Valerie's Veal Jus Cubes
This is a two day process and quite labour intensive at specific times; however, the cubes of golden jus frozen will delight your family throughout the year and the effort is well worth it.
Servings: 2 quarts
Ingredients
- 10 pounds veal bones (I had 11.6)
- About 8 quarts of water (I didn't measure, I just covered the bones four times)
- 1 pound onion (I used 2 a little over a pound), roughly chopped (skins, too)
- 1 pound of leeks , minced (3-4 leeks: I used 4 cups of minced leeks)
- 250 g or 8 ounces of carrots , minced
- 1 head garlic , all skin removed, roughly chopped
- 1/2 ounce or 15g of fresh thyme
- 1 1/2 ounces or 25g fresh flat leaf parsley (less than a bunch)
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon black peppercorn
- 1 small can of tomato paste
Instructions
- Roast bones on parchment covered cookie sheets at 425°F for an hour, turning and moving in oven every 20 minutes, until golden brown (do not char the bones)
- Place onion in a 14-quart stockpot; add veal bones and scrape in all drippings from parchment paper, avoiding fat (use 2 pots if you don't have a large one)
- Cover bones with water and bring to a simmer over medium high heat: skim, skim, skim
- After simmered about 30 minutes and well skimmed, add remaining ingredients; mix well
- Stir occasionally; skim as needed (much easier to skim before aromatics are added, so try to get that done well, during first 30 minutes)
- Reduce heat to low as soon as coming to a simmer; partially cover pot, adjusting heat as needed to maintain gentle simmer: never boil
- Simmer 8 hours longer
- Cool stock in sink filled with cold water and ice cubes (I set mine in snow)
- When cool, (next day, even) skim fat off surface; strain through a fine-mesh sieve into 2 smaller pots
- Bring each to a simmer over medium-high heat and simmer for about 1 hour, or until reduced to 2 quarts
- Strain again using fine sieve or cheese cloth over coarser sieve; cool to room temperature
- Refrigerate, uncovered, until cold; cover and refrigerate for up to 1 week, or freeze in ice cube trays
- Remove from trays, pack well into freezer ziplock bags and use as needed