How To Make Beef Broth From Scratch

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I have always wanted to learn how to make beef broth but found it very intimidating. Thanks to the cookbook Sunday Soup: A Year’s Worth of Mouth-Watering, Easy-to-Make Recipes by Betty Rosbottom the process was demystified and I finally did it.

Tutorial

First you need beef bones and meat. I finally found some beef bones at my grocery store a while ago and put them in the deep freeze for when I was ready to take on this challenge. Betty’s Made-from-Scratch Beef Stock recipe requires 2 pounds of lean beef stew cut into cubes and 2 pounds of soup bones. I ended up having less bones but more meat which worked out just fine.

I put the beef cubes and bones into a large roasting pan.

Then I added 2 rough chopped carrots, 2 thickly sliced onions and 2 rough chopped celery sticks with leaves.

I browned everything in a preheated 450F oven on the middle rack for 15 minutes. I was amazed at how quickly everything did brown but be careful, the ingredients could burn so keep an eye on them.

Transfer everything into the biggest pot you have. Add 1 cup of white or red wine.

Also add 2 tbsp of tomato paste (I freeze mine which is why it looks weird), 3 springs fresh flat leaf parsley, 1 broken bay leaf (I used 2 small ones), 1 crushed garlic clove, 1/2 tsp dried thyme and 2 tsp of kosher salt.

Stir in 4 quarts of water and place pot over medium high heat.

The waiting is the hardest part. You do not want it to come to a rolling boil so you have to wait until the bubbles begin.

Once the bubble start, you want to turn down the heat so it just simmers. Simmer for 3 1/2 to 4 hours, adding more liquid if the stock reduced below the level of the meat and vegetables.

I skimmed the stock off and on and wow, look at that broth! Gorgeous!

Strain stock into another pot with a fine strainer. I discarded the vegetables and bones but I held onto the meat. (More on that later.) I waited for the stock to cool down to room temperature and then I let it sit covered overnight in the fridge. I removed the fatty layer and was left with a beautiful elixir.

Foodie Outcome

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Stunning! And absolutely delicious. I could have just eaten it like this with a big spoon. Actually, I did a little, LOL. Earthy and downright magical.

This cost me at least $20 to make but it did end up making a lot of restaurant-quality stock. I divided it up and froze a lot of it for special recipes to come. Is it worth it? Absolutely. Next step? Attempting to make it my Instant Pot!