How To Make Beef Stock and A Killer Beef and Barley Soup

Making your own beef or chicken stock is really easy.  All it takes is a few basic ingredients and time.  I keep bags with onion peels, carrot and celery scraps in my freezer.  Whenever I'm cooking dinner and use any of these items, I just add the scrap pieces to the bag.  Over time, I have enough to make stock.  

When I order my local beef, I always have a few packages of soup bones.  Today, that's what I used to make my stock, but you can use any leftover beef bones, from steaks or roasts that you've cooked.  Just keep them in the freezer in a bag, just like the vegetables, until you're ready to use them.

Raw meat does not a pretty picture make, but I wanted you to see the whole process.  I started out with cold water and added the soup bones to the pot.  Some proteins only dissolve in cold water and albumin is one of them.  Albumin helps clarify the stock, and that means it looks nicer when you're finished.  Just a little stock trivia for you.

I added the rest of the contents of my vegetable crisper to the veggies in the freezer bags. Carrots, celery and onion are the makings of mirepoix, which are the flavorings for stocks and lots of other wonderful foods.  Here's a more detailed article about mirepoix (in case your interested).   Real, honest to goodness, chef people, would use exact proportions of these three depending on the type of stock they were making.  Frugal homemakers like me just use what they've got.

Now you pretty much forget about it and just let it cook for a long time.  The flavors blend and the liquid will concentrate and after a few hours (or more) on a low temperature it will be done.  I was running short on time today and wasn't able to cook this as long as I would've liked, but this is what I ended up with after straining all the meat and vegetables - almost three quarts of stock.  I put it in the refrigerator overnight and used it the next day to make soup.  You can see the layer of fat that accumulates on the top.  Just take that right off before using.

The next day:  I cut up a piece of sirloin into chunks.  Again, sorry about the raw meat picture, but this is actually some really pretty meat (as meat goes).

I browned it in a little oil in my dutch oven.

Then I added my beef stock

and barley, along with some water and let it cook for about an hour.  

Next I chopped up celery,

carrots and onions (aka, mirepoix) and added them to the pot.

After another forty-five minutes of cooking time, the veggies and meat were fork tender and I stirred in some frozen green peas.  I loved this soup!  It was hearty and absolutely perfect for dinner on a cold evening. With a rustic loaf of bread, you've got a meal that sticks to your ribs.  You can get the recipe here if you'd like to try it yourself.  

The leftovers were even better the next day...