stock fat on a large skillet, brown the meat on both sides. Transfer the meat to the stock pot.
  6. Add the onions, carrots, and celery to the skillet. Cook just long enough until the vegetables release enough water that will allow scraping all the fond from the bottom. Transfer all the vegetables to the stock pot and also add thyme and bay leaves.
  7. Partially cover the stock pot and keep on low simmer for about an hour. Periodically turn the meat using a pair of tongs to make sure that part floating above the liquid gets cooked properly.
  8. Remove lid and increase the heat again maintaining low simmer as before. The heat needs to be increased because without a lid there is a larger heat loss. Keep turning the meat once in a while. Cook for another 1 hr and 45 minutes.
  9. Pull out the meat and set aside. Run the stock through a sieve, do not rub vegetables. Using a water bath with ice, quickly cool off the stock. Cover and leave in refrigerator overnight.
Day 3
  1. Skim off any stock fat from the top. Transfer the stock to a sauce pan and bring to a low simmer. Cook without lid until the total mass of reduced or concentrated stock is about 1.2 kg. The easiest is to weigh the saucepan with stock inside, before the start of cooking. Check the weight periodically until the stock mass is reduced to 1.2 kg.
  2. Cool off the stock in a water bath with ice. Divide the stock in smaller cups and keep in the freezer.
Recipe Notes
  • rapid stock cooling is required in ordered to extend the shelf life of stock. If all the stock will be used immediately then that is not much of a concern. However, if the stock is going to be stored for later use (frozen), then it is of utmost importance to cool it as quickly as possible to slow down bacterial growth. Bacteria grows rapidly at 40 ºC  (104 ºF). The stock will start spoiling and possibly become toxic if not cooled down rapidly.
  • you never add any salt to the stock.
  • low simmer is the desired rate of slow cooking. Vigorous simmer or boiling would pulverize the vegetables and boil off most flavor molecules.
  • the stock should be kept in the refrigerator for up to a week and in the freezer for up to 6 months.