Your Guide to Beef, Chicken, and Fish Stocks
Stocks are the base for many dishes and a well-made stock can mean the difference between a dish being good or it being incredible. With all the products now available, from basic stocks to powdered jus that just requires water, I’m not sure how many chefs are even still making stocks from scratch. And if you compare it to the effort involved in the recipes below, anyone could understand why you wouldn’t.
Kitchens are run differently now to how they were 20 or so years ago and there’s tighter restraints on resources and time management, and very strict requirements with cost and labour control. So even in some venues where chefs may want to make products from scratch they’re simply not able to given the circumstances they’re faced with.
I wanted to share the beef stock recipe below as it was one that I manipulated over the years and it creates the perfect balance of flavours and reduces down to a fantastic jus. But I couldn’t end it with just the beef stock so I added some others as well. At first glance it just looks like any other stock recipe but it’s also in the preparation and leaching all the natural sugars out of the ingredients and allowing them to slowly caramalise, contributing a deep colour and rich flavour.
One thing to consider when making stocks, and everyone will have their own opinion on this, is that it shouldn’t be treated as a dumping point throughout the day for excess scraps and offcuts to end up in. It might seem that it’s just adding extra flavour but it can result in a cloudy stock, the taste can become bitter, and it can unbalance the combination of flavours and become overpowered by a particular ingredient. It might start off looking like a trash can full of water on a stove but if treated carefully the end product can be quite amazing.
BEEF STOCK 10 kg beef stock bones
4 sticks of celery, leaves removed
2 carrots
2 tomatoes
1 head of garlic
3 brown onions
1 leek
6 bay leaves
10 peppercorns
6 sprigs thyme
6 parsley stems, no leaves
4 mint stems, no leaves
1 sprig rosemary
750ml of good quality red wine
1. Roast the bones at 200ºC until dark but not burnt.
2. Cut un-peeled carrots in half lengthways and lay cut-side-down with celery sticks onto a baking tray.
Trim leek of both ends keeping only the white and cut lengthways. Lay cut-side-down onto a second baking tray. Cut un-peeled onions and garlic in half horizontally and lay cut-side-down onto the same tray.
3. Cut tomatoes in half horizontally and lay cut-side-down on a third tray and place un-peeled mushrooms on a fourth tray and break apart with fingers.
4. Roast all vegetables at 150ºC until nicely caramelised and dehydrated. The natural sugars and juices will come out of the vegetables and brown onto the tray. Allow it to get to a dark caramel colour but don’t let it go black otherwise it will become bitter.
5. Bring red wine to the boil and reduce until ¼ of the original volume.
6. Place all ingredients into a large pot leaving the bones as the last thing to put in. Placing the bones in last will weigh down the other ingredients which will make it easier to skim the surface and it also provides the maximum opportunity to draw out the flavours.
7. Rub all trays with some water and add to the pot making sure to get all of the colour off the tray into the pot. This is all essential flavour that shouldn’t be wasted. If it doesn’t come straight off you can sit some water on the tray and put it to the side for 10 minutes. It will dissolve into the water. This also includes the trays that the bones were cooked on.
8. Once everything is in the pot, fill it with cold water and bring to the boil. Just before it reaches the boil, skim off anything floating on the top (oil and other impurities) using a ladle or a large spoon. Reduce heat to a very low simmer and cook for 10 hours, skimming regularly.
9. Strain through a fine sieve and refrigerate. Once chilled, any remaining fat and impurities will settle on the top and can be easily removed.
BEEF JUS
Bring the beef stock to the boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Keep simmering until the stock reduces to 1/10th of the original volume.
Other flavours can also be added. For example you could bump up the red wine flavour by adding an extra few hundred millilitres, or even add some balsamic to give it a slight acidic dimension. You could also add some more herbs such as thyme or rosemary while reducing it down. NOTE: An important thing to understand if adding extra liquid, such as the wine or balsamic, is that you’ll get a much better end result if you reduce it down first before adding the stock.
CHICKEN STOCK
There are two ways of making chicken stock depending on the desired usage. One is white and the other is brown. The major difference is that the brown uses roasted ingredients whereas the white is made directly from the raw products.
