Beef Broth

So having made prime rib I had some gorgeous bones left for broth. I've rarely made beef broth before, although I make chicken broth all the time and cannot actually imagine buying it ever again. But I rarely cook beef that has bones it seems and it feels funny to pay for beef bones. So I just end up making soups that rely on water or chicken broth for their base. But faced with these nice looking beef bones, I decided to try some broth. I adapted the recipe from The Perfect Recipe: The Ultimate, Hands-Down Best Way to Cook Our Favorite Foods. She recommends using beef shank or chuck if you're buying specifically to make broth, but I am into the leftovers thing...

I started by browning the bones and some fatty pieces of meat plus one onion cut in quarters in a couple of tablespoons of oil. After they were all browned I put them on a plate and added 1/2 cup of leftover red wine from our Christmas feast to the pan, stirring and cooking a few minutes until it reduced to a syrupy looking concoction. Then I added the bones and onions back to the pan, turned to low, covered, and cooked for 20 minutes or so as she suggests, letting them "sweat" for a bit, producing a dark rich looking liquid. I added 2 quarts of water and brought to a very low simmer, left the lid askew, and cooked for 2 hours.

After letting it cool a bit, I used a slotted spoon to remove the beef bones and took the meat from it that was good looking and saved for the soup. I poured the broth into a large jar, straining it through my fine meshed strainer and chilled it in the frig. I had just under 2 quarts of wonderful beef broth and a bit of meat for some soup.