Can I make beef stock with JUST meaty rib bones?

[Astrea]

I need to make my first batch ever of beef stock this week.  The recipe in Nourishing Traditions and Eat Fat, Lose Fat calls for 4 lbs beef marrow and knuckle bones, and 3 lbs meaty rib or neck bones.  Do I need to go get marrow or knuckle bones, or can I just use 7 lbs meaty rib bones?

Also, as a sidenote, holy crap, how much does this beef stock end up costing?  That's a LOT of bones.  How much stock do you end up with?

[Brendalee]

Okay, this is just guessing, but I think you'll get more gelatin out of the marrow/knuckle bones. Sooo...you might be able to sub it by using 5-7lbs of rib bones & some extra gelatin.  IIRC, it's recommended in NT (which is what I have; I haven't picked up EFLF yet, but I think the stock recipes are essentially the same) to add powdered gelatin to the chicken stock if you can't get chicken feet &/or necks for your stock; why not for the beef stock?

To be completely honest, though...I don't have that kind of money to be making beef stock with 7lbs of beef bones; they charge $4/lb for the freakin' beef bones @ my local Whole Foods, and WF is the only place I can FIND beef bones (& even then, it's hit or miss if they have "beef bones for soup" in the little frozen section near the meat counter).  I get between 1-3 lbs of whatever bones are available & some stew meat.  I make a smaller amount of stock at a time (mostly because I don't have a huge stock pot anyway) & use the (meaty) bones I can get & some of the stew meat.  Then I make a beef soup with various stuff I happen to have around.  I also add a decent amount of veggies to my beef stock when I'm making it.  I don't have the $$ kickin' around to make the chicken stock the way Sally recommends, either; I was taught as a youngster that making stock was a way of using up every last bit of the animal, so making stock with an entire roaster chicken seems counter-productive.

If I were you, I'd buy what stock bones I could afford & add more veggies for added nutrients; that is the way I do it, actually.  I also have a container that I keep in the freezer for "veggie bits" - ends & scrapings & leftovers or whatever get thrown in it, and when I make another stock (chicken or beef), it gets tossed in the pot as well.  Waste not, want not & all that jazz.  Actually, I'm just cheap & broke.  ;)

My Whole Foods ticks me off...they charge $1-2/lb for chicken soup bones (things like necks & feet) & recently they had a huge container filled with ground chicken necks & *something I can't remember* for "pet food" that I believe was $2-3/lb. Um, hello...aren't these throwaway parts?  I mean, $1/lb isn't too bad, but $4/lb for the beef bones that they'd normally just throw away?  I need to see if there's a local butcher or something around. Maybe the farm I get my milk from can give me some leads as well.  I love me some homemade beef stock, but at $4/lb for just the bones...I can't afford it.  And I vastly prefer the beef to the chicken!  *LOL*

[SandraMort]

Yeah, I don't really see the need for that many bones.  I use what I have and it always comes out properly gelled.  I'm not sure why they say to use so many.  If you cook your meat first, then use the cooked bones, it comes out better anyway.  IMO.

[Astrea]

Thanks, that's what I was hoping to hear.  For chicken stock I just save bones and carcasses and random veggie scraps (even apple cores and lemon rinds!) and dump everything in a big pot with some vinegar when I have a big bag full, and then simmer all day and strain.  That's pretty much what I was hoping to do for my beef stock too (only I never have leftover beef bones, so I'm using purchased meaty bones from my meat supplier). 

Can anyone guesstimate for me a good bones-to-water (pounds to cups) ratio to get a flavourful broth that is still frugal?

[SandraMort]

Yes, that should work for beef bones as well.  As for ratios, I don't bother.  If it cooks a while and is too weak, I cook it down some more.  If it's too strong, I add more water.