Taking Stock, Making Stock

By John Kass

Nov. 29, 2023

Here’s the amazing thing about making beef stock for proper Kass’  Onion Soup TM for Christmas Dinner:

You don’t have to do it.

No one really expects it of you.

No one will ask you to spend 15 or more hours slow-simmering beef bones and vegetables to make proper stock.

They’ll tell you to use boxed stock, beef and chicken. They’ll say the soup will taste just as good. And they’ll say, “Why not? It’s easier!!!”

But it won’t taste “just as good.” It is not “just as good.” Something, perhaps a voice deep within you whispers no. That “it won’t taste just as good” and you know it.”

But there is a proper way to make a stock. This is a three-part column about  making and taking stock. Beef, then chicken and only if I’m satisfied, the onion Caramelization. Now, the boef. And as we make stock, we can take stock of the important things.

How? Why?

It’s not a quick sauté or flash fry. It takes time. Like fly fishing carefully, approaching the water slowly, the universe reducing itself to the tension on the line and that snick,snick,snicks in wordless wonder as the wet fly bounces along the bottom. And in that time, the universe reduces to the elemental, like waiting for a pot to almost boil, concentrating on bubble frequency, the bones, the meat, the veggies, the bubbles rising slowly blip……..blip….blip………  ..blipity….You’ll have time to make stock and take stock.

I think of regrets, like that girl I could have befriended in school, but didn’t. Her name was Martha and a pig bully named Barney made her life miserable in the 3d Grade. I should have bloodied his nose, but didn’t. I was the odd kid at school, new, and I wanted to make friends. Poor Martha was a target. We all allowed it rather than be targeted ourselves. I hate my own guts for this to this day.

Regrets.

I regret the loss of America with Joe Biden allowing the total collapse of the border. And the left wing Democrats who washed themselves in virtue signaling, the wealthy elite whites who looked down  their noses at the rest of us, with their “Hate Has No Home Here” signs. They wanted Chicago to become a sanctuary city. But now as Biden’s illegal migrants freeze on the December streets, they use their money to move away from the migrants and the crime.

You think of your regrets while taking stock. Right now, I’m also thinking of an irritating little yap dog far away, another bully like Barney, a gossip tweeting and trying to distract me, demanding attention like other beasts in the leftist fever swamp that was once called Twitter. But I won’t be distracted by an obnoxious little dog that demands attention, then licks itself in public just because it can.

I don’t abide bad manners in a man, bartender or snotty little barking dog. I’m particular that way.

Ok enough talk of jerks. Let’s get down to it. We’ve got days and days before Christmas. Let’s do this right. So we have time to enjoy our guests. Today the beef stock, next time the chicken stock, then we reduce the onions. Perfect.

Maybe order the standing rib roasts, get some giant frozen shrimp, maybe think of sides like cauliflower potato gratin, and a good dry manly red.

If you know friends who’ve had my Kass’ Onion Soup (TM) for Christmas Dinner, just ask them if it’s any good.

Or make your own, and I’m here to help you. We’ll make it together in batches, steps easy to handle.

I’ve used boxed stock as an experiment. But I have sons and we’re trying to teach reverence for traditions.

And the other day, our sons were the ones insisting on helping make the stock, because they want it done the right way.

So, they’re the reason I’m writing this for you. Just thought you should know.

But others—including some famed TV chefs–who think boxed stock is just as good have reality issues. They really don’t understand the world around them.

In this, they’re like cavemen desperate for an in-depth discussion about Mozart or a talk on the disinformation of the disinformation state.

They sit open-mouthed and scratch. Sadly, they’ve been raised in a world without standards. For example, I don’t think most Americans even know how to properly make a bed, with a top sheet below the blanket. There is actually an ongoing debate about whether or not we “need” a top sheet.

Really?

You might as well sleep on uncured animal skins.

But there is a proper way to make a stock. And as we make stock, we can take stock.

The thing you don’t want to do is devote a solid weekend to it. You’d be tired. And it’s best to be rested to prepare Christmas Day dinner.

And there is no Christmas Day dinner without the Kass Onion Soup ™. But you can’t make soup without the stock.

So, lets’ do it.

Bones, vegetables, a roasting pan and tomato paste. As you see by the photo, there are various bones and meats. Marrow bones, knuckle bones for collagen, beef shanks, I think there are some oxtails

too.

I painted the bones with two cans of tomato paste.

Then I put them in the oven to bake at 400 degrees for an hour, with a bit of water, like, say a quarter cup for each roasting pan so the bottom won’t burn.

