Stock is a savoury tea: flavour and gelatin pulled from bones and vegetables into water, then concentrated.
Every stock on this site follows the same five steps: roast, extract, lift out the solids, reduce, strain. The roast sets the colour, the reduction sets the strength, and only the extraction time changes. Bigger, denser bones take longer to give up their gelatin. No bones, no wait.
The steps
Prep (optional). Wash the vegetables before peeling, and taste any peels before they go in. Cut roughly, or slice thin (a mandoline helps) for a darker, sweeter roast.
- Roast at 200–230°C (400–450°F), tossed with a couple of tablespoons of oil, until deep brown but not burnt, 30–45 minutes. Flip halfway, and scrape the fond into the pot. Why: the roast sets the colour and most of the flavour.
- Extract. Cover with water (4–5 L in a 6 L pressure cooker), add the peppercorns and herbs, and hold at a gentle simmer for the time in the table below. Let the pressure release naturally. Why: a hard boil or a fast release clouds the stock.
- Lift out the solids at the cooktop with a spider and tongs, then pour the stock through a fine-mesh strainer into a smaller pot. Why: strained over the sink, it ends up down the drain.
- Reduce by half at a gentle simmer, 2–3 hours, in the widest pot that holds it safely. Skim every 30 minutes or so. Bone stock reduced by half sets to jelly when cold.
- Cool fast in a sink of ice water, or with an ice-filled pot or cooling paddle (see Food safety: time and temperature). Keep the fat for starting soups, or lift it off once set. Refrigerate up to 5 days, or freeze for 3 months (6 at most).
Steep kombu or bonito (optional, before reducing). Off the heat, steep them in the strained stock for 15–25 minutes, then lift them out. Kombu tastes better below a simmer.
Taste (optional, before reducing). Try a spoonful with a pinch of salt or a splash of soy. Leave the stock itself unsalted, so it can be reduced and used anywhere.
Extraction time by base
The steps don’t change. The time does, and it follows the size of the bones. On the stovetop, allow 3–4 times the pressure cooker time.
| Base | Pressure cooker | Stovetop | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vegetable and mushroom (no bones) | 20 min, low pressure | ~1 hr | Flavour comes almost entirely from the roast; ~2:3 veg to water |
| Chicken or turkey carcasses | 30–45 min, high pressure | 2–3 hr | Backs, necks, and wing tips; the small bones give up gelatin fast |
| Beef bones | 45–100 min, high pressure | 3–6 hr | Knuckle, neck, or side cut; the bigger and denser the bones, the longer |
What goes in, and what doesn’t
Put in things that taste good and extract well. Why ingredients matter in stock goes into the details; in short:
- Base: onion, carrot, celery, shallot, and garlic, with black peppercorns, bay, and thyme or rosemary. Tomato paste browned on the roasting trays adds colour and savouriness.
- Leave out: brassicas like broccoli, cabbage, and kale (bitter); starchy vegetables (cloudy); leafy greens and tender herbs (they go off over a long cook); the pope’s nose and organ meat (bitter, gamey); anything mouldy or rotten.
- Use sparingly carrots (sweet), fennel and celery (they take over), and strong seeds. Garlic and celery come through stronger under pressure.
- Add late, or not at all: kombu and bonito go in off the heat, before reducing. Acids belong in the finished soup, not the stock.
How it fails
- Weak: too much water, or not enough roasting. Reduce it further.
- Bitter: brassicas, untasted peels, the pope’s nose, or a roast taken past dark brown into burnt.
- Cloudy: a hard boil, a fast pressure release, or starchy vegetables. Fine for a soup base; a problem only if you want it clear.
- Gone: poured down the drain. Strain at the cooktop (step 3).
Variations
Pale stock. Skip the roast and put the bones and vegetables straight into the water. Lighter in colour and flavour, for delicate soups and sauces.
Ramen stock. Chicken carcasses with ginger and a little pork fat or bones, finished with a kombu and bonito steep. Reduce at a rolling boil if you want a richer, cloudier broth.
Other cuisines. Ginger, star anise, and cinnamon turn the vegetable or beef base toward phở; miso and kombu toward Japanese.
Recipes
For reduced stock as a freezer base, see Condensing recipes for freezer prep.