Taking stock of stocks

What is a stock you ask?
Well, loosely defined, a stock is a strongly flavored liquid used as a base for a great many soups and sauces. Any chef will tell you that in order to make a truly great soup, you need to start with a truly great stock.  In this post I am going to show you how to make a truly great stock.

In this day and age, stocks have  become a thing of the past. The reason for that is, for many places, they are not cost effective, and they can be quite labor intensive( a good beef stock takes  8 hours from start to finish. More on that later). It's unfortunate, but when it is about the bottom line in an extremely competitive market you need to do what you can.  But I maintain that if you are going to do something, then damn it, do it right.

There are 4 main stocks that a lot of the finer places use: Beef stock, Chicken stock,  Fish stock, and Vegetable stock.  Let's start with a beef stock.

These are the items that you will need:  A heavy  8 liter soup pot, a large( not too large, you need to fit it in your oven) roasting pan,  ladle,and  a good knife. These can be found on my website http://www.culinaryideals.com  You will also need a good cutting board if you don't already have one.
Here are the primary ingredients that you will use:

2 kg of quality beef soup bones cut about 1 1/4". these are available at your butcher shop or meat section of your favorite grocery store and usually run about 2 bucks a kilo.
3-4 carrots. Clean, but don't worry about peeling them
4-5 stalks of celery, clean
1 large onion. Again, don't worry about peeling it
4-5 Bay leaves
a small handfull of whole black peppercorns
a small can of tomato paste
your favorite red wine

Set your oven to 400
Put your bones in your pan with a very small amount of oil and let them roast until nicely browned. Stir occasionally with your spoon. While the bones are roasting, cut your vegetables. They don't need to be perfect, just cut into chunks small enough for your pot and pan. When the bones are nice and brown, add your vegetables and roast some more, stirring occasionally to avoid burning.  When the vegetables are tender, add your tomato paste and stir to distribute the paste evenly. At this point it is crucial to keep an eye on it as tomato paste has a nasty habit of burning quickly, and that can ruin your stock.  Once the paste is sufficiently cooked( it usually becomes slightly darker), hit it with the red wine and stir.
After that you transfer all ingredients, being careful not to burn yourself, to your large soup pot and fill with cold water. Place on the stove and bring to a boil.  As it is warming up and coming to a boil, an amount of "scum" will rise to the surface. Don't worry, this is just fat and bone particles, and is normal.  With your ladle, skim the scum off the surface without taking any liquid.  Add your bay leaves and peppercorns and let boil.  Once it has reached a boil, turn it down and let it simmer and "reduce" for 8 hrs.  As it reduces, it is a good idea to keep an eye on it so that it doesn't boil down and expose the bones.  If that happens, simply add more water.  Not too much, you don't want to extend an already long process. After 8 hours, you will want to strain your stock through a colander or a "china cap" strainer.  What you should be left with, is a rich, brown liquid that is full of flavor.  Allow it to cool and place in the fridge.
See? That wasn't so hard, was it?