The key to this delicious, rich beef broth is roasting the bones. You're not gonna get this kind of flavour out of a box.
There are few things I like more than soup. One of those things is gravy. And I mean Anglo gravy. Not Italian gravy. Although I do like a good red sauce on just about everything, but for today we're focusing on my brown gravy obsession, not my red gravy obsession.
For years I've been making my own chicken broth. When my mother or sisters get hold of a turkey or chicken carcass they immediately make chicken soup with it.
When I get ahold of a turkey or chicken carcass I throw it in the freezer. When I have so many carcasses in the freezer the shower scene music from Psycho plays when I open the door .. I know it's time to make broth.
You see soup is over and done with in a day. But if you save your chicken bones and meat you can have broth which you can use for months in soups, gravies, pan sauces and a bunch of other stuff.
But it's not so easy with beef broth. I never seem to have beef bones. We eat Prime Rib once in a while, but other than that none of my beef has bones.
So ... I haven't made beef broth since 1992. Or somewhere thereabouts.
So last week when I was at the grocery store I decided I'd shell out the cash to buy beef bones, which just about killed me by the way. No seriously. I almost died. I lost control of my cart around the Olive bar and went skidding into the ground beef display. That's not what almost killed me. It was a small, pinch of a woman who was annoyed I bumped her while she was texting.
So I casually made my way over to the soup bones in a way only someone who just about wiped out can. Red faced and giggling to myself. I stopped laughing when I saw the price. $5 for gunk? Marrow bones and meat shards? I immediately understood the mood of the pinched woman. She must have also seen the price of beef bones.
But I sucked it up and bought 3 packages which equaled around 6 pounds of soup bones.
I made it home incident free and started on the broth.
Making Beef Broth is exactly the same as making Chicken Broth, only there's one extra step.
To get that nice beef flavour in your broth you need to roast the bones. You can do this for your chicken broth as well, but it isn't necessary. With beef broth it is absolutely necessary.
So. Wanna make beef broth? Here's what you need to do.
How to Make Homemade Beef Broth
Gather 6 pounds of beef soup bones, 2 carrots, and an onion cut into quarters.
Roast in oven at 450°F (230°C) for one hour.
Stir and turn bones every 15 minutes.
Gather the rest of your ingredients.
2 or 3 celery stalks, a few sprigs of fresh thyme (or 2 tsps. of dried), 2 cloves of garlic with peel on lightly crushed, 1 tablespoon salt, 10-12 peppercorns, 1 bay leaf, 4 springs of fresh parsley)
I'm still picking parsley from the garden. Notice the snow on it.
Add everything from the pan and remaining ingredients to stock pot.
Fill with cold water until contents are covered. For me this was about 16 cups of water. For you it could be anything from 12 - 18 cups.
Simmer on the stove with lid on for 3 hours. Simmer another hour with lid off.
Strain your broth through cheesecloth or a clean, thin dish towel.
Your broth should be dark. It will also have a layer of fat on the top.
Refrigerate your broth overnight and the fat will solidify on the surface and you can just skim it off.
Don't worry if your broth is like jello after refrigerating. That's from the bones. Once you heat it the broth will thin again.
Now you can either freeze your broth in baggies or wide mouth mason jars OR
you can pressure can it using the exact same process as I showed you for
Beef Broth
Ingredients
- 6 lbs beef soup bones
- 2-3 carrots
- 1 medium onion unpeeled, cut into quarters.
- 2-3 stalks celery
- 5-6 sprigs of fresh thyme or 2 tsps. dried
- 2 cloves garlic smashed, with skin on
- 1 Tablespoon salt
- 10-12 peppercorns
- 4-5 sprigs parsley
- 1 bay leaf
- water
Instructions
- Roast soup bones, carrots and onion at 450 °F for 1 hour, stirring and turning every 15 minutes.
- Drain fat from pan. Add soup bones, carrots and onions to stock pot along with remaining ingredients.
- Deglaze roasting pan and add liquid to ingredients in stock pot.
- Simmer for 3 hours with lid on. Remove lid and simmer 1 more hour.
- Refrigerate overnight to allow fat to rise and solidify.
- Skim fat from top of broth and freeze or pressure can for later use.
Nutrition
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YUMMMMM! Yeah, that's the stuff. Now I'm hungry for split pea soup with ham hocks. Sigh.
Your recipe is wonderful! Roasting the bones makes all the difference. So delicious!
My mother had a way of making her chicken broth especially rich. After getting to the final stage of making chicken broth she would add some oxtails ( and talk about expensive) to the pot. You'd think that would give the soup a beefy taste or color but it didn't. Just depth. No one ever suspected and they loved her soup. But I still tend to make chicken broth without those expensive oxtails. Sometimes I'll pick up a rotisserie chicken on sale from the organic grcery and throw the leftover bones and meat in with any other chicken carcasses I've saved.