The vegetables: leeks, carrots, onions, celery and whole head of garlic.

6 sprigs of thyme in each pot and two or thee bay leaves.

Stir every half hour.

Once the bones have browned, remove and deglaze the roasting pan with water, vermouth or wine. I put the roasting pan on the stove top, and turned on the heat, scraping at the fond (brown bits) with a flat spoon. Put them in a pot with the vegetables. Cover with COLD WATER within two inches from the top of the pot. Not hot water. COLD WATER.

Bring it to a boil, then reduce heat immediately for a really slow simmer. Simmer covered COVERED, for at least 12 hours. I went even longer, hours and hours longer, into the demiglace zone. Yes the undiscovered country. Skim the fat that rises to the top every hour with a ladle.

Turn off the heat. Remove all bones and vegetables. Throw away and strain twice with a fine mesh sieve. Then simmer uncovered until reduced to half. That takes more time. You’ll have time to think about things you should have done, fish you didn’t land. You’ll have time to think of how much the political class hates you. The slow simmer reveals your secret heart.

Put the stockpots in a sink. Pack ice all around, and stir until cool. Cooling won’t take long, if you add cold water to the ice. Put in a container. DO NOT DO NOT ADD ICE TO STOCK. You can put the stock into flat storage containers. DO NOT ADD SALT OR PEPPER. NEVER SALT THE STOCK.  That’s for later when we use the stock to make the soup.

Chill it as quickly as possible. Leave it warm for at the most, an hour. Chill it Chill it Chill it. Do no put warm soup in your fridge or freezer to chill. It’s cold enough now that you can put the containers in the garage, then put them cold in the freezer.

We ended up with about 5 gallons of beef stock. We’re having about 20 guests for dinner so that’ll be plenty for roast beef gravy, and soup. I’m one of those cooks who worry I haven’t made enough. We’ll do chicken stock next week, then show you how to properly Caramelize the onions.

First things first. One step at a time. Do it right. I’m here to help.

It’s only Kass French Onion Soup (TM) but I think it’s OK. I think it’s good.

I hope you and your family will like it. It takes time, like life if you’re lucky. And there are many secrets it will teach you along the way.

(Copyright 2023 John Kass)

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Comments 67

  1. Just like Grannie Hickey’s stock, made for the rich Yanks on Prairie Avenue and later her thirteen kids and Old Lawrence. Slow and steady wins the marathon in the kitchen and over the keyboards. Another masterclass in great writing from one hell of a Chef!

        1. I take a lot of stock in your columns as well as your cooking skills. I always loved your talking about recipes, especially yours, whether in print, on the radio, or Podcast. I’m so glad it seems you’re getting back to your old self, thank God. Thanks for taking stock with your readers and listeners, knowing what we want and like to hear from you! Merry Christmas to you and family. God bless!

        2. Thank you John for sharing. Pat is right slow and slower
          I only use my home made chicken stock to make my gluten free “chicken soup for the body and soul”. Delivered hundreds of quarts for the sick, the recovering or those in mourning…. Wouldn’t think of using boxed chicken broth it wouldn’t be the same

    3. Very impressive John, as always. Just so I understand this part of the process, empty the roasting pans into the stock pot or pots, deglaze roasting pans, deglazing liquid goes into the pots with the bones and veggies? I like taking stock.

  2. John, you’ve reminded me that I need to make turkey stock! I have a whole carcass and wing tips leftover from the overtime Thanksgiving dinner my wife made on Saturday.
    I will certainly need to pin your recipe and try it out! One question, though: why not roast the veggies and bones in the pot? This way, you capture all the fond when you boil. (Not a critique, just a curiosity)

    1. roast the bones in the oven. then pick up bones and scrape veggies in a pot. deglaze with water, (once I used vermouth), other wine etc. and cover with COLD water

  3. John,

    I’m sorry if I didn’t understand correctly. Your picture shows the bones and veggies mixed together in the roasting pans. Do you roast the veggies along with the bones? And to be clear, you stir the stock every 30 minutes after you get it to simmer? Sorry for my misunderstanding. And thanks for the recipe!

  5. I’m not a big breakfast eater but the last picture has my mouth watering. This is the first year I grew some tomatoes, which tasted better than I could have imagined. John, you inspired me to give this a shot to make some stock and take stock of all my good fortune even in these troubled times. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Kass and the boys.

