You can use beef stock in all sorts of sauces from ordinary beef gravy to the classical French Marchand du Vin and veal stock is considered the king of stocks adding richness and depth, but little flavor of it's own, to a world of sauces. I can only occasionally find beef soup bones at the supermarket but there's a local meat processor with a retail outlet that always has bones and plenty of them (I haven't found a local source for veal bones). A special trip is justified.
You will find a general tutorial on making stock in this article on Homemade Stock and I suggest reading it before starting.
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 8 hours
Total Time: 8 hours, 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 4 lb. beef soup bones (and ox tails if available)
- or 4 lb. veal bones
- 6 oz. tomato paste (optional)
- 1 1/2 lb. onions; peeled and quartered
- 1/2 lb. carrots; peeled and broken up
- 1/2 lb. celery stalks (including greens); broken up
- Small bunch of parsley
- 3 bay leaves
- 12 whole pepper corns
Preparation:
If roasting…
1a. Heat oven to 375 degrees.
1b. Smear bones with tomato paste and roast the bones until browned - about 45 minutes.
2. Place all ingredients (except pepper corns) in an 8-quart stock-pot and add water to within 2-inches of the top.
3. Place over high heat, partially cover and bring just to a boil - but don't allow to boil. Immediately begin reducing heat to maintain a gentle simmer (it will take about an hour to gradually reduce heat to low). During this period skim off any foam that accumulates on the surface.
4. Add pepper corns and simmer for 3 - 11 hours more adding additional liquid if needed to keep all ingredients covered.
5. Strain out solids through a colander, then pour stock through a sieve lined with doubled cheese cloth to filter out small solids.
6. Cool, then refrigerate overnight.
7. At this point you will have a pot of gelatin with a layer of fat on top. Skim off the fat and discard.
Again, please read Homemade Stock. It may answer most of your questions.