Good right? I love the soups made from the scraping of bones...which sounds bad, but really is the best way to get flavour.
Thank you for the instructions. I have never made it, but plan to now.
Now if you add some vinegar to your broth as you cook it down you'll extract all the good minerals and it'll be a great bone beef broth!!!...same for the chicken-the acidity extracts the minerals...try it and you'll be strengthening your bones while you enjoy your broth!!
I love beef broth. I wish my computer screen had a taste function!
I remember the days when beef bones used to be free! It killed me when I had to start paying for them. But it's worth that beautiful flavour you get from "home-made". Great stock for french onion soup, mmmmm gives me an idea for dinner.......
French onion soup is exactly what kicked me into wanting to make beef broth again! The fella doesn't love french onion soup, but I do. To the point that I even bought new french onion soup bowls to go with my new beef broth. :) Yup. ~ karen
Would you be so kind as to one day post your French onion soup method? The whole broiling of the cheese eludes me, perhaps because I have not purchased the proper bowls??? Thank you!
Sara - I don't have a one and only recipe I use. I've tried a bunch of them. BUT ... I have one I'm trying in the next week or two that I'm fairly certain with a few tweeks will be "the" one. Really ... it's all in the broth. I'll keep you updated. ~ karen!
Yay! Thanks! Texas 1015 sweet onions come in season in May. Going to try French onion soup (again!) then! Thanks for the lovely broth recipe!
Do you like cooking with 1015s? I always figured sweet onions don't have as good a flavor when cooked and are best fresh, but maybe I'm wrong.
great tips, thank you! looks delish!
When I make broth of any kind I somehow feel like I am connecting to my grandmothers and early settlers.
I feel so connected. Slow food -- that's what it's about....makes you feel good. (As I type this my cat is snoring.)
Roasting. Who knew?
The artichoke soup update, please? Was it a hit or thrown on the slowly growing pile of life's hubris?
Marti - I would say the soup is good. It's fun to make once because it's a bit of a "master" recipe. I ground my own chicken for the dumplings, had to break down artichokes to their heart, etc., etc., but for the amount of work the pay out wasn't big enough. It was a nice soup but for a similar amount of work I'd prefer my tortellini en brodo. Which I haven't posted yet. It involves making your own pasta and meat filling. Very good though. ~ karen!
Ah ha! Tortellini! Something to look forward to... as I suck down another pot full of Fire Broth! :)
Poop. Now I really want me some soup.
Add a ham bone too - extra good. A couple years ago, I collected ham bones from everyone I knew who had a ham for Easter dinner.
That was weird. But I stil remember that ham and lentil soup from that stock.
That is some good looking broth Karen..I'm planning on making Veggie Soup this month so thanks for the tips..
Oh, Lordy this sounds good. I definitely need to get me some of them there beef bones. How did you stop yourself from eating the meat off the bones when you roasted them? If I can't stop myself, will the broth still turn out as good?
That sounds and looks delicious. I must make some. It'll be so wonderful to not have to spend that horrific price on canned broth. ( I'm a meat cutter by trade so may have access to some bones that won't cost me an arm and a leg) :o)
Thank you so much for this. Yayy
That is the same way I make my beef broth...but without the anxiety of buying the beef bones, I learned to suck it up long ago and put my big girl panties on. BUT, when it comes time to freeze my broth, as well as the baggies and/or 1 cup containers, I also use ice cube trays to freeze broth in. Once frozen, pop them into a ziploc and when you need just an ounce or two of beef broth, you grab what you need out of the freezer and you are on your way... BTW - totally envious of the parsley growing in winter, mine keeled over last fall, on the plus side, I have brand new sprouts peeking up through the soil in my living room window.
I love having frozen broth cubes - I use a silicon tray that makes 1" cubes and they're perfect to add the pan for steaming veggies, de-glazing, sloppy joes...
I reduce the broth first so in a pinch I will use a cube and additional water for soup or stew.
oh, that looks so good. I only tried it once and it didn't have the beefy flavour (tasted much like lard stock). But now I know to roast it first.
Also, I haaaaaaate to buy bones- it makes me crazy. But looking at that broth just may convince me.
thanks for instructions!
(I have a pot of chicken carcass on the stove as I type)
Beef broth doesn't come out nice and clear the way chicken broth does. I think I remember adding egg shells to the broth as the last step to help clarify the broth. The goop runs and attaches itself to the egg shells like magic! Then you just remove the shells and you have a nice clear broth.
Oh, it looks amazing!
Mmm... I make soup everyday and I love them all! I can smell that beef broth now!!