Duration
8 to 12 hours
Season
Fall, Winter
Stock-making can be daunting for some hunters, mostly because of the perceived time and space needed to make large batches. I like to make “Sunday Stock,” a small, weekly batch of stock from meaty cuts like shanks, necks, or any bones that will produce a couple of quarts of stock that can be used throughout the week. This can also apply to whole birds, gamebird or waterfowl legs, or whole small game like rabbits. Cuts rich in silverskin—collagen—will yield a better, more gelatinous stock, so leave all of that silver on there. Silverskin that has been trimmed from roasts and steaks can also be set aside and used for this purpose.
The theory here is that you cook a cut with some meat on it, then shred the cooked meat from the bones for a useful byproduct of the stock-making process. This shredded meat can be used in tacos, flautas, manicotti and other pastas, and myriad other uses. I outline some of these recipes (in the context of feral hogs) in my book, The Hog Book.
This recipe will yield a classic, French-style venison stock, some richly flavored shredded meat, and an option to reduce and make a concentrated glace. This reduced glace can be used to boost flavor in soups and braises, or function as a quick, rich pan sauce.
Be mindful of using bones from deer and elk in areas where CWD is a concern.
Ingredients
- 2-3 lbs. bone-in venison cuts
- 1 large carrot, roughly chopped
- 1 medium onion, unpeeled and quartered
- 1 leek, white and light green part only, halved
- 1 large rib celery, roughly chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 cloves
- 6 juniper berries
- A few black peppercorns
Also works with
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Spread the venison, carrot, onion, leek, and celery on a metal tray and roast for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until deeply browned. Skip this step and just put everything in the pot or slow cooker if you want a milder, less robust stock.
- Place the meat and vegetables in a large pot or slow cooker and cover with water by 2 to 3 inches. Return the pan to the oven for another minute to reheat it, then remove and carefully add a cup of water to the pan to loosen the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Scrape with a wooden spoon to dislodge the caramelized remnants, then add this to the pot along with the bay, cloves, juniper, and peppercorns. Bring this pot to a boil, skim any foam that floats to the surface, then turn down to a bare simmer. You want this to just gently bubble consistently, not stay at a rolling boil. Cook the stock, adding water if necessary (you won’t have to add water generally in a slow cooker; this is my preferred method) for at least 8 hours, or up to 12.
- Allow the stock to cool slightly, then strain it through the finest strainer you have, discarding the vegetables and retaining any shredded meat for other uses, if desired. If you’re regularly making stock, consider adding water to the bones and vegetables at this point and making another, weaker stock that can then be used instead of water as the foundation for the next stock you make. At this point, the stock can be cooled to room temperature, then frozen, or reduced further to a glace.
- To reduce, return the strained liquid to a clean pot and bring to a simmer. Reduce this to ¼ of its original volume (you might find it helpful to mark the target level on the outside of the pot ). Cool this and freeze in smaller amounts. This reduced stock can be frozen in ice cube trays then transferred to a bag, where single cubes can then be employed easily.
- Stock and glace both keep very well in the refrigerator, maybe for 10 days or more, and can be frozen for up to a year.
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(0)Stock-making can be daunting for some hunters, mostly because of the perceived time and space needed to make large batches. I like to make “Sunday Stock,” a small, weekly batch of stock from meaty cuts like shanks, necks, or any bones that will produce a couple of quarts of stock that can be used throughout the week. This can also apply to whole birds, gamebird or waterfowl legs, or whole small game like rabbits. Cuts rich in silverskin—collagen—will yield a better, more gelatinous stock, so leave all of that silver on there. Silverskin that has been trimmed from roasts and steaks can also be set aside and used for this purpose.
The theory here is that you cook a cut with some meat on it, then shred the cooked meat from the bones for a useful byproduct of the stock-making process. This shredded meat can be used in tacos, flautas, manicotti and other pastas, and myriad other uses. I outline some of these recipes (in the context of feral hogs) in my book, The Hog Book.
This recipe will yield a classic, French-style venison stock, some richly flavored shredded meat, and an option to reduce and make a concentrated glace. This reduced glace can be used to boost flavor in soups and braises, or function as a quick, rich pan sauce.
Be mindful of using bones from deer and elk in areas where CWD is a concern.
Ingredients
- 2-3 lbs. bone-in venison cuts
- 1 large carrot, roughly chopped
- 1 medium onion, unpeeled and quartered
- 1 leek, white and light green part only, halved
- 1 large rib celery, roughly chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 cloves
- 6 juniper berries
- A few black peppercorns
Also works with
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Spread the venison, carrot, onion, leek, and celery on a metal tray and roast for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until deeply browned. Skip this step and just put everything in the pot or slow cooker if you want a milder, less robust stock.
- Place the meat and vegetables in a large pot or slow cooker and cover with water by 2 to 3 inches. Return the pan to the oven for another minute to reheat it, then remove and carefully add a cup of water to the pan to loosen the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Scrape with a wooden spoon to dislodge the caramelized remnants, then add this to the pot along with the bay, cloves, juniper, and peppercorns. Bring this pot to a boil, skim any foam that floats to the surface, then turn down to a bare simmer. You want this to just gently bubble consistently, not stay at a rolling boil. Cook the stock, adding water if necessary (you won’t have to add water generally in a slow cooker; this is my preferred method) for at least 8 hours, or up to 12.
- Allow the stock to cool slightly, then strain it through the finest strainer you have, discarding the vegetables and retaining any shredded meat for other uses, if desired. If you’re regularly making stock, consider adding water to the bones and vegetables at this point and making another, weaker stock that can then be used instead of water as the foundation for the next stock you make. At this point, the stock can be cooled to room temperature, then frozen, or reduced further to a glace.
- To reduce, return the strained liquid to a clean pot and bring to a simmer. Reduce this to ¼ of its original volume (you might find it helpful to mark the target level on the outside of the pot ). Cool this and freeze in smaller amounts. This reduced stock can be frozen in ice cube trays then transferred to a bag, where single cubes can then be employed easily.
- Stock and glace both keep very well in the refrigerator, maybe for 10 days or more, and can be frozen for up to a year.