To make broth I would:

roast the bones, 350, an hour or so, turning after 30 minutes. Last 30 minutes, add an onion, 2-4=ribs celery, 1 carrots. When the bones are browned on both sides, move everything to a stockpot, deglaze roasting pan. Add water to cover by an inch or so, bring to a simmer, let simmer 4+ hours. Remove everything, let rest in the fridge, remove fat cap.

to use broth, I enjoy “steak tips”, beef cut into strips or small chunks, browned, sauce made with onions, mushrooms, beef stock. Or a stew.

I make dog food using beef bones for stock. Add beef, rice, veggies, freeze.

Are the bones meaty? I think you need a good amount of meat to make it taste. How long are they? If a managable length I’d be roasting the bones and eating marrow.

They're pure bone with some marrow, about 4" thick. I'm not wanting to buy meaty bones just to make broth, and I believe those do go into making beef broth.

Jim, I do know of people who make bone broth for their dogs. It's very very good for them.

Marrow is yummy. You can spread it on toast too.

Sometimes I roast first, about an hour at 350, other times just simmer for hours on low with not too much liquid, so it is condensed and after removing the fat, freeze in ice cube trays to store in a bag to use as needed.

Jasdip, don't overthink it. It's just soup. Roasting the bones gives you that nice caramelization and "beefiness", as well as color. If you don't roast the bones, the broth will be clearer, and depending on the vegetables, it could even be white. If you want to eat the first marrow, go ahead. If you leave it in, that's fine. It'll make a fatty scum that's not very appealing but easy to skm off. Traces of marrow can lend richness and flavor. With big bones, just start with more water and reduce later if necessary. If you want more meatiness in your stock, add some trimmings.

I'm jumping in! I added more water since I'm going to be simmering it at least 12 hours.

I stopped after 6 hours.......it had dwindled down to just a few cups even though I'd been adding water and letting it simmer down.

It didn't turn out. It's murky and no hell for flavour. That's twice I'll be making beef broth.......first and last! LOL I don't think it will even make good French onion soup, which was my goal.

I make bone broth in the slow cooker and let it slowly simmer for at least 12 hours for chicken bones and 24 hours for beef bones. I roast the bones first, then add water and only the bones to the slow cooker, and a teaspoon or so of vinegar. Boil them low and slow for the marrow to break down--there's a science behind it that I don't understand. But when removing the bones, they'll crumble apart (I feed them to my dog), and when the broth cools, it's gelatinous. Only then do I add veggies and make soup from it. ETA, I've never been able to extract enough flavor from bones unless I use this method. If I simmer them for just a few hours, I have to supplement with Better than bouillon that I should have just started from there in the first place.

Like Feathers, I simmer my beef stock/broth for 18 - 24 hours, and I start with bones that actually have a lot of meat left on them. I keep the steak bones, the "trim" when I'm making a pot roast, the bone from the center of that roast, everything that might add some flavor, and I stick it in a ziplock bag and freeze it. When I have "enough", both time and bones, then I make stock. I do roast the bones in my electric roaster and then add water and let it simmer over night, and into the next day. When it tastes good it's done. I've never tried to make it with just what the store sells as soup bones here, those seem already stripped bare!

As Feathers noted, the bones just crumble when I'm done, and the broth turns to "beef jello" when it is refrigerated.

That's too bad about your broth, I hate it when I spend time and ingredients and it just doesn't turn out like I think it should.

Annie

Try this the next time you make stock:

Save the leftover bones, etc. after you make stock. Then use the leftover to make secondhand stock again. You will be surprised the second hand stock still have a lot of nice flavor. Use the secondhand stock instead of water the next time you make stock.

dcarch

Yep, that’s what I was afraid of.

While a good homemade stock is superior to commercially canned, I’ve found it far too expensive to justify making.

It looks good to me! I always double strain stock. If the murk is tiny bits, put some cheese cloth across the top of a strainer, and you can run it through both at the same time. If you want to improve the meatiness, chop up some roasted trimmings and boil them into your stock and strain again.

For soup, you can increase the umami with mushroom salt.

Remember, stock isn't supposed to have a lot of flavor. It's the soup you make with stock as the base that has the flavor. Caramelize some onions then cook them down in the broth. Add fresh onions. Add salt. Onion soup gets most of its flavor from salt. Add the salt after the soup is mostly complete because you don't want to reduce it more once you've seasoned.

It's not a fail! It's just not finished.

Agreed, it's not a fail, just not finished.

I have a collection of beef and lamb bones in my freezer that I'm waiting for a good opportunity to make bone broth from. I also try to save collagen-rich material for this as well. If necessary, I'll add some beef intended for stewing purposes too. I add onion, and a splash of vinegar (draws out the collagen, but not enough to taste). I simmer in the slow cooker at least 12 hours.

You could do it with a mirepoix, but I generally don't as I'm never sure when I'm making this if it will be for a European base or an Asian base of flavors (I try to make enough for two or three future soups).

