Beef stock

Good beef stock is the difference between gravy that tastes of beef and gravy that tastes of salt.

What makes it good¶

Roasted bones. Raw bones give a pale, weak stock. Roast them at 220 °C for 40 minutes until deeply browned first — this is the Maillard reaction doing for your stock what it does for your roast.

Collagen-rich cuts. Knuckle, shin, oxtail and marrow bones contain the connective tissue that dissolves into gelatin, which is what gives stock body. Rib bones alone give flavour but little texture. See gelatin from bones.

Time and low heat. Four to six hours at a bare tremble. A rolling boil emulsifies fat into the liquid and makes it cloudy and greasy.

Method¶

1. Roast 1.5 kg beef bones at 220 °C for 40 minutes, with 2 onions, 2 carrots and 2 celery sticks added for the last 20.
2. Transfer to a large pan. Deglaze the roasting tin with water or wine and add that too — see deglazing a roasting tin.
3. Add 1 tbsp tomato purée, 2 bay leaves, a few peppercorns and parsley stalks.
4. Cover with cold water by 5 cm. Bring slowly to a bare simmer.
5. Skim the scum in the first 30 minutes, then simmer, uncovered, 4–6 hours.
6. Strain. Cool quickly. Chill — the fat sets on top and lifts off, and the stock beneath should be lightly jellied.

The alternatives, ranked¶

See stock cubes and gravy from stock.

Storage¶

Fridge: 4 days. Freezer: 6 months. Freeze in ice-cube trays for small quantities, or reduce it hard to a glace and freeze that — a single cube of reduced stock transforms a weeknight gravy.

See also¶

• chicken stock · gelatin from bones · reducing stock · beef gravy