The amazing Italian cooking website giallo zafferano presents this traditional Italian beef broth just perfectly.
I made it the other day and share with you the steps below along with a few tricks to remove most of the fat. The result is a lovely clear broth that tastes and smells amazing!
Note:
- Takes about 20 minutes to prepare and 3 hours to simmer.
- You will get about 1 litre of stock.
- I wrote about their chicken stock here and will post the vegetable version soon.
Steps
- Preparing the vegetables
- Adding the meat and bones
- Simmering
- Sieving the broth
- Freezing and using
Equipment
- 1 chef’s knife
- 1 fry pan
- 1 large sauce pan or stock pot
- Small meshed sieve/strainer
- Fat separator (optional)
- Paper towel (optional)
Ingredients
- ~1kg of the cheaper beef cuts
- ~400g of beef bones
- 2 celery sticks, chopped
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 1 onion, halved
- 100g tomatoes, halved
- 4L water
- A dash of olive oil
- 2 cloves
- Salt to taste
- Black peppercorns (whole or ground) to taste
Preparing the vegetables
- Roughly chop the 2 celery sticks and 2 carrots and add them to the stock pot.
- Cut the 100g of fresh tomatoes in half and add them too.
- Peel the onion then slice it in half.
- Splash a bit of olive oil in a fry pan and cook the onion until it is slightly charred.
- Add the now charred and softened onion halves to the stock pot.
- Add the 2 cloves and then pepper to taste.
Adding the meat and the bones
- Add the ~1kg beef and the ~400g of beef bones to the stock pot.
- Add 4L of water to the stock pot.
- Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat.
Simmering
Simmer on very low heat for about 3 hours or until there is about 1L of liquid remaining. Stir occasionally.
Sieving the broth
- Use a small meshed sieve or strainer to remove the meat, bones and vegetables.
- If using straight away to make a meal, you can use a Gravy And Fat Separator or chill slightly and remove the fat layer as it forms with a ladle/spoon or paper towel.
- If you are not using the broth immediately (and this is my preference), use the above techniques and then freeze the broth.
Freezing and using
When I come to use the frozen broth I do this:
- Scrape off the fat layer with a spoon.
- Let it defrost slowly, you can use a spoon or paper towel to absorb even more fat.
Looking clean:
Enjoy,
PK
Here are some more Italian cooking secrets and uses for stock :
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