If caribou stock has turned up in a recipe or caught your eye at the store, here's what you need to use it with confidence and how to choose it, cook it, store it, what to substitute, and 1 recipe to try it in.

What is caribou stock?

Caribou stock is a game stock made by simmering caribou bones, usually from a leg or shoulder, with vegetables and herbs. Caribou is the wild North American cousin of reindeer, and its bones give a lean, clean-tasting stock that carries a quiet wild edge without much fat.

This is a stock of the north. In Alaska, northern Canada, and across the subarctic, a caribou taken in fall becomes meat for the winter, and the bones go into the pot rather than the bin. The result is a thin but deeply savory liquid built for sauces and braises.

Compared with venison stock, caribou runs milder and a touch sweeter, since caribou meat is less musky than most deer.

How to Use It

Reach for caribou stock when you are cooking the rest of the animal. It is the right base for braising caribou shanks, for a stew of the tougher cuts, or for any sauce meant to go back over wild game.

A classic move is to build a red-wine pan sauce on it, the way Bordelaise Sauce for Game does, where the lean stock takes on the shallot and wine without muddying them.

It also stands in for beef stock in a winter soup when you want something gamier and less fatty.

Cooking & Pairing

Roast the bones hard before simmering. Lean game bones carry little fat to brown, so a deep roast in a hot oven is where most of the color and flavor come from.

Caribou loves the flavors of the cold country it comes from. Juniper, bay, black pepper, and a few crushed allspice berries suit it, and a splash of red wine or a spoon of red-currant jelly rounds the gaminess.

The usual mistake is treating it like beef stock and skipping the skim. Because it is so lean, the little fat there is rises fast and can taste tallowy if left in, so skim early and often, then chill and lift the cap before use.

Substitutes

Venison stock is the natural stand-in and the closest in character, just a little stronger and more musky. Elk or moose stock works the same way if you have it.

Failing any game stock, use a good beef stock and add a few juniper berries and a strip of orange peel while it warms, which nudges it toward the wild side. It will not be caribou, but it suits game dishes far better than plain beef stock alone.

Buying & Storage

You will not find caribou stock on a shelf; it comes from a hunter's freezer. Save the leg and neck bones when you butcher, since the joints hold the most connective tissue and give the stock its body.

Like any stock, treat it gently once made. It keeps three to four days in the fridge and several months frozen.

A lean game stock sets only to a soft jelly, not a firm one. So do not judge it by how stiff it gets cold; judge it by the depth when you reduce a ladle in a pan.

Quick facts

In Chinese

驯鹿股票

British (UK) term

Caribou stock

en français

caribou stocks

en español

caribú Stock

Recipes using caribou stock

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