This afternoon, I was cutting some beef off of a bone to make beef and vegetable stir fry for dinner. I had some extra time, so I thought I'd make a little stock with the beef bone. Then I remembered the bag of uncooked beef bones that I had in the freezer, accumulated over the past 6 to 8 months. So I made a nice large pot of beef stock, browning the bones first, then simmering in water with simple seasonings (salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder). It came out delicious, and now I feel like I got full value from the cuts of beef.
I routinely make chicken stock from chicken bones and ham stock from the ham bone, but I've only made beef stock once before. I wasn't thrilled with that batch of stock. I later figured that it lacked flavor. Hence adding some simple seasonings to this batch of stock.
I've been making a lot of soups this winter. I had depleted my supply of chicken stock and have just one more container of ham stock and a few containers of pumpkin stock remaining. So, I will be glad to have additional stock ready for more pots of soup or to add to sauces.
How about you? Do you use leftover meat bones for making stock? Do you a favorite type of stock? Do you have a method that works for you?
Yes, for sure I make stock from anything that has a bone. We rarely eat beef roast so I just don't have bones enough to make stock though. Chicken is what have have the most of, second is ham bone, beef and pork not so much. Husband even asks "are we saving the chicken bones for stock?" I often don't season my broth too much because I never know what I might add it to and that is when I season it.
ReplyDeleteLove your posts about so many various things!
Alice
Hi Alice,
DeleteChicken bones are what I tend to have more of too. You make a great point about not seasoning the stock until you cook with it. You're right, when I make the stock, I don't know yet what I'll cook it in.
I have more beef bones now that we're buying beef from a rancher and I don't choose what cuts I'll get. So I'm using all that I receive, as best I can.
Yes, we save bones for stock. My husband is usually the one who cuts up the cooked chicken (he likes to nibble while he cuts and picks), and he has learned to put the bones onto simmer when he's done. We haven't had a beef bone in years, but we do have a ham bone in the freezer waiting to be cooked with a pot of beans. It's so nice to go to the freezer and pull out stock whenever we need it.
ReplyDeleteHi Live and Learn,
DeleteHow nice that your husband will take on that chore. It's a messy job. I'll do it with whole chicken carcasses, but I usually recruit someone else to do the turkey carcasses. Yum, I see a pot of beans in your future!
We save ham bones and use them. Like Alice and L&L, we don't have beef bones. We save the juices from turkey (we had it over the weekend) and use that in broth, but no, we don't regularly save and use the bones for stock.
ReplyDeleteHi Kris,
DeleteI think ham bones are probably the first choice around here for using in cooking. They add such great flavor to any dish. It's a shame there's only 1 ham bone in each ham.
Hi, Lili -- We have developed a habit of basically always boiling whole chickens for the meat and the broth, so we always have both of them available in the freezer. (I drink chicken broth daily, sometimes.) We get soup bones when we've bought whole beef, but DH is the only one in the family who really enjoys beef broth by itself; and it's more work, so we've not gotten into that as much as we should. I do boil a lot of bone-in beef roasts for shredded beef (burritos, tacos, BBQ beef sandwiches), though, and I have used the broth from that to make albondigas or fideo soups, since the seasonings are already there from boiling the meat. Seems a shame to throw away that liquid, especially after cooking it for hours. Sara
ReplyDeleteHi Sara,
DeleteI think you probably get a better tasting stock by simmering the whole chicken instead of just the bones. Sounds like a yummy beverage.
Makes perfect t sense to save the flavorful liquid from simmering beef for shredding. We do the same thing. Whatever liquid is leftover, I find a way to use it in that weeks cooking or pop it in the freezer to use later.
Like others, I don’t have as many beef bones as other meats. But the last time I did have beef bones, I did make broth. I too browned them for increased flavor, and it turned out well.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing I do is save the broth from cooking shrimp. I recently made a shrimp and corn chowder. It was a bit light on the shrimp, but the shrimp broth provided great flavor.
I used to put a stalk of celery, quartered onions etc in my broth. Now, I keep a bag in the freezer where I put the washed onion skins, carrot peelings and celery trimmings. I find it makes an equally flavorful broth while using “leftovers “ instead of original vegetables.
Hi Lynn,
DeleteGreat idea to save the liquid from cooking shrimp to use as stock in a chowder!
I used to save washed veggie scraps in the freezer, but I've grown lazy in recent years. I think I'll go back to at least saving onion and carrot ends and peels. Thank you for the reminder.
This looks good https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyHSR8YS0zc
ReplyDeleteThank you, Farhana. I'll check that link out!
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