Stock options: Veal stock
25. Jan, 2012 
4 Comments
I’ve wanted to make veal stock for a long time. I’ve probably wanted to make veal stock ever since I first read The French Laundry Cookbook. I definitely wanted to make it after reading some of Michael Ruhlman’s writings on it. And, recently, reading the Eleven Madison Park cookbook and seeing some of the recipes in there, I really wanted to make it. I had to make it.
There was only one problem: I couldn’t find veal bones.
This happens every now and then with ingredients, especially ingredients mentioned in American cookbooks. The author will claim that such-and-such ingredient is “widely available” at a given type of store, yet visits to those stores turn up fruitless. It happened when I tried to find mother of vinegar, it happened when I tried to find beer brewing supplies (the stores around here seem to carry only boxed kits, not bulk dry malt extract), and it’s starting to frustrate even my husband in his search for praline paste for chocolates. Is the Canadian market really so different from the U.S. one?
Fortunately, in this case, I found a relatively new butcher in a neighbouring town, the Bauer Butcher, who were more than happy to supply me with the veal bones and veal breast I needed. They’re going to be my new go-to for special meat orders. Sadly, they weren’t able to get me calves’ feet, but I’ll take what I can get for now.
Stock recipes are all relatively interchangeable, but because the end goal here is a dish in the Eleven Madison Park book, I decided to follow their particular recipe as closely as possible, rather than, say, using the pressure-cooker method. (Unfortunately, there’s a typo in the recipe: the ingredient list includes white wine, but the recipe never says where to add it. A quick query to the e-mail address given in the book cleared that up; it goes in with the ice.) The only unusual thing about this recipe, to my mind, is the total exclusion of carrot, and the inclusion of celery root. The celery root is something I’ll probably adopt in future stocks of my own, partly because I love it under any circumstances, and partly because it’s got all the aromatics of celery but in a package that’s sweet rather than bitter. It’s fundamentally just a great idea.
So I loaded my 8 pounds of veal bones and 4 pounds of veal breast into my stockpot – actually, I split it between two pots, because my stockpot wasn’t big enough – covered it with very cold water, and simmered it for 6 hours, skimming as I went. After straining and reducing, I was left with 4.5 litres of gelatinous, lightly golden stock that’s safely stashed in my freezer for the time being, awaiting its destiny in a future recipe.
Matthew Kayahara
I’ll be curious to hear your take on whether it’s worth it. Despite cookbooks’ claims, veal is next to impossible to find here, and I’ve asked all the good butchers around. Anyone who tells you that veal is widely available in the U.S. hasn’t lived outside of a big city!
I haven’t cooked the dish in question yet, but having tasted the finished stock, I can say that it’s definitely different from any other stock I’ve ever made. For years, whenever I needed demiglace, I would start with dark beef stock, but now I would say that either dark chicken stock of a chicken/beef mix would be the better way to go. If you can get veal at all, it’s certainly worth making it once (even at a moderate expense), just to see what the fuss is about. Don’t do it if the only cut you can get is sliced shank, though: better just to make osso buco!
I will soon be making a veal stock, as I have finally found a low cost source of veal brisket, on the rib-bone. These are just $2/lb at Highland Farms (GTA). I think I will add a pig’s foot or one-half cow’s foot, from the Asian place. It should reduce to a fine demi glace.
Good luck with your dinner party, Matthew!
Thanks, James! I had no problem with the gelatin content even having left out the calves’ feet, but I’m sure a pig’s foot would do nicely, as long as you’re not serving any guests with dietary restrictions around pork.