Making Stock from Leftover Bones & Carcasses

Of all of the joys that the last few years have brought us, making our own stock from leftover bones has been the most consistently satisfying. It’s odd how much joy a carcass can bring in this household.

Seriously though, I find myself making stock probably at least once a month, and in the big meat delivery months, it can be almost ‘round-the-clock work, especially when said meat delivery comes specifically with soup bones.

With so many opportunities to test and iterate, I’ve come up with a consistent flow and recipes that may be worth sharing. Most of the work on this is quite passive, and my method for saving vegetable scraps makes it easy to run to the freezer and grab what I need whenever I have a carcass at the ready.

Making a Stock Bag

My main pain point in any recipe is having the ingredients. If you don’t know me well, I should add: I do not like to leave the property, and I especially don’t like to do it to make a grocery store run for one itty-bitty ingredient.

When it comes to stock, the main perishable I risk being out of is the vegetable scraps needed to add flavor. So, following the advice of many an internet guru before me, I started keeping a gallon-sized freezer bag in the freezer with the odds and ends that I cut off vegetables when I’m cooking. Here’s how it works:

I have a freezer bag for onions and a freezer bag for carrots (and someday I will have one for celery but I actually use celery quite rarely). I separate them because I have found that carrot specifically has a strong flavor that I don’t like to add to my beef stock. Having separate bags lets me grab what I want. Label both bags, and add a start month/year.
When I cook throughout the year, I add onion tops and bottoms, and any peels that are quite thick and hardy to the onion bag. For carrots, I add the carrot tops and peels. It goes without saying that I wash all vegetables really well before cutting/peeling. You won’t get a chance to wash them again and the dirt on them will absolutely get in your stock. I’ve learned this the hard way.
Then, when I’m ready to make stock, I just head to the freezer and grab what I need.
After a year of using the bag, I’ll typically get rid of it and start a new for the sake of good food storage hygiene.
A also recommend using the same method for herbs that you’re discarding - especially rosemary sprigs and parsley stems! I use smaller bags for these because I have, and need far less, but the concept totally applies.

Method for Making Stock

Look, there are 100 ways to do this. This is the method I prefer when it comes to managing my own time and energy. Most of the time is passive time, and I get really consistent results. Feel free to use other methods; I think the recipes are solid either way. But hey–if they blow, let me know. (#poetry)

Here’s what I do:

If the carcass is raw (i.e. I cut the meat off the bones before cooking the meat, and therefore didn’t cook the bones), I roast the bones at 350ºF for about 30 minutes. The goal here is flavor, not really food safety. I don’t worry about the meat being “done”; I look for deep brown (not burnt black) colors on the bones and on whatever meat is left. If the carcass was cooked, you can skip this step!
I shove all ingredients (see recipes below!), including meat bones into the crockpot and cover it all with water.
I slow cook it on low for 20-24 hours.
When it’s done, I strain the solids out using a giant strainer set in a giant pot.
Then, I strain it again by pouring it through cheesecloth into a gravy separator. You will need to do this part in batches, as the gravy separator typically can’t handle a huge volume.
I let the fat float to the top of the gravy separator and pour the lovely broth resting at the bottom into my storage container of choice (I am almost always canning this so usually, I’m pouring it into fully prepped canner jars. If you can’t or don’t can, stock freezes really well!).

Recipes

Here are the ingredients I use when I’m using the method described above! Both create really flavorful broths.

Beef Stock Ingredients

1.5 lbs of beef bones

Tops and bottoms of 2 onions from your stock bag

¼ cup red wine vinegar

1 clove of garlic

A sprig of rosemary

1 tbsp of salt

Plus - enough water to cover everything and fill the crockpot

Chicken Stock Ingredients

1 chicken carcass

Tops and bottoms of 2 onions from your stock bag

Peels and tops from about 2-3 carrots (basically a big handful) from your stock bag

¼ cup apple cider vinegar

1 clove of garlic

1 tbsp dried thyme

1 tbsp salt