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Beef stock

What is beef stock? About the ingredient beef stock. Including 1,060 recipes with beef stock, nutrition data, where it's found, and video.

About

Beef stock, bouillon, or beef broth is a flavoured water preparation made by simmering various ingredients in water, including some or all of the following. Beef, leftover cooked meat, is often used along with beef bones.

Fresh meat makes a superior stock and cuts rich in connective tissue such as shin or shoulder of beef or veal are commonly recommended, either alone or added in lower proportions to the remains of cooked poultry to provide a richer and fresher-tasting stock. Quantities recommended are invariably in the ratio of 1 part fresh meat to 2 parts water.

Bones

Veal and beef bones are most commonly used. The flavour of the stock comes from the cartilage and connective tissue in the bones. Connective tissue has collagen in it, which gets converted into gelatin that thickens the liquid.

Stock made from bones needs to be simmered for longer than stock made from meat. Pressure cooking methods shorten the time necessary to extract the flavour from the bones.

Mirepoix

A combination of onions, carrots, celery, and sometimes other vegetables. Often the less desirable parts of the vegetables (such as carrot skins and celery ends) are used since they will not be eaten.

Herbs & Spices

The herbs and spices used when making beef stock depend on availability and local traditions. In classical cuisine, the use of a bouquet garni (or bundle of herbs) consisting of parsley, bay leaves, a sprig or two of thyme, and possibly other herbs, is common.

This is often placed in a sachet or tied together to make it easier to remove once the stock is cooked.

Today, ready-made stock and stock cubes consisting of dried, compressed stock ingredients are readily available. These are commonly known as bouillon cubes in the US or oxo cubes, after a common brand of stock cube sold in Britain or cooking base.