  6. John….it’s 7:04am on Weds. the 29th. I’m one of those cooks who feel the same way as you do – that there’s never enough…which is why I brewed a gallon of hot, black coffee. And my wife doesn’t drink it anymore…ahh…more for me. Question…or two:
    Where’s the best place to snag some soon-to-be-soup bones? I look around but they’re hard to find. I’d drive miles to locate some…after all I’ve got all that Java to propel my ambition.
    Next…is using cheese cloth sacrilege? I’ve done that before when making my world-famous Turkey gravy at Thanksgiving…but I defer to the altar of Kasstopia.
    Awaiting with bated breath…
    Cheers!
    Mike Reiss

      1. and cheezecloth, i’ve used it as well. the main thing, strain the stock and skim as best you can. when you chill it you can scrape the fat off the top before freezing

      2. One of the things I miss from when we lived in Chicago are the butcher shops. The grocery store ones don’t cut their own beef, it’s all box beef. If you’re lucky, they’ll have soup bones and shanks. I try to get some at the beef stands at the farmer’s markets in the summer and freeze them for use in cooler weather. We do have one or two meat stores that can get shanks and chicken backs (for making stock) if you order a week or so in advance.

        And don’t get me started on veal, it has become nearly impossible to find! (And that makes my favorite dish, veal zurich, an extremely infrequent treat.)

  7. Another fine exposition Mr. Kass. with more layers and more filling than a club sandwich. A perfect example of what keeps you at the top of my website check-in list early each morning. It is a hallmark of self honesty to reflect on opportunities not taken. Your reference to Martha stirred my memories of the treatment that Kathleen, a fifth grade classmate, received almost 60 years ago. She had red hair and big freckles and was the biggest kid in the class, already starting to develop. We were merciless towards her, passing “Kathleen’s fleas” around the classroom and playground. No thought given to the cruelty we expressed. My family moved away in ’66 so I don’t know how her life turned out but I hope she found happiness and peace. The best I could do to atone was to try and teach my own brood not to make the same mistake I did.

  9. Mm. Those old world traditional Christmas foods that require you to take time out from the otherwise hectic pace that is December. In our house it was making ravioli and Aunt Thelma’s ricotta cheesecake. We still do the ravioli, one by one, cut and sealed by hand, with egg dough kneaded with our palms. No pasta machines allowed because a machine can’t know how much flour is actually required depending on the relative humidity in the kitchen. You have to feel it. Aunt Thelma’s cheesecake called for a cinnamon toffee crust that was made with crushed Zweiback teething toast. Sadly, you can no longer find Zweiback toast, so we haven’t made it in years because a graham cracker crust just isn’t the same.

    1. “Those old world traditional Christmas foods that require you to take time out from the otherwise hectic pace that is December.” I’ll remember that Martha. Merry Christmas to you and the family

  10. Christmas traditions are a wonderful thing to pass down. In my family it’s making Italian sausage. My mother taught me and I passed it down to my son, daughter and a niece.

    Call Casey’s butcher shop in Western Springs a few days ahead and order 10 pounds of pork and the casings. He knew how to make sure there just enough fat but no too much. And the fennel was always measured by the hoofta. My mom always stuffed it by hand using a funnel and her hand, so that’s what I do too.

    Traditions are important.

  11. Ahhhhhh, Yianni, such fond memories of your “one off” onion soup. I can almost smell all those wonderful components roasting as the aromas waft from the kitchen! Some folks just don’t get it. This entire episode, and those with which you will bless us, is therapy. Yes, therapy for us in a world that seems to be disintegrating around us. So, like you, I decided to make some Greek stuffing after Thanksgiving, as I was unable to shag some leftovers at our family’s feast! Oh well. Took my sister’s recipe (actually our mom’s) and cut it in half as there weren’t hordes of others to feed. Spent half a day just prepping all the veggies, followed by browning the meat and sausages. But it was quite therapeutic, and after baking, and letting it cool a bit, I had visions of sugar plums dancing thru my head! (Ok, maybe just Evzones dancing.) Store bought stocks and stuffings just can’t compare. This is food for the soul, and right now, we need this more than ever. Thanks for sharing….Kai tou xronou!!!

  12. Sounds delicious, super healthy for you and cheaper to make than buying a McDonald’s Big Mac meal thats topping out at about 16 bucks these days. It used to be when we talked about the “good old days” we were talking about the forties, fifties or sixties. Now the “good old days” mean about three years ago. Oh, how I long for the good old days! Thanks for the recipe John, stay warm and have a great day.

