Beef Bone Broth
- Total Time
- At least 5 hours 45 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 1½pounds bone-in beef short rib
- 2½pounds beef shank or oxtail
- 2pounds beef knucklebones or neck bones, or a combination of both (or add 1 more pound beef shank or oxtail)
- 2tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2tablespoons tomato paste
- ¼cup apple cider vinegar
- 3carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
- 3celery stalks, coarsely chopped
- 2onions, halved and peeled
- 1(14.5-ounce) can tomatoes (they can be whole, peeled or diced)
- 1head garlic, excess skins removed, top chopped off to expose the cloves
- 2bay leaves
- 1bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley
- ½bunch fresh thyme
- ¼ounce dried shiitake mushrooms
- 1tablespoon black peppercorns
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place meat and bones in a roasting pan or on a large rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, turning to coat, then brush all over with tomato paste. Roast until browned, 30 to 35 minutes. They don’t need to cook all the way through but to just develop some color.
- Step 2
Put roasted meat and bones in a 12-quart stockpot and add vinegar and enough cold water to cover by 3 inches (about 6 quarts). Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer, uncovered, for 2 to 3 hours. While simmering, occasionally skim fat and foam from the top using a ladle.
- Step 3
Add all the remaining ingredients. Continue to simmer, uncovered, for a minimum of 3 hours. If using knucklebones, simmer overnight, 9 to 15 hours, so the knucklebones have sufficient time to break down.
- Step 4
Remove meat and bones with a slotted spoon or tongs; reserve meat for another use (such as soup). Pour broth through a fine-mesh strainer into a large heatproof bowl. Once broth has cooled, store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
I roast the bones until very brown. Add whole carrots, some plum tomatoes and a halved onion in the last hour. Dump everything into stockpot. Deglaze roasting pan and add to pot. I would also suggest some chicken feet or unsmoked pigs feet or hocks. It bring a lovely gelatinous richness to your stock. Just remember not to add salt.
I have one of those giant square ice cube trays. They are perfect for freezing so you have stock in half cup portions ready for you.
I use the Chinese method of boiling just the bones for a few minutes, then dumping it all out out and starting fresh, rinsing the bones and a new batch of fresh water, bring to boil and add remaining ingredients. All the impurities are gone and there's no need to skim.
I make bone broth all the time. Just follow this recipe and cook for 2.5/3 hours. The only difference is that you get a bone broth that tastes like it was cooking for 24 hours in an eighth of the time
Instead of simmering on the stove overnight an alternative is to cover the pot and put it in a 200 degree oven. In the morning continue on the stovetop.
Lisa, Henry is right. However, my chief reason for not adding salt is that I never know how I intend using it. In addition to soups, I may want a mall amount for a pan sauce or demiglace or sauce espanole. This calls for further reducing the broth. If you've added salt during the broth making stage, you've now over salted. you can always add more but you can't take it out.
As an aside, the finished unsalted broth is surprisingly tasty.
I think this may be the best recipe from NYT cooking. I can never use “store bought” broth again! We call it the nectar of the gods as it is so delicious. It makes the Italian onion soup recipe better than any I’ve had anywhere. I make it and freeze it to always have on hand. Using a combo of ox tale, short ribs, neck, and knuckle bones tastes best. I’ve also found that roasting the bones for 45mins with twice the amount of tomato paste improves the flavor.
From Julia: No. Do not cover. Leave the lid ajar and add extra water to allow for evaporation.
i minimize cooking of fat for odor reasons. the first time i made bone broth i didn't follow any recipe and didn't roast bones nor skim off fat until cooled. my apartment smelled vile for days. next time it smelled vile while roasting, but it wasn't as enduring. now i roast the bones in 2 pans frequently i swap bones from one to the other in order to pour off fat that drains before it volatizes. i also pierce the bone marrow to facilitate fat drainage.
You want to make this. I made it last weekend, and will be making another bigger pot this weekend. Not only did this wholesome broth nurse the family through a nasty cold/flu, the tasty bits were thoroughly enjoyed by the dog. Yes, it takes some time, but really isn't anything worth doing going to take some time? It's worth it. I used bones from the neck, knuckle, tail and 2 random ribs and followed the recipe exactly. Ask the butcher for whatever bones he's got in back. Yum!
Don't boil it, keep it at a simmer and do not cover.
