REAL FOOD 101: How to Make Beef Stock

Research on gelatin came to an end in the 1950s because the food companies discovered how to induce Maillard reactions and produce meat-like flavors in the laboratory. In a General Foods Company report issued in 1947, chemists predicted that almost all natural flavors would soon be chemically synthesized. And following the Second World War, food companies also discovered monosodium glutamate (MSG), a food ingredient the Japanese had invented in 1908 to enhance food flavors, including meat-like flavors. Humans actually have receptors on the tongue for glutamate. It is the protein in food that the human body recognizes as meat.
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Any protein can be hydrolyzed to produce a base containing free glutamic acid or MSG. When the industry learned how to make the flavor of meat in the laboratory, using inexpensive proteins from grains and legumes, the door was opened to a flood of new products including bouillon cubes, dehydrated soup mixes, sauce mixes, TV dinners and condiments with a meaty taste. “Homemade” soup in most restaurants begins with a powdered soup base that comes in a package or can and almost all canned soups and stews contain MSG, often found in ingredients called hydrolyzed porteins. The fast food industry could not exist without MSG and artificial meat flavors to make “secret” sauces and spice mixes that beguile the consumer into eating bland and tasteless food.

I like to think of stock as the “real” MSG, but of course I am joking!  It’s more accurate to say that MSG is the Great Homemade Stock Cover-Up.  When you crave MSG, it is your body telling you to eat real food.  You need a real stock for a soup base.  You need real sea salt teeming with minerals.  You need savory stock reduction sauces to ladle over veggies and mashed potatoes.  You don’t need Top Ramen or fast food.  You only think you do.  Don’t be fooled.

I grew up on Top Ramen and other MSG-laden canned soups and snack foods.  I am fortunate that my mom also made a lot of homemade foods for dinner that were much higher quality.  And we really didn’t know any better.  Fortunately there is always more to know!

So you can ditch the packaged foods that say “MSG”, “disodium glutamate”, “autolyzed”, “hydrolyzed”, “citric acid”, or “natural flavors” somewhere in the list of ingredients.  That is where MSG hides, legally.  Put your effort into reading labels at first and omitting these additives from your foods.  Then take the next step and make a stock every week (or every couple of days!)

How Can I Use It?  Beef stock is excellent to make as a base for a hearty stew or for French onion soup.  I have several pounds of beef bones in my chest freezer from ordering an entire cow last fall to split with a few local friends.  Typically there are two kinds of beef bones: marrow bones and meaty bones.  Use a combination of both if you can, but it is not necessary.

And as always, know that stock is incredibly nourishing and healing.  If you are sick, make sure to drink broth.  If you are on the GAPS diet, especially Intro Diet, then you will definitely be making a lot of stock!  A good general rule for stock is to have at least one cup of it per day.  More may be needed for additional healing.

Equipment List:

• large stockpot, lead-free French oven with lid, or a lead-free slow cooker
• large lead-free baking dish
• large mixing bowl and large stainless steel strainer
• half gallon glass jars and lids for storing

Beef Stock

1 1/2 pounds beef marrow bones, preferably grass-fed (buy grass-fed beef and bones here)
1 1/2 pounds beef meaty bones (knuckle or neck), preferably grass-fed (buy grass-fed beef and bones here)
4-5 whole carrots, unpeeled and whole
4-5 stalks celery, whole
1 onion, unpeeled, cut in half or whole
2 bay leaves (buy organic herbs here)
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns (buy organic spices here)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar (buy apple cider vinegar here)
sea salt to taste (buy unrefined sea salt here)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large baking dish, brown the meaty bones for 15-20 minutes or so.  Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes.  Transfer the meaty bones to the a large stock pot, French oven, or slow cooker.
2. In the large pot with the browned meaty bones, add raw marrow bones to the bottom.  Then add carrots, celery, onion, bay leaves, and peppercorns on top of the bones.  Cover with water, leaving at least an inch below the top of the pot.  Add the apple cider vinegar and leave at room temperature, covered, for 1 hour.
3. If using a stock pot or French oven, move to the stove and bring to a full boil.  Then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer on low for at least 12 hours and up to 72 hours.  If using a slow cooker, simply turn on high, cover, and let cook for 12-72 hours as well.  (I put my slow cooker in the backyard in summertime.)
   
4. If the water level gets too low, simply add more to make sure the bones nad vegetables are submerged.  You can see below that after about 24 hours my slow cooker water level was too low and I had to add some more to get the stock through to the next day for a full 48 hours of simmering.
   
5. When the stock is done simmering, turn off the heat and uncover.  Strain the stock through a large strainer and put into a large jar or bowl.  There will be a layer of melted fat on top.  The amount of fat rendered depends on how much fat was in your bones and remaining meaty portions.  In this batch I got several inches of tallow!
   
6. If there is a lot of tallow, simply pour it off (I did in the this one, but couldn’t get it all).  Do this carefully so you do not lose any stock.  Then place in the refrigerator to make sure the remaining tallow will harden.  Then strain out the hardened tallow (and save for sauteeing, deep frying, or even making candles!)
   

*Edited to add: You can reuse the bones in the stock pot at least three times.  Just strain out the stock, discard the vegetables, and start fresh with the beef bones again.  Add new vegetables, cover with water, add vinegar, and simmer another couple of days.  Very economical!

This post is a part of Weekend Gourmet, Sunday Night Soup Night, Sunday School, Monday Mania, Fat Tuesday, Traditional Tuesday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Healthy2day Wednesday, The Mommy Club, Real Food Wednesday, Pennywise Platter, Full Plate Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday, Fight Back Friday, and Fresh Bites Friday.