BROWN VEAL STOCK
ROASTED VEAL STOCK IS SUCH an extraordinary substance that I’ve been writing about it for more than a decade and never tire of trumpeting its wonders. I include it here because it is the purest expression of roasting. It is roasting distilled, the very essence of roasting.
Veal stock is considered a “neutral” stock—especially “white” (non-roasted) veal stock. Veal stock tends to play up and enhance other flavors. For instance, if you add it to chicken stock and reduce the mixture for a sauce, miraculously the sauce tastes more intensely of chicken. Because of this neutrality, veal stock itself also highlights the flavors of roasting, the complex flavors achieved when meat protein and bone are cooked at high temperatures.
But just because it’s neutral doesn’t mean it’s insipid. On the contrary, it’s extraordinarily rich and has great body. Veal bones, bones of young animals, are loaded with collagen, the protein that composes the connective tissue of joints and tendons; collagen breaks down in cooking to create gelatin, the stuff that gives a stock body. Reduced veal stock should set up so solidly you can bounce it on a counter.
The meat on the bones gives the stock its characteristic flavor, and the vegetables and aromatics complete the stock.
Depending on where you live, veal bones can be hard to find. You should be able to order them from the meat department at your grocery store or butcher, or request them at your farmers’ market. Alternatively, you can simply buy a whole, bone-in veal breast, which has a great ratio of bone, cartilage, and meat. The bones are usually soft enough to cut and chop through with a knife so that they can be made into many pieces, thus increasing the surface area, and thus increasing the amount of browning flavor you can get into your stock. It’s not hard to do, but you can ask your butcher to do it for you instead.
Roasted veal stock follows all the customary rules of stock making. Bones and meat are cooked in water that is hot but not bubbling—185°F/85°C is optimal. Vegetables and other aromatics are added during the last hour or so. The stock is strained through cloth, and the fat is removed from the surface. The main difference is that the cooking time is considerably longer than it is for chicken stock—10 to 12 hours, ideally. And even with all that cooking, the bones will still have flavor in them, so many restaurant kitchens recook the bones to make a second stock, called a rémouillage, which they add to the first stock, a technique that’s worth the effort as it can increase the yield by up to 30 percent.
The following is a recipe for a basic brown veal stock. Traditionally, the vegetables are browned, which adds a deeper color and flavor to the stock, but it’s a step I usually don’t trouble with; I find the stock is complex enough without caramelizing the vegetables.
1 (4-pound/1.8-kilogram) veal breast or 4 pounds/1.8 kilograms meaty, cartilaginous veal bones
3 large carrots, cut into large dice
1 large Spanish onion, cut into large dice (if the papery brown skin is clean, include this as well)
5 to 10 garlic cloves
¼ cup/60 grams tomato paste
2 teaspoons black peppercorns, lightly crushed in a mortar or beneath a sauté pan
3 bay leaves
MAKES 2.5 QUARTS/LITERS
- PREHEAT the oven to 425°F/220°C (use convection if you have it).
- CUT the veal breast into 2- by 3-inch/5- by 7.5-centimeter pieces. On a baking sheet, ARRANGE the pieces so that there’s plenty of space between them to allow for good circulation. ROAST them until they are golden brown and look like they’d be delicious to eat (and they would be), 30 to 45 minutes. REDUCE the oven temperature to 200°F/95°C (without convection).
- CHOOSE a pot that will hold the meat and bones snugly in two layers and COVER with about 4 inches/10 centimeters of water. PLACE the pot, uncovered, in the oven for 10 to 12 hours. If possible, CHECK the water level midway through the cooking to ensure that the bones are covered. If they aren’t, ADD more water.
- REMOVE the pot from the oven. ADD more water to cover the bones by a couple of inches if it has cooked down. ADD the carrots, onion, and garlic (SAUTÉ the vegetables until caramelized first, if you wish, adding the tomato paste toward the end and cooking that as well), along with the remaining ingredients. ADD more water as necessary. BRING the pot just to a simmer over high heat, REDUCE the heat to low (the pot should be too hot to touch, but the water should not be bubbling), and COOK for 1 hour.
- STRAIN the stock through a colander, basket strainer, or chinois. (If you intend to make a rémouillage, DISCARD the vegetables and PUT the bones back in the pot, COVER them with water, and COOK them again in a 200°F/95°C oven or over low heat on top of the stove for 6 hours, and ADD this to your stock. STRAIN the stock again through cloth.)
- CHILL the veal stock completely and LIFT the fat off the surface. The stock will keep refrigerated up to 1 week or frozen up to 3 months.
Step 1. A bone-in veal breast is the perfect cut for making roasted veal stock, one of the magical ingredients of the kitchen.
Step 2. Slice through the bone and cartilage where you find natural seams.
Step 3. Cut the veal into pieces to increase surface area.
Step 4. More browned surface results in more roasted flavor.
Step 5. Roasted veal bones are held in hot but not bubbling water, 185° to 190°F/85° to 88°C, for 10 to 12 hours.
Step 6. Aromatic herbs and vegetables are added at the end of the cooking for flavor and sweetness.
Step 7. The stock is strained of the bones and vegetables, then strained through cloth.