How To Make Veal Stock

In a previous post featured Stocks 101, all about the ease, affordability, and impact of making a great stock from scratch. Since we’ve already covered making chicken stock, the next stock in your repertoire should be a beef or veal stock.

Everyone should make a true veal stock at least once to experience the wonder of the flavor it imparts to a dish. Veal stock is typically used as the base for French onion soup and in meat sauces. Cookbook author and food writer Michael Ruhlman says that veal stock has the “qualities of humility and generosity—it brings out and expands other flavors without calling attention to itself” and this is true. Take a small amount of veal stock demi-glace, swirl it with butter, and you have an instant sauce for homemade pasta. Add shallots to that swirl and it’s perfect over a grilled steak. Veal stock and red wine with butter makes a delicious pan sauce for a rich fish such as salmon and it pairs well with vegetables such as mushrooms or braised artichokes and fennel.

Given that veal bones are more expensive than beef bones and both come from a cow, you might wonder if there is a difference. There is. Beef stock is perfectly fine for a hearty beef stew or a beef and barley soup, but it’s the added gelatin in veal bones that adds that subtle extra richness and silky texture when veal stock is used in sauces.

The tips given in the Stocks 101 post bear repeating here:

• Do not boil-this breaks apart the vegetables and meat proteins and causes the stock to become cloudy.
• In most cases it’s better to keep the vegetables in larger chunks (for the same reason as not boiling above) to keep the stock clear.
• Don’t add salt until the end, if at all.
• Start with cold water, and filtered if you have it, which helps yield a cleaner, clearer stock with a purer flavor. There is science at work here; albumin (a protein in bones) which helps to clarify the stock will only melt in cold water.
• Collagen (also from the bones) provides a natural gelatin and only melts at high temperatures.  This comes out when the broth simmers and gives body and texture to the stock.  When it has cooked long enough and the stock is chilled, it will actually set up firm like jelly .
• The bones of younger animals have more collagen (thus more gelatin) which is why veal bones make such great stock.
• Money saving tip; keep vegetables ends and extra pieces in the freezer in a re-sealable bag. Once it gets full, use it to make a batch of stock.
• Another way to save money is to make a remouillage, a second stock made from the bones used to make a primary stock. It’s a weaker stock but makes full use of the ingredients and can be used to expand the original stock or as a soup base.

Above, veal bones before roasting, and below, after.

Print Recipe

How To Make Veal Stock

How to make homemade veal stock

Prep Time1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Cook Time12 hours hrs

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: stock, veal

Servings: 4 quarts veal stock or 2 quarts demi-glace

Ingredients

• 10 pounds veal knuckle bones or beef bones
• 2 pounds yellow onions
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 3 ounces tomato paste
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 pound carrots
• 1 pound celery
• Bouquet garni:
• 5 cloves garlic
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 ounce fresh parsley
• ½ ounce fresh thyme
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 2 gallons cold water

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Lightly oil a large roasting pan and place the bones in the pan. Cut the onions in half and then into thirds, leaving the skin and base of the onion attached. Place the onion wedges among the bones. Roast the bones and the onions in the oven for 1.25-1.5 hours or until everything is deeply caramelized brown (flavor comes with that color!).
• Cut the carrots and celery into 3”-4” pieces.
• Make the bouquet garni; use a large piece of cotton cheesecloth to wrap up the herbs, garlic, and peppercorns. Tie with cotton butcher’s string.
• When the bones and onions are ready, transfer them to a large stock pot.
• Place the roasting pan on the stove burners on medium heat and deglaze the pan with the red wine, scraping up any of the bits and pieces (the fond) stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add the tomato paste and a cup of water and whisk it into the wine to dissolve the paste. Pour all of this into the stock pot over the bones.
• Add the carrots, celery and bouquet garni to the stock pot. Add cold water, about 2 gallons, to make sure everything is covered by at least 1 inch.
• Bring the water to a low simmer and cook for at least 4 hours. Cook longer, up to 12 hours, for a more reduced, richer stock. Skim as needed. Add water, if needed to keep the bones covered.
• When reduced to the point you want, you can pull the bones out with tongs and place in another pot if you intend to make remouillage (a second stock made from the bones used to make a primary stock. It’s a weaker stock but makes full use of the ingredients and can be used to expand the original stock or as a soup base). For a remouillage you would re-use the bones and cook them again with fresh water and vegetables.
• Strain the primary stock though a fine mesh sieve or through a colander lined with cheesecloth.
• The final stock will be reduced by half of the original liquid and a rich brown color. If you want demi-glace, allow it to reduce the strained stock by half again until it is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.