  13. Mr. Kass,
    I don’t necessarily believe in “New Year’s traditions”, but a phrase you used is going to be my focus in the coming year: “reverence for tradition”. Enough of air fryers, insta-pots, smart-assed retorts and other “quick fixes”; there’s a reason for simmering in cooking as well as in life. Thank you for yet another inspiration. One last thought: I’m not sure how much longer you can hold out on exempting POTUS from the Moutza…

  14. Swedish Christmas traditions at our place included herring, Bond Ost cheese and a toddy of warm Glogg, a wicked alcoholic brew simmered for hours on the stove. Favorite memory… from time to time you lifted the lid, lit a match & burned off the alcohol vapors. Dad a “hard headed Krauthead” according to Mom, stuck his face over the pot while lighting the fumes and flash burned his eyebrows off. Luckily he enough Old Style in his system that he could laugh over the pain. One of many family jokes of which Dad provided the yuks

  15. I use a 24 quart stock pot to make beef stock, and I make remouillage (second wetting) stock to use for lighter dishes. It won’t have the thick collagen of the original stock but there’s a lot of flavor left in those bones, even after 18 hours of simmering, just add fresh veggies.

    My older son, a pretty good cook himself, makes his beef stock in a pressure cooker. I haven’t tried that yet, I’m skeptical of a lot of time-saving tricks in the kitchen. (I make my own croissant dough, too, folding and refolding it until there are dozens of flaky layers, done properly it takes several days with at least one overnight rest.)

    I make both white and brown chicken stock (in brown chicken stock the bones are roasted, in white chicken stock they are not.) I tend to make this in smaller quantities, so usually I use a 12 quart pot.

    I also have veal stock, duck stock, turkey stock and vegetable stock in the freezer. I’ve even made brown sauce and demiglace the hard way (making both veal stock and Espagnole sauce then combining them and reducing them to a near-paste.)

    I used to use beef stock for French onion soup, at the suggestion of my French teacher I now use just white chicken stock, she says that’s more traditional because French onion soup is a peasant dish and the peasants could seldom afford beef. I find beef stock too assertive in onion soup these days. (But at least homemade beef stock isn’t salted, too many restaurant onion soups are too salty because the stock is over-salted.)

    I look forward to seeing your column on caramelizing the onions, it takes me 6-8 hours to caramelize a 10 pound bag of onions.

      1. Remouillage is a French term that means a ‘second wetting’ of the bones. After straining off the stock, keep the bones, but replace the vegetables, add more water and boil them for another 12-24 hours.

        You’ll get a lighter stock, not much collagen in it but plenty of flavor. I use it as the liquid in beef gravy, along with a roux and whatever drippings I can get from the roast.

        Some chef will go as far as a third wetting of the bones, but I find that after they’ve been boiled for 18 hours twice they’re pretty much used up. I might try a third wetting in the pressure cooker some time, though.

        I don’t put garlic in my stock, because my wife is allergic to it. My garden usually has about 2 dozen tomato plants in the summer, and when I process them through a pulp extractor to make juice or tomato sauce I take the seeds and skins and freeze them for use in making beef stock during the winter. You can throw them in the pot or roast them in the oven along with the bones. (The onions, celery and carrots are usually roasted as well.)

        When I put shanks in beef stock I pull the meat off the bones afterwards, add barbecue sauce and serve it on a bun.

        By reusing the bones, tomato skins and the meat from the shanks, you’re getting more from your grocery dollars.

  16. Your soup sounds delicious, JK. Any recommendations on how it can be made in a household that struggles with recipes having more than three ingredients?

    Excellent Recipes Have No Home Here In Brookfield, WI.

    1. you can do this. It takes patience. you can also use an Instant pot to make your stock if you want. When you make chicken stock, if you can get some chicken feet and add it the flavor will be better. If you ever make a pork stock, ham hocks! The trotters have so much flavor.

    2. hello david. just beef stock, chicken stock, a day of onion reduction, add salt and pepper, congac or dry sherry… Gruyère, baguette… thanks my friend, stay tuned,

      1. I’m not sure which is more unnerving: John asking me to deal with a combination of ingredients that would be as dangerous in my hands as my high school chemistry assignments . . . or Jeffrey recommending I handle chicken feet.

  17. I want to say, as a pretty good at home chef THIS IS THE WAY! I have just had knee surgery three hours ago and I am salivating at this recipe. DO NOT try to short circuit the process John has elucidated plainly in his column. One trick I learned that makes total sense: the tomato paste on the roasted bones. That is a pro tip. He neglected to tell you how great that will make your kitchen smell. Your neighbors will start knocking on the door wanting some. You have no time for them.

    I have already cooked some onions and got them ready for Christmas. Use three kinds of onions, yellow/red/white, and then do some shallots for a deeper flavor. Before I serve the soup, I add just a touch of apple cider vinegar to cut the fat and give it flair. Cut them finely on a mandoline if you have one.

