Pick a day to make some brown stock. I swear, you’ll be glad you did. Stock is simply a flavorful liquid comprised of bones, aromatic vegetables, herbs, water and usually a little acid.
Along with flavor, the bones contribute collagen, a connective tissue that holds muscles together and attaches muscles to bones. All of us have it, and young animals have more than old animals.
Collagen turns to gelatin and water when it’s cooked slowly in liquid, and that gelatin gives stock its body. It’s why your leftover turkey soup turns to gelatin, and it’s why sauces made from stock rather than canned broths (which have no gelatin) have such a great mouthfeel.
Today we’re making brown veal stock. Because stock takes up so much space, we’re also showing you how to reduce it to “glace.”
Why you need to learn this
Keep cubes of glace in your freezer. Whenever you’re making a braise, stew, soup, sauce or anything that would benefit from a blast of flavor, add a cube. The results are remarkable.
Steps to follow
Unlike white stocks, the ingredients in brown stocks are roasted before simmering in water. Roasting gives brown stock its color along with a depth of flavor not present in white stock.
Typically, white stock is made from chicken and brown stock from veal, but you can make brown chicken stock or white veal stock if you like.
For a general stock formula, consider the following: Whatever weight of bones you start with, use twice that amount of water. Remember that a pound of water is a pint, so for every pound of bones you’ll need a quart of water. Ten pounds of bones will need 21 /2 gallons of water.
You’ll also need mirepoix, a 2:1:1 ratio of onions, carrots and celery, roughly chopped. For 10 pounds of bones, figure 2 pounds of mirepoix: 1 pound of onions and 1 /2 pound each of carrots and celery.
Note: Any butcher can get veal bones for you if you give him a couple days’ notice.
1. Roast your veal bones in a 450-degree oven about 45 minutes, until they’re a nice, dark brown.
2.When the bones are about done, take a generous scoop of tomato paste and smear it across the top so that it, too, roasts a bit. The tomato adds color along with acid that helps break down the collagen.
3. Place the roasted bones in the stockpot. Discard any fat and deglaze the roasting pan: add 1 or 2 cups of wine or water and set the pan on your stove top over a high flame. Scrape up any browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add the liquid and bits to the stockpot.
4. Add COLD water, 1 quart for every pound of bones.
5. Crank the heat under the pot. Impurities–proteins–will dissolve in the cold water. As the mixture heats, these impurities will coagulate and form a scum at the top of the stock. Skim it off.
6. While the water heats, roast your mirepoix in a single layer on a sheet tray or roasting pan in the hot oven until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
7. When the water boils, add your roasted mirepoix and a sizable bouquet garni: a bunch of parsley, a tablespoon of dried thyme and 3 to 5 bay leaves. You can tie it all in cheesecloth or just toss it in.
8. Once you’ve added everything, the liquid should come nearly all the way to the top. If it doesn’t, top it off with more water, return it to the boil, then reduce to a simmer.
9. Simmer it a long time: 8 to 12 hours or overnight.
10. When the stock is finished, strain it through a chinois (fine-mesh strainer) or a colander lined with cheesecloth into a clean container.
11a. Cool it in an ice bath before covering and refrigerating or freezing. It will last about a week in the refrigerator, and several months in the freezer.
11b. Or, for glace, degrease the strained stock, then return it to the cleaned stockpot. Reduce it to one-tenth its original volume. It will be somewhat syrupy.
12. Pour glace into a casserole and cool. When it solidifies, cut it into 2-inch squares and freeze. Alternately, pour the glace into ice cube trays and pop them out into freezer bags when they harden.
