Preparing stock -- need some help

[AsYouWish]

I'm hoping to make some beef bone broth for the first time, and pastured beef is not so easy to come by so I don't want to mess it up. I've read Nourishing Traditions, but the directions for beef stock sound a little complex. I thought I would just be able to put the bones in the pot and go from there. But Sally says I should put the meaty bones (I'm not even sure I have meaty bones) in a roasting pan (I don't think I have that either....not sure what a roasting pan is : ) until browned and then follow up with a few other steps. Isn't there a simpler method? I am pretty clueless about meat in general, so I don't know if what I have is even right for making stock. Here is what I have to work with:
1.25 lbs of beef shank bones for soup (beef shank center-cut)
1.75 lbs of beef neck bones for soup (beef chuck neck bones)
1 lb of beef rib short ribs

Any advice for this stock newbie? I'd like to have bone broth be a daily part of our life for all of the health benefits and because it appears so cost-effective. Please help! TIA!

[tamagotchi]

Those bones sound good to me. I've never used short ribs in stock... you could always keep them out and make some kind of braise with them (yum!) but they might be good in stock too!

As far as I know, the purpose of roasting the meaty bones is to add flavor. I think the stock would probably be just as nutritious without roasting the bones, but it might not taste as rich.

Meaty bones are any bones with meat on them. All those types of bones sound meaty to me, knuckle bones are the only bones I get that aren't meaty.

For a roasting pan, you can use any deep metal pan big enough for the bones. You want the pan to catch any and all splatters of meat juices and fat, so a cookie sheet won't do.

[RootBeerFloat]

I just recently made beef broth for the first time. I took my bones (I don't even know what they were, just some bones from when our cow was butched) and put them in a glass baking dish and browned them on high heat in the oven (450 degrees until they were brown). Then chucked them in the pot with water, some onion and carrot. Added water to the roasting pan, ran around it with a sturdy rubber spatula, and added that good juicy nummerness to the pan, too. And boiled the whole mess for about 24 hours. It smelled delicious.

I recommend reducing your stock after it's finished cooking, meaning boiling off some of the water to make it more concentrated, after you pull out the bones and veggies. I think this can help make a stock much more flavorful--not to mention easier to store!

[AJP]

I sometimes make beef stock without roasting or otherwise browning the meaty portions, and often I don't even flavor it at all with veggies or herbs or anything. If you want, you can just put the bones in a stock pot with water and a splash of vinegar, bring to a boil, skim off any ugly foam that rises, then turn down to simmer, cover and leave it for 12 hours or so. You'll still get the nutrition from the bones that way, there's no nutritional need that I know of to do the browning or add anything else. This "light" stock won't have much flavor, but good body and mouth-feel, it's great for cooking rice or using as the liquid in soup that will be cooked long enough and have enough ingredients to have its own flavor. For instance, I'll use this kind of stock as the liquid in beef stew that doesn't have a bone in it, or for veggie soup when I sweat onions, celery and carrots in butter, then add the stock and other veggies (usually potatoes, cabbage, canned tomatoes, greens, green beans, summer squash if in season, etc.), and season with salt and other spices.

If you want a stock for drinking, or for other uses when you need the stock to have its own flavor because you won't be adding other flavors, you'd want to brown the meaty portions first and add other things for flavor like veggies. You don't have to do it in the oven with a roasting pan, though. You can do it on the stove top. If your stock pot has a heavy bottom, use it to brown in, use med/high to high heat (depending on your stove), don't crowd the meaty pieces, do it in a few batches if necessary, removing the browned pieces before starting the next batch. Then add all the browned pieces back in, the rest of the bones and water and vinegar, boil, skim, simmer. I don't remember if NT says to put the veggies in for the whole time the stock cooks or not, but IMO it tastes better if you don't put them in right at the beginning, they get a bit funky if they cook for 12 hours or more. I prefer the flavor of both beef and chicken stock with veggies that haven't cooked for more than about 6 hours. Also, you can use wine instead of vinegar as the acidic addition, depending on availability and taste preference (I never measure the vinegar or wine, just splash some in).

You can also make stock in a slow cooker, either browning the meat first in another vessel or not browning, the only drawback being that it's hard to find a slow cooker that's more than 4 1/2 quarts total capacity, which only makes about 3 quarts or less of stock when you account for the space the bones take up.

[AsYouWish]

Thank you very much for your replies. I feel a little bit better about this process. I'm just going to try it and hope for the best. If I ruin it, oh well, right? Trial and error. Things haven't gone well in my first attempts at churning my own butter or in preparing curds and whey. And I survived. And there is still more raw milk to be had, too. Just like there will be more pastured beef when I am ready for it.

Thanks again for your input. I will be referring back to your posts when I try to make the stock this week.