Chicken, Veal, or Beef White Stock Recipe

By
Danilo Alfaro
Danlio Alfaro
Danilo Alfaro
Danilo Alfaro has published more than 800 recipes and tutorials focused on making complicated culinary techniques approachable to home cooks.
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Updated on 05/20/22
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Prep: 30 mins
Cook: 6 hrs
Total: 6 hrs 30 mins
Servings: 20 servings

In the culinary arts, it's fairly common to refer to a stock as a white stock or a brown stock depending upon what technique is used to make it. It so happens that chicken stock is made using the white stock method and beef stock by the brown stock method. Thus, chicken stock is a white stock and beef stock is a brown stock. But you can make a white stock using veal bones or even beef bones. 

The difference is that when making a white stock, rather than roasting the bones beforehand, they're blanched instead. Blanching helps get rid of the impurities in the bones that can cloud the stock. With a brown stock, it's the roasting that adds much of the color to the stock.

To make this white stock, you'll need a heavy-bottomed stockpot, a mesh strainer, twine, and cheesecloth.

Ingredients

  • 5 to 6 pounds beef, veal, or chicken bones

  • 4 ounces carrots

  • 4 ounces celery ribs

  • 8 ounces onion

For the Sachet:

  • 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme

  • 3 to 4 fresh parsley sprigs

  • 1/2 bay leaf

  • 1/8 teaspoon whole peppercorns

  • 1 whole clove

Steps to Make It

  1. Rinse the bones in cold water.

  2. Transfer the bones to a heavy-bottomed stockpot.

  3. Add enough cold water to the pot to completely cover the bones. Estimate a quart of water for each pound of bones.

  4. Bring the pot to a boil.

  5. Drain and rinse bones.

  6. Return the blanched bones to the pot and again cover with fresh, cold water.

  7. Bring the pot to a boil, then immediately lower the heat to a simmer.

  8. Skim off the scum that rises to the surface.

  9. Prepare the sachet, tying the ingredients (thyme, parsley, bay leaf, peppercorns, clove) inside a piece of cheesecloth with twine, leaving a long tail of twine.

  10. Chop the carrots, celery, and onion.

  11. Add the chopped carrots, celery, and onion to the pot along with your sachet; tie the sachet string to the stockpot handle for easy retrieval later.

  12. Continue to simmer the stock and skim the impurities that rise to the surface. The liquid will evaporate, so make sure there's always enough water to cover the bones.

  13. After 4 to 6 hours, remove the pot from the heat.

  14. Strain the stock through a sieve lined with a few layers of cheesecloth. Cool the stock quickly, using an ice bath if necessary.

Tips

  • The best bones to use for making stock are ones with a lot of cartilage, such as the so-called "knuckle" bones in the various leg joints. The bones of younger animals also have more cartilage, which is why veal bones are so desirable.
  • Always start with cold water when making stock. It will help extract more collagen from the bones, which will produce a stock with more body.
  • Don't let the stock boil, but rather keep it at a gentle simmer. Also, don't stir the stock while it simmers. Just let it do its thing. All you need to worry about is skimming the scum off the top, and possibly adding more water if the liquid level drops too low.
Nutrition Facts (per serving)
423 Calories
31g Fat
2g Carbs
35g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 20
Amount per serving
Calories 423
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 31g 39%
Saturated Fat 14g 68%
Cholesterol 136mg 45%
Sodium 104mg 5%
Total Carbohydrate 2g 1%
Dietary Fiber 0g 2%
Total Sugars 1g
Protein 35g
Vitamin C 2mg 10%
Calcium 27mg 2%
Iron 4mg 21%
Potassium 377mg 8%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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