Veal Stock (Page 929)

RECIPE #956

• Date: Wednesday, February 18, 2009 -- 11pm
• Location: Bloomington, IN
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Dining Companion: Matty
• Recipe Rating: A-
  

I discovered the other day that my local butcher shop sells veal knuckle bones in the freezer section, so I grabbed a bunch of them with which to make this stock. The recipe has a Start to Finish time of 18 hours (including chilling). I figured that meant it would take 8 hours or so to make and then it would sit in the fridge for 10 hours or so to chill. No such luck. Instead, this stock involved about 11 hours of cooking. I still figured that would ok, I would just wait until I was going to be home and awake for 11 consecutive hours to make it. So I waited. And waited. And waited. (Good thing those bones were frozen!) It turns out, I'm not often home and awake for 11 straight hours. On work days there is no way. And on the weekends? Well, typically I go into work most of the day Sunday. And on Saturday I do all the errands and my special gentleman and I do something fun outdoors. My only option was going to be to stay up really, really late one night. But I don't do so well late at night, and it throws me off schedule for a couple days when I stay up past 2 or 3am (yes, I am getting old!). So I gave up on the idea of making this recipe in one eleven hour period. Instead, I made this over two days -- eight hours one day, three the next. My two step approach didn't seem to damage the stock any.

On day one I roasted the veal bones in the oven until browned. Then I put them in a big stockpot with water and the deglazed brown bits from the roasting pan I roasted the bones in. I put the stockpot on the stovetop and brought the liquid in it to a temperature of 190 degrees (a bare simmer). I (bare) simmered it for 7 hours then stuck it in the fridge. On day two, I brought my stock to a simmer again and simmered for another hour. Meanwhile I roasted leeks, carrots, onions, and celery until browned. I added the veggies and the deglazed bits from the roasting pan to the stock and simmered for another 2 hours. Then I strained the stock and chilled. Once the fat had congealed on top I removed it and then froze my stock until I was ready to use it. This stock was very tasty. Veal stock, more than beef or chicken stock, has incredible body to it. Veal bones are loaded with gelatin which gives stock a nice mouthfeel. So much gelatin leached into this stock that at refrigerator temperature it was no longer a liquid -- it was like veal jello! My special gentleman looked at it and said, "That's disgusting." But once it was heated (READ: liquified) he agreed that it was delicious! Veal stock has a less meaty flavor than beef stock (indeed, no meat went into it), which makes it very versatile. I liked this recipe quite a bit. We have used the stock in several dishes already (sadly, we are almost out!) and it added a lot to the dishes. Making homemade stock always pays off big time and this was no exception.

Here is the recipe.