Why did my brown beef stock end up yellow?
Over the weekend I attempted a brown beef stock for the first time.
I roasted (from frozen) a couple of kilos of beef bones in the oven for an hour or so until they were a deep brown colour all over.
I drained off the fat that had collected in the oven dish, deglazed with water and added this and the bones into a stockpot with an additional 2 litres of water, roughly chopped onions, carrots and celery, a few sprigs of thyme, a couple of bay leaves and a few black peppercorns.
The stock was brought to the boil and then left to simmer for 3 hours over a low heat. When I strained the stock, it was a yellowy tan colour and not the dark brown that I had been hoping for.
What did I do wrong?
Best Answer
The brown color of the stock comes from the cooking method, not the kind of bones, a chicken stock cooked in the "brown stock" method can be as dark as what we expect beef stock to be.
Roasting the bones was a good start; but you also need to brown the vegetables, either with the bones for the last half hour or in a pan on the stovetop.
One of the most important parts of brown stock is to add tomato to the vegetable mix, either finely diced or more often tomato paste. Cooking the tomato to a dark brick red will round out the components needed to make a very dark stock.
Whether you roast all the ingredients together in the oven or separate the vegetables to the stove; deglazing everything as you did helps the flavor, color, and of course makes cleaning the pans easier :)
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What color should beef stock be?
Beef Stock Will Be a Rich, Dark Brown Over the course of several hours, the beef stock will have taken on a rich, brown color. This is exactly what you want.How do you fix stock loss color?
Stock lacks colourCut additional vegetables into mirepoix. The amount of vegetables need to be in advance tothe volume of stock....Stock lacks flavourAdd additional bones and off cuts to the stock.What is Colour of brown stock?
Stock will be dark brown. Skim off fat if using immediately, or let cool completely (in an ice-water bath, if desired) before transferring to airtight containers. Refrigerate at least 8 hours to allow the fat to accumulate at the top; lift off and discard fat before using or storing.What Colour should beef bone broth be?
Marrow bones make your broth a beautiful and rich dark brown color. Grassfed beef marrow bones are more expensive than regular grass-fed beef soup bones, but any bones will work for bone-broth.How To Make a Brown Beef Stock From Scratch (Using Escoffier's Technique)
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Answer 2
Simmer the stock for 6 hrs not 3! This is crucial in order to achieve a dark brown stock with 2 liters of water. Add tomato paste, as it will brown the stock. If nothing else works, just put it on mid - high heat for 30 mins or until demi-glaze is made. Demi-glaze is the only way to salvage it
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