Making Beef Stock

This is one for the "not completely successful" files.

On Saturday I started with soup bones from Dittmers that were, unfortunately, pretty well cleaned. I roasted the bones along with carrots and celery and onions; added parsley, bay leaves, pepper corns, and water; and let the whole thing stand at just below a boil for 5-6 hours. After straining it, I let the stock cool overnight and then skimmed it.

On Sunday I brought the stock back up to a near boil and let it reduce for a couple of hours. After tasting it and realizing that it didn't have much in the way of actual beef flavor (though it was a nice broth), I added a quart of Imagine beef broth from WF and let things reduce further.

At some point I sauteed a couple of shallots, added most of a bottle of Cote du Rhone to that and reduced it by about 3/4 over high heat. I added this to the stock and let the whole thing continue to reduce. Finally, after a total of around 6 hours reducing time, I strained the stock and cooled it.

The result tastes good, but it's neither super intense nor very thick. I'm pretty sure I saw signs of a nice gelatine content at various points along the way, but those seem to have been illusory. All-in-all, this was a ton of time for a payout that seems to not be worth it. My previous experiment with just reducing the Pacific beef broth had a better flavor.

We'll see how I feel about this stuff after I cook with it.