Beef Barley stock- was Re: [Sca-cooks] Aha! was Chicken broth

[Phlip]

Ene bichizh ogsen baina shuu...

> Now - I still don't really know what I should do to improve that soup...
> I'm going to try it again in a few weeks, when I have a bit of time
> again. I've made a great chicken broth for years, but I've never really
> made beef broth, as I don't tend to just happen to have a lot of beef
> bones and meat hanging around, and most of my soups have been meatless.

Well, if you can make a good vegetarian or chicken stock, you can make a
good beef stock.

One thing you might be doing, if you actually were roasting the bones, is
thinking it was stock before it was reduced enough, because of the darker
color- It mat well be that all you'd really needed to do was reduce it a bit
more, to bring it down to the 1 lb bones/ qt of stock.

My suggestion, for your stock is as follows:

Get several lbs of beef bones (for soup) or (for pets) from your butcher or
grocery store. Particularly look for the ones with the marrow exposed.
Often, they have them in the back if they don't have them out front- all you
need to do is ask. Roast them in a moderate oven (350) for a while, until
the meaty bits look browned and crunchy, and your kitchen smells like you
have a wonderful bit of roast beast about ready to serve (It's strictly a
smell thing- you aren't trying to actually roast a roast, so you won't be
having it in the oven as long as you would for a roast, but I've found that
smell a more accurate indicator of readiness than trying to figure out
timings.)

Place the bones in a large pot, with water to cover. You can also add
chunked up carrots, quartered onions, celery, etc, but leave the peels on
the onions for extra color, as well as the peels on the carrots and the
leaves on the celery- gives you more flavor. The veggies, however, aren't
necessary.

Let it simmer away, for several hours, just checking occasionally that the
water doesn't get too low. I actually let it cook for a couple of days when
I was making the veal stock for Jasmine's Coronation feast- as long as you
don't burn it, you can't really overcook it.

When you're ready, strain out all the solids and pitch them, and taste the
stock. If it still tastes a bit weak, let it ruduce some more.

When you have it to the flavor intensity you want, take it off the stove and
chill it and remove the fat. That should make you a good stock as a basis
for your beef barley soup.

Note- if you save some of the fat you skimmed off, you can use that and some
of the stock and some flour as the basis for a gravy, when you have a Jones
for mashed potatoes and gravy, but don't have a roast to go with them.

SALT WARNING: I usually don't mention adding salt, because every time you
tell an American cook to add salt, they put 10 times as much in as it needs.
However, if you feel it's done, and it just needs a dab more strength, a
teensy tiny wee-dab pinch of salt will brighten the flavors for you quite a
bit, but I MEAN just a teensy bit, like a pinch, not the shovels full most
Americans will add. A tiny bit of sugar will do the same thing.

Phlip

 If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
cat.

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....