As for marrow bones - if they are cut lengthwise (not something I have the equipment to do) I roast them marrow side up in the oven with garlic and lemon juice over them. You could also add grated parmesian cheese, and dust with chopped parsley at the end. The lemon (you could instead use apple cider vinegar) will cut the fattiness of the taste. Spread on toast, or just get a spoon. (I do the latter.) Not a frequent indulgence, but tasty. Reserve the leftover bones for stock, especially if there is collagen or connective tidbits attached.

A good home-made beef broth will set up in the fridge overnight when done. (Beef jello, as someone in a post above said, just noted...)

Yes, beef jello is exactly what my family calls it. When my broth/stock is done and refrigerated so that I can skim the fat, it looks like this. If it's not jello when refrigerated, I haven't cooked it long enough. I know some people do this in a pressure cooker too, but I have no experience with that.

I am in the camp that it needs to cook longer, and probably more slowly, so you don't get the evaporation that necessitates the constant adding of more water, which waters down the flavor, which then requires more cooking...

Annie

Alternatively, in my experience, the flavor doesn't steam out (though some vitamins do, but they do in water as well, so there's no issue there). Adding water thins the flavor, steaming it down condenses it, like the difference between ready from the can soup and Campbell's. I think what Annie was talking about requiring more cooking is really just getting the new water all fully combined with the condensed soup.

I started cooking when I just had a two quart pot, so I did a lot of adding water bit by bit. :) It worked. :)

Annie I love the colour of your beef jello. Mine did gel into a sloppy thick goop. But I put it in the green bin. It didn't look appetizing at all.

Some recipes said to use 12 cups water, some said just enough water to cover the bones and broth, so I went in the middle :-). I guess I should have used the full 12 cups, I don't know. I had it at a simmer with the lid ajar.

Did you add any salt at all? I have made beef broth with pretty bare bones....no idea how long I cook it but "all day " fills the bill....and into the after dinner hour....why the lid ajar? I usually put the lid on tight nd if it needs cooking down I set it at a boil and reduce it. I add garlic, onions, celery...no carrots as I don't like the sweet in a beef broth ( but I do in chicken broth...go figure!) and things like parsley stems and a bay leaf.....it smells wonderful as it's cooking!
What a shame!! You threw away what was a wonderful beginning to a soup!

Hi Linda,

All of the instructions I read said to have the lid ajar. Maybe that was part of the problem. I put bay leaves, peppercorns, onion quartered, celery, garlic and a carrot.

I *might* try it again sometime in the future! :-)

Jasdip, My beef stock/broth is not made by the traditional methods, but it works for me. I hit upon it my accident.

When I have time, I like to cook a shoulder roast on top of the stove instead of the crock pot. (Shoulder roast here is like a chuck roast, but with less fat.) It is a pot roast, not an oven roast.

I brown the roast on all sides (6), and add quite a bit of water. Bring to a boil and reduce to a hard simmer. I cook until done and almost pull apart. One hour before I want to serve, I add potatoes and carrots and cook until soft. If that is too soon for supper, I lower the heat to a very low simmer.

Since I keep a lot of water in the pot, I quite a bit left. It has made the best beef stock/broth. I measure up in 1 and 2 cup measures. I do not add onion, because hubby doesn't like onion, but if you do, onion would be great, (also celery).

I would have popped them in the freezer until you could collect a few more meaty bones, knuckle, etc. Duck/chicken paws. Mine just sit and wait until I'm in the mood. A rainy day.

Early in the day they go straight from the freezer into a roasting pan. 375-400. Then I can get everything else ready. Start the pot water, bay leaves, peppercorns, celery, leek tops if I have them. Quartered onion and halved head of garlic go in the oven with the bones. (no carrot in my beef broth either).

Bones roast for an hour-ish, onion/garlic have been in 1/2 hour. Then into the waiting stock pot. Time spent barely 20min. Finding preferred roasting pan half of that time.

Low simmer all day. My stock pot has a glass lid with a small hole in the lid for steam release. Rarely need to add more water but I do check.

Oh man, now I want to try it again!!! I'll have to buy some bones now, meaty and otherwise.

Got gifted some beef bones with marrow and feeling a bit lost on what to do?

If there isn’t much meat on the bones, freeze them until you have bones with meat on them or scraps of meat that need to be used up. Brown them all well before using them to make stock.

food......, I feel the same way about making broth, that is almost too expensive to use enough meat to make a broth that has real flavor.

I have tried stewing up bones grass fed ones,at that, but found it not very good . Actually, I just threw it out .I did not like the smell of it. If I buy enough meat to add to it, that is too much meat for us.

However do people get gallons of broth or soup from bones and a bit of meat?

I have found that a good pasture raised chicken will make a nice strong broth. But, of course, not gallons of it! A store bought chicken will not do that. I do make a chicken with broth once in a while, but not beef.

1. If you have a table saw with a carbide blade, cutting big bones is very easy. Bones with a lot of meat will need to be frozen first. Of course you need to be extremely careful using power tools.

2. Turkey makes very good "chicken" broth.

dcarch