    I can smell the garlic and butter on a toasted sourdough crouton.

    Don’t skimp on the cheese either…gruyere is your friend.

    Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukuh. May the blessings of the season descend upon you and your family.

      1. Despite being most definitely female, I enjoy a manly, dry cab. For Christmas, people need to stay out of Aldi if possible and get at the very least a Hess North Coast. Aldi has some nice wines, the better Gallo varieties. But it’s Christmas. Cut back someplace else.

        I have a date circled on my paper calendar, the one with the 1960s muscle cars from the mechanic and not the one from church, to start the stocks process. Plural. Beef / veal combo AND chicken. But right now, even though it’s Advent, I am doing the outdoor decor. Going to be in the 50s and I need to work with the temperature!

    2. Havarti cheese makes an interesting topping for onion soup, but it doesn’t brown well under the broiler, so I sprinkle some grated mozzarella and romano on top to give it some color.

  18. Love it and plan to try it for sure! WRT a hearty dry red wine, nothing better in my mind than any given red wine from Lake Michigan wineries (Round Barn, Tabor Hill, St. Julian, all within 1.5 hrs of Chicago in one place). I call Great Lakes wines “Fresh Water Wines”, super clean finish – almost thirst quenching wines! All not having to bear the brunt of salt air, but benefitting from the positive effects of fresh water air that can’t be found anywhere else on Earth. Bob Hope used to have cases of Tabor Hill wines shipped to him and called them the best on Earth.

    But Sommeliers just refuse to grasp this fact. They go to school to learn about “Terroir”. I tell them its not the Terr-Wa!, Its the AIR-WA. But deaf ears…Like any indoctrination. Like the fact no one knows that todays imperious, condescending political Elite, cancel culture and imprisonment and torture of persons for their political opinions has been around since the bilgwater of the Mayflower, the “blue” ballast stones from Slaver ships that adorn the sidewalks of Nantucket’s shopping district, and of course from Slavery. But! The opportunity to finally get our Republic right by thinking outside the box and contemplating ALL our history – the opportunity we have to finally get this right – like the opportunity Great Lakes wineries have right in front of them to be the best in the world

    1. My wife works as a technology associate for the Department of Agriculture and Horticulture at the University of Nebraska, helping professors handle the technology used in teaching these days, especially online.

      This fall she got to work with the professor teaching the Vines, Wines and You course. He also puts out a newsletter for vintners, Vine Lines. He speaks very highly of the regional wineries throughout the midwest.

  19. John: Wow.

    This column shows why you remain the Babe Ruth (or should I upgrade to a more contemporary titan, Barry Bonds?) of your very talented line-up of writers. So many layers. So much to think about. Great food and the art of making such food … juxtaposed against slights against others that haunt us still … so many years later. For me that would be a young boy in 5th grade … over 65 years ago … who had a speech impairment undoubtedly caused in part by his partial deafness. Like you, I am so ashamed that I was part of the heckling mob, rather than his protector. And when I on occasion think about this – sometimes late in the still of the night, in the empty silence – my cruelty now comes back to torment me. Like you, I pray to God, that his life turned out ok.

    Although I am nowhere’s near the kitchen maestro you are, I do have a specialty endorsed by many of my dinner guests over the decades: brisket. I’m talking Jewish brisket for Passover (probably works for Easter as well). Like you it starts with a great butcher. In this case Carnivore in Oak Park. And it takes two days to prepare but not nearly as labor intensive as making stock. But you do need an epidural needle (or something similar) – not for self-injection, fortunately – but to inject the meat with my glorious magic sauce.

    Anyway.

    Merry Christmas (as a Jew, somehow , I find the oh so appropriately proper and sterile “Happy Holiday” offensive … LOL).

    1. Bruce, rather than buy the really expensive stuff the cooking catalogs sell for injecting meat, go to a farm supply store and get veterinary syringes and needles for a third the price. You might have to travel beyond the suburbs to find one, though.

  23. It takes time, like life if you’re lucky.

    First, I love the title of your column. Taking stock and making stock. As I get older, I find myself in an almost constant state of reflection and reconciliation. I love taking time and preparing food, soup in particular.

    Aren’t we truly lucky indeed? To be alive and doing something lovingly for the people we love.

    John there are so many things wrong in our world and it can be demoralizing. Knowing there are likeminded people like you, and your readers makes it a little more bearable.

    Thank you, John. Wishing you and your family a wonderful Christmas! Looking forward to making stock, thanks for the helpful tips, and continually taking stock.

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