I've noticed that the company that sells Au Bon Broth is using the 'comments' as a way to advertise their product. Shameful.
Totally agree, it's worth the effort and the mess. I will tie up my veggies/herbs in a cheese cloth before adding to broth on next go around. I think that may help cut down on mix mess at the end. I didn't find a lot of taste left in the beef bits, but we did serve some of the tender pieces along with the broth. I could see using it in a pasta sauce just as easy. Everything else (marrow, cartilage, bone, carrots) were saved and doled out as treats for the dog. Do you have a dog?
I have always split the bones first when making a stock like this. An old, dedicated, thick Chinese cleaver, a board, and a hammer does the task well. It's a little messy, but I make about two gallons of stock at a time. I think you get a better extraction than when everything is whole...but, I'm just guessing.
Asian, and other multiethnic supermarkets are much more likely to carry the meat and bones than most American supermarkets. Extraordinarily tasty recipe. A sipping broth, indeed.
What is meant by the solutes note?
I make a lot of stock. This is the best beef recipe by far. Do not skip any ingredients, especially shiitakes. No need to spend $$ on short ribs. Used 6 lbs of neck cut quite thick by butcher and 2.5 lbs oxtail. Using knuckle by far increases the time. Plenty of gelatin here. I roast at high heat 450 for 45 min to get nicely browned along with the veggies. 6 hrs slow roll is plenty and the meat isn’t totally spent and quite usable for beef barley soup, enchiladas, sandwiches or whatever.
Any ideas about what would make this bone broth deeper/darker? Anyone try adding dried porcini mushrooms or roasting vegetables and bones a long longer?
You can do this overnight or during the workday in a big crockpot if you don't want to leave something simmering on the stove unattended. It works just as well.
I added more water than necessary to cover the veggies and my broth wasn’t gelatinous, but maybe bc my meats weren’t gelatinous enough (pork neck bones, beef soup bones beef shank. I used crushed tomatoes and it seemed to contribute to very messy straining and separating fat. Otherwise Really good flavor.
Followed exactly as written including roasting the bones but put in the Instapot for 4 hours on high pressure. Use grass-fed beef soup bones from our local farm. Strain and add whatever veg on hand - or none at all. Lunch for a week!
What can you do with the fat that comes off the bones when you roast them in oven? Seems to good to throw out.
First After roasting the bones with tomato paste until brown I cook with water, salt, pepper, bay leaf in the instant pot for 240 minutes, the max setting. If the bones don’t look a little broken down, I do ANOTHER 240 min cycle. Then I put in veggies and other spices and cook for 30 more min under pressure. This makes super concentrated stock, I freeze it in 1-2 cup portions and it makes any soup or stew magical. Can only get about 10 c of water with several pounds of bones.
Has anyone adjusted this recipe to a 6 quart pressure cooker?
I follow this recipe to a T and it is the most superior broth I have ever made.
I made this yesterday so I could make the Japanese beef soup with it today. After cooking on the stove for about 5-6 hours, I removed the meat and larger pieces of vegetables while they still had flavor and put the rest into my 8-quart Instant Pot for one more hour to break down the knuckle bones as suggested (without losing more of the water to evaporation). I only wish I had saved more of the vegetable pieces with the meat, since the random carrots stuck to the beef were good in the soup.
Love seeing these "new" recipes for bone broth! My Grandparents, born and raised in Italy before coming to the US, raised us on "brodo". My grandmother made it every day, sometimes beef, sometimes chicken with left over meat parts. We had bollito misto every day, I attribute my healthy teeth to all that broth!!
Why do you include 1/4 cup apple vinegar? Is vinegar necessary? I followed a similar recipe (not NYT) with similar vinegar volume, and I tasted it in the final broth. Didn't like it. If I don’t use any vinegar, will the meat still break down?
I made this in the instant pot, used the sautéed function for the first step, added the other ingredients then high pressure for 4 hrs (time may depend depends on the size/type bones you have). I did add a strip of kombu, otherwise I think the ingredients are spot on for a hearty sipping broth.
Please tell me why the bones are roasted before put in the soup pot. Is it for flavor? Does the roasting change the bones in a way that makes them better for stewing in the soup?
I pressure cook for 6-7 hours ! 1 pot on small burner after it's reached pressure. Sometimes I have to stop and open it half way to make sure there's enough liquid (old cooker) . Makes about 5 Ball jars from a large pressure cooker.
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