Lamb Stock Recipe

G. Stephen Jones • October 12, 2015 • 0 Comments

Why Make Lamb Stock?

Great question and I’m not sure how often you will find a recipe calling for homemade lamb stock but if you do, here’s a lamb stock recipe you can use.

If you don’t feel liking finding lamb bones, roasting them and then simmering them for a while, be happy to know there is a good commercial product on the market that does the work for you. Or you could always substitute beef stock but isn’t that cheating?

Basically, making lamb stock is almost identical to preparing beef stock except you are using lamb bones rather than beef bones. But finding lamb bones may be more of a challenge than you think unless you have a good relationship with your local butcher who will save you some when they bone out leg of lambs for their customers.

Lamb Bones May Be Healthier For You

If you can find lamb bones at your market, they are typically much cheaper than beef marrow bones especially if you are on a Paleo/Primal diet and only purchase grass-feed beef bones that are much more expensive. And since most lamb raised in the United States is “pasture raised” and not filled with all the crazy chemicals fed to our beef, the meat and bones from lamb may be healthier for you than beef.

Another alternative is to make a batch of lamb stock with bones from that leftover bone-in leg of lamb you prepared on Sunday. Now you are starting with bones already roasted eliminating one step for making the stock.

Lamb stock is stronger than beef or chicken stock so you can freeze some in small containers and small amounts to enhance other lamb recipes including lamb stew, rice or lamb risotto. Or you can try your hand at a traditional Scotch broth with winter vegetables, a classic Scottish dish.

Lamb Stock Recipe

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes

Total Time: 3 hours, 45 minutes

Yield: 4 - 8 cups

Lamb Stock Recipe

Ingredients

2 pounds of lamb bones

4 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 large onion, peeled and chopped

1 rib of celery, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

3 - 4 sprigs of fresh parsley

8 whole peppercorns

How To Prepare At Home

Preheat the oven to 425ºF.

In a large roasting pan, big enough to hold all the bones, spread out the bones in one layer and coat with a little vegetable oil. Roast the bones for one hour being sure to turn them once or twice so they don’t burn.

If you think they are getting too brown too quickly, turn down the heat some and don’t roast as long. When done, remove from oven and reserve.

About 15 minutes before the bones are done roasting, heat a large stock pot over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of oil and when hot, add the onions. Cook for 3 - 5 minutes.

Add the celery and carrots and cook for an additional 5 - 8 minutes. Transfer the bones to the stock pot and cover with water, about 12 cups.

Add the parsley and peppercorns to the pot. Bring to a boil and remove any foam or scum that forms. Reduce the heat and cook at a simmer for about 2 - 2 1/2 hours making sure to skim off any foam that comes back to the surface.

Take the stockpot off the heat and let it cool down before you strain it through a fine strainer. If you need to, use a colander and some cheesecloth. Discard the bones and vegetables.

Let the lamb stock cool down to room temperature before covering and refrigerating. You don’t want to work your fridge to hard by adding a hot container of stock to it.

As the lamb stock cools overnight, fat will surface to the top and get hard. Use a spoon to remove the surface fat and discard. The stock is now ready to use.

This homemade stock should be kept refrigerated and used within 4 days or frozen up to 4 months.

How to Purchase Restaurant Quality Lamb Stock

Until now, a classic homemade quality lamb stock was unavailable to home cooks unless they prepared it themselves or settled for a commercial brand loaded with m.s.g. and other chemicals

Now there is a lamb stock on the market called Glace d’Agneau Gold that is almost as good as homemade. Used in many high-end restaurants, home cooks won’t believe they there is now an affordable alternative to making it themselves.

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