The Espagnole sauce for the Mother Sauces project calls for brown stock.  So, I decided to make my own from scratch.

I make a lot of chicken stock.  Whenever I roast a chicken (usually once a month or so), I make stock from the bones.  I also save onion and garlic skins, carrot peels, celery tops, etc. to add to the stock pot.  I tie the vegetable trimmings in a piece of cheese cloth and toss them in.  I just use what I happen to have on hand, and then add in a bay leaf and some peppercorns.  But, this brown stock is specific to the espagnole sauce, and so I will make a ‘proper’ brown stock. I followed the Spruce Eats recipe.

First, bones.  You want either beef or veal bones. Typically, you want something with good cartilage, as that is what gives the stock the body.  The only bones available were marrow bones, so I decided to use some ox tails as well. (So technically, I guess I am making broth as a broth is made with meat and vegetables and a stock is bones and vegetables.  Whatever, I’m using plenty of bones.)

Because this is a brown stock, the bones need to be roasted.  A white stock is made with raw bones.

Next, we need to add vegetables.  In this case, mire poix.  Mire poix is a mix of onions, carrots, and celery in a 2-1-1 ratio. That is 2 parts onion, 1 part carrot and 1 part celery.  It is frequently used in French (and really most of western) cooking.  (Cajun cooking uses the holy trinity – onions, bell pepper and celery in a 1-1-1 ratio.) Brown stock also calls for roasted mire poix. Halfway through roasting the bones, I added the mire poix to the bones and let it roast for another half hour.  The Spruce Eats recipe also calls for some tomato to be added to the roasting bones and vegetables, but I didn’t do it.

 

Once the bones and vegetables are roasted, I put them in my stock pot and add enough cold water to cover the bones.  I also added an herb sachet of garlic, bay leaves, parsley, peppercorns and thyme, some tomato paste, and two capfuls of apple cider vinegar.  Now, the recipes I read said that brown stock required some tomato product because it adds acid and that helps bring out the collagen and gelatin.  My mother always added apple cider vinegar because it would bring out the collagen and calcium when making stock.  So, I am adding apple cider vinegar in addition to the tomato paste.

When I make stock, I usually put the bones and the cheesecloth packet of vegetable trimmings in crock pot, add water and let it go for about 8-10 hours. If I’ve put off making stock (saving the bones in the freezer until I have 2 chickens’ worth of bones, I’ll put it in the stock pot, bring to a boil, turn down the heat, and leave it for about 3-4 hours.   I’ll check it occasionally in both situations to make sure the water still covers the bones and to skim off a little of the foam that forms on the top, but otherwise I ignore it.  This recipe, however, says you should not let it boil, just simmer. *sigh*

My experience is that if I bring something to a boil on the stove, then turn it down, it will start boiling again before too long – not a rolling boil, but definitely more than a simmer.  To keep this stock from boiling, I have to babysit the stock pot and occasionally turn off the heat, let it stop boiling, then turn the heat back on.  It was very fiddly, and I can’t tell the difference between this stock and what I usually make.

Note that one thing I have not added is salt.  I never add salt when I make stock.  Stock is intended to be an ingredient and it is often reduced.  If you reduce a stock with salt, the liquid evaporates and leaves the salt behind which can result in an overly salty final product. Therefore, I never add salt when making a stock.

Anyway, once the stock had taken on a nice color, I took it off the heat and strained it.  I normally strain my stock, but not through cheesecloth.  Because the recipe called for straining through a cheesecloth, I did it this time.

I strained the stock into a metal dutch oven that I placed in the sink with ice water.  This is recommended in the recipe but is something I do anyway.  This is a food safety issue.  If you just stick 6 quarts of hot liquid in the refrigerator, it isn’t going to cool quickly enough. It’s also going to raise the temperature in your refrigerator.  So, instead, the dutch oven is placed in the sink; I strain the stock into it and then when the water in the sink warms, I drain it and replace with cold water until the stock is room temperature.  I also stir the stock to make sure all of it is cooling. Then I put it in the refrigerator and leave it overnight.  The next day, I skim off the fat.  It will have risen to the top and you can almost lift it off the stock.  This stock is nicely gelatinized, but I don’t think it is better than my usual method.

I did the stock this way because we are doing “a project” for the mother sauces and it was fun to try the official, proper method.  It reminded me that Escoffier and many French cooking texts are really aimed at professional, restaurant chefs.  They can make sure a stock doesn’t boil and only simmers because that’s what they do.  They aren’t making stock while also cleaning the house or writing a paper for work.  They can do fiddly things like start the bones roasting, then add mire poix, then add some tomato, etc. because that’s their job.  In the future, I’ll make stock the way I have always done it, put bones and vegetable trimmings in the pot and just check it occasionally.  I can’t tell the difference anyway.