Veal Stock - Day 1.

I was finally able to procure veal bones (at $2.99/pound - yikes) so yesterday I started on Phase 1 of a veal stock marathon, if you will. I decided to follow both Thomas Keller's recipe from The French Laundry and Michael Ruhlman's recipe from The Elements of Cooking. Now, I'm very excited about this since I had made my faux veal stock before, using maybe 4 ounces of veal bones that I extracted from a $30 veal shoulder roast, and it turned out to be the ambrosia of the culinary Gods. After simmering, skimming, coddling, and watching for hours over a three day period, I was finally rewarded with 3/4 cup of gastronomic gold.

First, I rinsed the bones in cold water.

Ruhlman's directions called for the veal bones to be cut into three inch pieces, but that's a pain in the butt. I separated as many of the bones as I could but you'd need a chain saw to get through some of them and I had to draw the line somewhere.

These bones are for Ruhlman's stock. I placed them on an oiled baking pan and they're ready to go into a 450 degree oven to roast.

The bones for The French Laundry stock go into a large stock pot.

Fill with twice as much water as bones.

After an hour in the oven, these bones are ready. And if you ever make this, please let me know if you can put all the bones in the stock pot without so much as nibble. I don't think you can.

I poured in about 5 quarts of water and proceeded to Step 1 - blanching the bones.

And set both stock pots over low heat to bring to a simmer very slowly. Probably took about 1 1/2 hours to get to a bare simmer.

Ruhlman's stock on the left. French Laundry on the right.

Every now and then, I would move the bones around, letting more impurities rise to the surface, which I skimmed off. The purpose of the blanching is to coagulate the blood proteins and draw out the impurities. As soon as the French Laundry stock came to a simmer, I removed it from the heat. According to Keller (so it must be true), if you allow the liquid to simmer any longer, more flavor is extracted from the bones into a liquid that's just going to be discarded anyway, rather than into the liquid that's going to end up as your stock.

Yes, you heard me correctly. Discarded. This pained me. Truly it did. Ruhlman's stock, however, is left on the burner to just barely simmer for 10 hours. Yes, 10 HOURS.

Next the bones were washed off in cold water to remove any scum and stop the cooking process. The bones need to be rinsed while still hot, else the impurities will cling to the bones and cloud your stock.

After rinsing the bones and cleaning the stock pot, I added in the water, placed back on the burner, and slowly brought to a simmer. This takes another 1 1/2 - 2 hours just to bring it up to the simmer. Meanwhile, I started prepping the aromatics to add in.

First I rinsed the leeks in the sink to try and get out as much dirt as I could.

Peel back the leaves, cause they're full of dirt.

I sliced the leaks lengthwise and rinsed well.

Parsley, thyme, and bay leaves.

And the rest for the French Laundry stock: tomato paste carrots leeks onions garlic tomatoes

As soon as my FL stock came to a simmer, I added the tomato paste, then all the aromatics.

And the tomatoes go in.

Parsley and thyme.

Ruhlman's on the left. FL on the right. Ruhlman's stock has been at a bare simmer for hours. After adding the ingredients to the FL stock, I brought it back up to a simmer, and simmered away for 4 hours.

After four hours, I strained the liquid through colanders and sieves and cheese cloth.

The pot of stock #1 goes into an ice bath for a rapid cool, then into the refrigerater to chill until the next day, when I start on stock #2.

And here's French Laundry stock #1.

Save the bones and aromatics in the fridge for stock #2. Now, Ruhlman's stock is still simmering away. I started at 10 am. At 9 pm, I added the aromatics.

This is for Ruhlman's stock: leeks onions carrots celery garlic tomato paste thyme parsley bay leaf crushed peppercorns

Heated the stock up again to just below simmering, and cooked for one more hour.

Finally, after 10 pm, I strained the stock.

Save the bones and aromatics for the next day for stock #2.

Ruhlman's stock #1.

Nighty night, my pretties. Sleep well. We'll start over in the morning.