Brown Veal Stock

Altough, I still have no clear plan about Christmas dinner, it is not a bad idea to start at the basics. This means to prepare some more stock to be on the safe side. I believe there is no such thing like "too much stock in stock". Some days ago I cooked Gordon Ramsay's vegetable stock, and now I decided to cook his veal stock instead of the usual one. I spent almost the whole day in the kitchen but it was worth it! This stock is simply gorgeous. I froze almost the whole amount, but I left bit aside for my lunch, that I am going to post tomorrow. Now let's see that magical stock!


Ingredients:
3 kg beef bones
200 ml olive oil
2 large onions
4 large carrots
4 parsley roots (not in the original recipe)
1 leek (not in the original recipe)
3 celery stalks
1/2 garlic bulb
2 tablespoon tomato puree
350 ml Madeira
350 ruby port
10 l cold water
200 g mushrooms
1 bouquet garni (2 outer leaves of a leek, 1/2 celery stalk,
1 sprig thyme, 1 bay leaf, each 1/2 teaspoon black and white peppercorns
6 coriander seeds)


Preheat oven to 220°C and roast with half of the olive oil drizzled veal bones for 1-1 1/2 hours until browned. Heat the remaining oil in a large pot and fry the chopped vegetables and garlic until coloured. Stir in tomato puree and fry for another 2 minutes. Add Madeira and port and reduce until it has a thick consistency. Drain roasted bones and add to the pot. Pour cold water over it and bring it to boil. Reduce the heat, add mushroom and bouquet garni and simmer for 6 hours. Skim off as often as needed. Let it cool a bit and strain through a muslim-lined colander. If you want you can reduce by half for a more intense flavour.