Concentrated Beef Stock and How to Freeze It
Beef stock turns cloudy and greasy if you let it boil hard. A rolling boil emulsifies the fat into the liquid and clouds it. What you want is a bare simmer with a few lazy bubbles for 4 hours, and skimming the foam off in the first half hour.
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 270 min
- Total
- 295 min
- Calories
- 45
Beef stock is the base of soups, sauces and stews, and homemade stock is in a different league from a bouillon cube. And it is made from bones that usually get thrown out.
Method
-
1
Roast the bones
Spread the bones in a tray and roast at 220°C for 35 minutes until deeply browned. That browning is where the colour and the depth come from — stock from raw bones comes out pale.
⏱ 38 min -
2
Roast the vegetables and paste
Add the vegetables and the tomato paste to the bones in the tray and give them 15 minutes more. The paste caramelises and adds umami.
⏱ 17 min -
3
Deglaze the tray
Move everything to a large pot, pour a cup of hot water into the tray and scrape up the browned base, then tip that into the pot. That flavour never gets thrown away.
⏱ 6 min -
4
Start with cold water
Pour in the cold water and the vinegar and leave them 30 minutes before the heat goes on. Cold water extracts better, and the vinegar helps pull minerals out of the bone.
⏱ 32 min -
5
Skim the foam
Bring it slowly up to a bare simmer and skim off the grey foam that rises in the first 30 minutes. That foam is coagulated protein and it clouds the stock.
⏱ 35 min -
6
A long, quiet simmer
Add the herbs and peppercorns and cook for 4 hours on the lowest heat — the faintest bubbles at the surface, never a rolling boil. A hard boil emulsifies the fat and clouds everything.
⏱ 245 min -
7
Strain and reduce
Strain it through a cloth, then return it to the heat uncovered for 30 minutes until it reduces by a third. Reducing saves freezer space and concentrates the flavour.
⏱ 35 min -
8
Chill and freeze
Chill it overnight and lift off the solid fat cap, then freeze it in ice cube trays or bags by the cupful. It keeps for 6 months.
⏱ 20 min
Cooked it? Rate it
Your rating tells the next cook whether this recipe is worth their time.
✓ Thanks — your rating is in.
Tips that actually matter
- A bare simmer with faint bubbles, never a rolling boil — boiling is what clouds stock.
- Roast the bones first: that is where all the colour and depth comes from.
- No salt in stock — you salt the dish it goes into.
- Freeze it in ice cube trays so you can take exactly the amount you need.
People also ask
Why is my stock cloudy?
You boiled it hard. A rolling boil emulsifies the fat and the proteins into the liquid. Keep it at a bare simmer with only faint bubbles, and skim the foam that rises in the first half hour.
Why shouldn't I salt the stock?
Because it reduces as it cooks, and any salt in it concentrates with it. And because it goes into different dishes that each need their own seasoning. Salt the finished dish, not the stock.
How is it different from a stock cube?
Real stock carries collagen and gelatine that give body and depth you cannot fake. A cube is mostly salt and flavourings — it gives you saltiness, not depth. The difference shows up immediately in sauces.
Cook mode
Concentrated Beef Stock and How to Freeze It
-
1
Roast the bones
Spread the bones in a tray and roast at 220°C for 35 minutes until deeply browned. That browning is where the colour and the depth come from — stock from raw bones comes out pale.
-
2
Roast the vegetables and paste
Add the vegetables and the tomato paste to the bones in the tray and give them 15 minutes more. The paste caramelises and adds umami.
-
3
Deglaze the tray
Move everything to a large pot, pour a cup of hot water into the tray and scrape up the browned base, then tip that into the pot. That flavour never gets thrown away.
-
4
Start with cold water
Pour in the cold water and the vinegar and leave them 30 minutes before the heat goes on. Cold water extracts better, and the vinegar helps pull minerals out of the bone.
-
5
Skim the foam
Bring it slowly up to a bare simmer and skim off the grey foam that rises in the first 30 minutes. That foam is coagulated protein and it clouds the stock.
-
6
A long, quiet simmer
Add the herbs and peppercorns and cook for 4 hours on the lowest heat — the faintest bubbles at the surface, never a rolling boil. A hard boil emulsifies the fat and clouds everything.
-
7
Strain and reduce
Strain it through a cloth, then return it to the heat uncovered for 30 minutes until it reduces by a third. Reducing saves freezer space and concentrates the flavour.
-
8
Chill and freeze
Chill it overnight and lift off the solid fat cap, then freeze it in ice cube trays or bags by the cupful. It keeps for 6 months.
Comments
Cooked it? Tell us how it went, or ask a question — we read every comment.