White Chicken Stock
A White Chicken Stock has a light clean flavour and is good for some soups such as chicken and corn and also appropriate for sauces and braising liquids where little colour is required.
5kg chicken carcasses
1 leek coarsely chopped, discarding each ends
2 large onions peeled and coarsely chopped
10 peppercorns
2 bay leaves
4 sprigs thyme
4 parsley stalks, leaves removed
2 garlic cloves
3 celery sticks, coarsely chopped with leaves removed
1. Place all ingredients into a large pot and top with the chicken carcasses.
2. Cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to a very low simmer and skim the top regularly with a ladle or large spoon to rid of any oil and impurities. Simmer gently for 6 hours.
3. Strain through a fine sieve then refrigerate.
Brown Chicken Stock
A brown chicken stock is richer and deeper in colour and is useful where you require more flavour in sauces and soups.
5kg chicken carcasses
2 carrots, sliced in half horizontally
3 celery sticks, leaves removed
1 leek trimmed of each end and sliced in half lengthways
2 whole onions, sliced in half horizontally
1 head of garlic, sliced in half horizontally
10 peppercorns
2 bay leaves
4 sprigs thyme
4 parsley stalks, leaves removed
500ml good quality white wine
1. Roast bones at 180ºC until golden brown in colour.
2. Lay celery and carrot cut-side-down onto a baking tray.
3. Place leek, onion, and garlic cut-side-down onto a separate tray.
4. Roast all vegetables at 150ºC until nicely caramelised and dehydrated. The natural sugars and juices will come out of the vegetables and brown onto the tray. Allow it to get to a dark caramel colour but don’t let it go black otherwise it will become bitter.
5. Bring white wine to the boil and reduce until ¼ of the original volume.
6. Place all ingredients into a large pot leaving the bones as the last thing to put in. Placing the bones in last will weigh down the other ingredients which will make it easier to skim the surface and it also provides the maximum opportunity to draw out the flavours.
7. Rub all trays with some water and add to the pot making sure to get all of the colour off the trays and into the pot. This includes the ones that the chicken carcasses were roasted on too.
8. Once everything is in the pot, fill it with cold water and bring to the boil. Just before it reaches the boil, skim off anything floating on the top (oil and other impurities) using a ladle or a large spoon. Reduce heat to a very low simmer and cook for 6 hours, skimming regularly.
9. Strain through a fine sieve and refrigerate. Once chilled, any remaining fat and impurities will settle on the top and can be easily removed.
FISH STOCK
There will be many people questioning the addition of the butter in this recipe and I was once one of those people too. Very early in my career, as a second year apprentice, I had the pleasure of working for an amazing and passionate chef by the name of Eddie Basich. He changed my whole outlook and attitude towards cooking and even many years later the things that he taught me that year were still making a positive impact and influencing the decisions I was making.
As a second year apprentice I didn’t dare question the butter thing out loud and went ahead and made it as he recommended. Since that day after tasting the end result, I have never made a fish stock any different because it’s pointless to try and improve on this one. So I’m sharing this one on his behalf, it won’t let you down.
4 large fish carcasses
200g unsalted butter
1 onion peeled and coarsely chopped
2 celery sticks coarsely chopped
1 small carrot peeled and coarsely chopped
600ml dry white wine
4 dill stalks
3 sprigs thyme
½ lemon
Juice from the other ½ of the lemon
10 peppercorns
½ bulb fennel
2 bay leaves
1. Grill off the fish carcasses in a large pot with the butter.
2. Add white wine and cook or 5 minutes.
3. Add remaining ingredients then cover with water.
4. Bring to the boil then reduce heat to a slow simmer.
5. Cook for 30 minutes skimming regularly with a ladle or a large spoon.
6. Strain through a fine sieve then refrigerate.
VEGETABLE STOCK
You can make a vegetable stock using the same processes as above but eliminating the bones. If you’re after a lighter coloured stock then roughly chop up some vegetables, herb stalks, add some white wine and it should only take 30 minutes to an hour once boiled.
Otherwise, if you’re needing a darker stock with some bolder flavours then you can roast everything off first.