Making Brown Stock at Home

One of the most popular stocks used by professional chefs and more and more home cooks is a basic brown stock. The reason for its popularity? It is the foundation for making a number of sauces including brown sauce, demi-glace, and pan sauces.

When reduced to a thick syrup it is called Glace de Viande. In addition to being critical in sauce making, Brown Stock and Glace de Viande are often used as a base for soups and braises and give any dish additional flavor and color.

It is not difficult to make but does take a lot of time and equipment to make basic brown stock and if you want to prepare a Glace de Viande, it takes even longer. Here is a basic recipe for making brown stock.

If you are not interested in this time consuming process, check out these commercial products now available on line. Are they as good as home made? What is but they are fine substitutes that will save you a lot of time and effort.

BASIC BROWN STOCK
Yield: 2 gallons

Ingredients:

8 pounds veal marrow bones sawed into 2-inch pieces
6 pounds beef marrow bones sawed into 2-inch pieces
16 ounces tomato paste
4 cups chopped onions
2 cups chopped carrot
2 cups chopped celery
4 cups dry red wine
1 bouquet garni
Salt and pepper
16 quarts of water

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Place the bones in a roasting pan and roast for 1 hour. Remove the bones from the oven and brush with the tomato paste. In a mixing bowl, combine the onions, carrots, and celery together. Lay the vegetables over the bones and return to the oven. Roast for 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven and drain off any fat. Place the roasting pan on the stove and deglaze the pan with the red wine, using a wooden spoon, scraping the bottom of the pan for browned particles.

Put everything into a large stockpot. Add the bouquet garni and season with salt. Add the water. Bring the liquid up to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Simmer the stock for 4 hours, skimming regularly. Remove from the heat and strain through a China cap or tightly meshed strainer.

Yield: about 2 gallons

Where To Purchase Restaurant Quality Brown Stock?

Until now, classic brown stock (veal stock & beef stock) was unavailable to home cooks unless they:

Prepared it themselves
Begged a professional chef for some
Settled for a commercial brand loaded with m.s.g. and other chemicals

Now Available at Amazon.com

For years we suggested you purchase these products from a favorite gourmet web site but now that Amazon is stocking this product at prices 35% less, we suggest you buy them here:

More Affordable Brown Stocks Available

Glace de Viande Gold is our favorite commercial product but it may be too expensive for everyone. So we have been finding alternative beef and veal stocks that are less expensive but still very good quality. These include: