Beef stock

For most people with multiple allergies finding prepackaged food of any kind is extremely difficult, if not darn near impossible. Where as most people who have to eat just gluten-free or just corn-free can typically find something to eat, those with multiple allergies never can. It's true. They never can. If it doesn't have garlic then it has soy. If it doesn't have carrot it has russet potato. If it's tomato free then its cooked with corn oil. Bluch. Why even bother? I say, let's just make everything ourselves! A perfect example of this is beef stock.

Beef stock is one of those basic necessities that every cook needs in there kitchen, it is positively invaluable when making meatballs, soup, or gravy. The problem with store bought stock is that every single one contains pepper, carrots, and soy. All three of these ingredients my mother is allergic to, so in my house we make our own beef stock. Here is how I go about doing this: Here is what you'll need.

Ingredients
3 lbs of Beef Bones
1 Onion
1 Bunch Parsley
1 Celery
Olive Oil
Salt
1 Bay Leaf

First place your bones in a roasting pan, drizzle with olive oil, and then rub the bones with the oil.

Chop the onion into fourths, and the celery into four inch chunks (including the leaves, they add a lot of flavor). Add to the roasting pan and sprinkle all with salt.

Roast for 1:30 at 400degrees, flipping the bones every half hour.

When finished roasting, place all the bones and veg into a large stockpot.

Now place the roasting pan over two burners on your stove and heat just until the pan is hot. This only takes a minute.

 When the pan is hot, add 1 cup of red wine and scrape the pan with a wooden spatula to get all the lovely carmalized drippings off the bottom of the pan.

Pour the wine and drippings into your large stockpot.

Add a bay leaf and the rest of the parsley. Now if you can have pepper, then it would be good to add 5 or 6 peppercorns to the pot too.

Fill the pot with water, put on the stove and heat just till simmering.

When simmering, lower the heat just until you see a few bubbles rising to the top.

Do not let it boil.

Leave it on the stove to lightly simmer for 4-6 hours.

Now go watch a movie. I recommend Julie and Julia or The Three Musketeers, but you know, whatever floats your boat. The important thing is to leave the pot alone. Do not stir. This will make your stock cloudy.

After the 4-6 hours, remove the pot and strain the bones and vegetables out of the stock.

Leave the stock overnight in the fridge. In the morning a thick layer of hardened fat will be on the top.

Scrape this off and throw away.

Now you are ready to package and freeze.

I like using Glad containers for this.

Now you have stock for all of your favorites recipes.

Check this recipe out at Gluten Free Wednesdays.