How to Make Homemade Beef Stock
A good beef stock forms the basis of many Italian dishes so it is worth taking the time to learn how to make this delicious homemade recipe. In our latest video, Foodie Sisters Valeria and Benedetta prepare their go-to recipe for beef broth from their family cookbook, Il Talismano della Felicità.
Whether you use it to form the basis of risotto dishes, serve it with tortellini or have it by itself as a warming broth on a cold day, real Italian brodo di carne is a surefire way to add flavor and roundness to your cooking. Gently boiling beef with simple vegetables and cloves produces a rich, meaty stock that can be used time and time again. Watch the most recent installment of our video recipe series to get the insider knowhow and techniques to achieve the perfect meat broth which will undoubtedly become a staple in your kitchen, just as it has in ours.
Homemade Beef Stock
For 2 liters of stock:
600g beef
Celery
Carrot
2-3 tomatoes
Onion
Cloves
Salt
Meat stock is a fundamental recipe in any kitchen but to get good results it is important to choose the cut of beef carefully. The best cuts to use for the broth are chuck, flank, brisket, shoulder, and shin. For the optimum result use a piece of rump or thick flank which will produce the most flavorful stock.
For each person, you should estimate about 100g of meat and half a liter of water.
The get a good broth you must place the meat into cold, salted, water (about 10g of salt for each liter of water) and heat over a moderate flame so that the temperature rises slowly until it boils. Cook for half an hour and then add the rest of the ingredients (celery, an onion into which a few cloves have been pushed, a carrot and 2-3 tomatoes), then cover and leave to gently boil for 3 hours.
Generally, you should remove any foam that forms on top of the broth during the initial phase of boiling the beef, before the vegetables are added. However, if the meat is fresh and not too plentiful, and if the water has been salted in advance and the temperature kept moderate, the foam that forms (which is just albumin or protein) will slowly be reabsorbed without the broth becoming cloudy.
Once, after more than three hours of cooking, the broth is ready, use a spoon to scrape off any fat that has formed on the surface and then strain the stock through a cloth or a sieve. This will be easier if you leave the broth to cool first so that any fat has solidified.
Remove the boiled meat and set aside to serve separately with a little fo the broth.
Buon appetito!
