Grammie Nancy's Homemade Stock Recipe
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Ingredients: |
Ingredients: Forward: SAVE STUFF! Bones, leftovers, giblets from the birds, trimmed fat, veggie peelings, cut off ends. Label it by type (Chicken, beef, pork, etc.) and freeze it until needed. Not only is this great for stock, but using bones in red gravy makes it better than anything else you will have. Grammie Gloria Chagnon always said you needed 3 types of meat for a real red gravy - see that recipe in this book.
There are no hard and fast amounts for most of the items in stock, so this recipe is more of a "concept discussion".
Mirepoix is a blend of sautéed chopped carrots, celery, and onions. I try to use the same amount of onion by volume as both the carrots and celery together. This is the base of all stocks and most gravies and will be added to the stock no matter what else you put in there. If you do not have leftover fat from the last time you made stock, use butter (4-5 tbs.) to sauté.
Bones. Roast bones for stock for about 30-45 minutes at 400° to 425° until they are a rich golden brown, turning them halfway through. For larger bones like beef (crack them with a hammer), it might take up to 60 minutes, 45 minutes for a crushed turkey carcass, smaller bones like chicken only need about 30 minutes. Put the roasted bones in your stock pot or crock pot, add a cup of water to the bottom of the roasting pan and scrape the heck out of it to get all the yummy bits (fond) and fat out of the pan. Dump everything in the roasting pan into your stock pot. You can toss beef, lamb, or pork bones with a half a small can of tomato paste before cooking and add any larger chunks of veggies and giblets to the roasting pan for the last 20 minutes of cooking. Use bones with plenty of meat scraps unless you are working towards a clear broth (but why would you?).
**Auntie Reagan Diamond says use the Instant Pot for this - much better in less time!**
Veggies: Bits and ends and veggies starting to wilt sound like garbage. Not so!! Add pieces and parts of carrots, onions, celery, parsnips, shallots, and leeks. Depending on your taste turnip, white beets, rutabaga, and fennel can be added as well.
Herbs: I put my herbs in a container like a tea strainer so that I do not have to fish out a million stems and bits. You can also wrap them up in cheesecloth and tie it with butcher's twine, called a "bouquet garni". There are "spice bags" available on Amazon that are great. Use a lot of herbs (as there will be a lot of liquid). At the least, I use an entire bunch of fresh thyme, 4 bay leaves, parsley, some peppercorns, and sometimes ginger and cloves - everything whole with the stems. You can also add in addition to those some meat specific herbs such as sage for poultry, rosemary and garlic for lamb, tarragon, mustard seeds, cloves, and garlic for pork, and Italian seasonings for red gravy.
6 - 8 quarts of water, less or more depending on how many bones and veggies.
Salt and pepper to taste. I often throw in some red pepper flakes as well.
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Directions: |
Directions:Bring 6 - 8 quarts of water up to a simmer in a large stockpot. If you are using a crockpot, add everything else and then cover with hot water. I will just call these the "pot".
Melt the butter in a frying pan and sauté 4 cups (1 carrot, 1 celery, 2 onion) mirepoix until tender. If you are using minced garlic, open up a place in the middle of the pan, add a pat of butter if needed and sauté until fragrant 3 minutes or so. Put in the pot.
Put the roasted bones in the pot, cracking and breaking them. This allows the goodness inside to come out into the stock. Put the roasting pan on top of the stove with a burner on and add a cup or so of water. Scrape the heck out of it with a metal spatula to get all the yummy bits (fond) and fat off of the bottom of the pan. Dump everything from the roasting pan into your pot.
Add any veggie scraps, the bouquet garni, salt, pepper, red pepper, the kitchen sink or whatever else you like. Ensure that everything is covered with water. Simmer the stockpot, skimming off any scum from the stock with a spoon or fine mesh strainer every 10-15 minutes for the first hour of cooking and twice each hour for the next 2 hours. For the crockpot, add water to cover, and place on the high setting.
Both of these should cook 8 hours or more. Check that the water does not get too low and add more if needed.
Place a cheesecloth in a large strainer (the scola maccharon according to Grammie Gloria Chagnon) and place the strainer over a large bowl. CAREFULLY pour the broth from your pot into the lined strainer. Use the cheesecloth to catch any bits from the stock. Take the bits and whatever is left in the pot and let it cool. "Pick" out all the meat pieces and good bits from the "bone pile" and add to the broth. Place the broth in the fridge overnight, the fat will rise to the surface and harden. Remove 3/4 of the solidified fat, place it in a Ziplock container, label and freeze it - this is your start for the next stock. Your stock, if done correctly with sufficient bones, should have a consistency a bit like jello. Use what you need and freeze the rest - it lasts beautifully. |
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Number Of
Servings:10 - 20 |
Preparation
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Preparation
Time:2 Days |
Personal
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Personal
Notes: The Gravy vs. Sauce argument.
1.) All of my stocks are "bone broths". You need the marrow and the gelatin from the connective tissue to make a decent stock.
2.) If there is meat, bones, or meat drippings in it - it is gravy. Brown gravy, red gravy, fuchsia gravy - have at it.
3.) No meat = sauce. There, debate ended.
Be frugal! Keep your bones, peels, ends of veggies and everything for the stock (are you sensing a familiar theme here?). Not only will your end result far exceed anything that you can buy, you will save a ton of money.
Stock freezes well and is great to have on hand. Make sauce, gravy, soup, or stew. It will all be much better for the addition of homemade stock.
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