Lamb Stock

We had a good pile of bones from the lamb after all the butchering last week. We froze them temporarily, just to keep them from spoiling until we got around to dealing with them.

Last Monday, the 6th, we roasted them in the oven, and then put them in the roaster.

This has become our go-to method for making stock. The old turkey roaster holds a lot of bones, and does the trick very neatly, almost fire and forget. First we roast the bones for about 30 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees (I just do it right in the turkey roaster pan, then set the pan in the roaster base).

Then we add onion, carrot, celery, maybe some garlic, maybe some bay or parsley, whatever we feel like. A 1/4 to 1/2 cup of vinegar to help break down the bones, and then fill it up with water to the rim. Then we just turn it on to about 212 degrees (not an exact science). Once we have bubbles around the rim, we just leave it for 2-3 days.

All we have to do is check once in a while to make sure the bones are not poking out of the water. If they are, and we are not ready to can it, we just add more water and let it reduce down some more.

By day 3 we have two distinct liquid layers. The top is all fat, as you can see in the ladle. It is golden yellow and translucent. If can be skimmed carefully off the top at this stage if you want, but that’s the hard way to do it. If you dip the ladle too deep some of the stock will also flow into it, as you can see in the picture above if you look closely.

Instead, simply pour it into a stock pot and let it cool enough for the fat to solidify. Or refrigerate it overnight.

In the morning you’ll be able to scoop the fat right off the top in chunks.

Then pressure can them in quarts, and put in the pantry for use in whatever soups or stews we take a fancy to in the next couple of years.

No, we have never used lamb stock before, and we have no idea whether we will like it. But as the elderly gentleman said when deciding whether or not to wear his teeth on a first date:

“Nothing dentured, nothing gained.”