2/4/11

8 Electric Pressure Cooking: Step Two ~ Making A Brown Beef Stock

Making your very own beef stock for soups, gravies and other dishes has never been any easier.  Or faster.  This was the very first recipe chosen for my Cuisinart electric pressure cooker.  I wanted to try something simple, uncomplicated, and ....er....safe?  for my very first try with the cooker. 

What would you say if I told you that you can make a low fat, no sodium beef stock, in under an hour?  Well, you can in a pressure cooker!

I had some leftover prime rib bones that were perfect.  All I needed to do was brown them a little bit under my broiler in the oven.  Even though the meat is fully cooked, I wanted to brown the cut side to give the stock the best flavor. 

You can use 2 1/2 pounds of beef and/or veal bones.




I added two large carrots, cut into 3" lengths.

Cut the meat into rib portions and put them in the pot...

Added 2 large, quartered onions...

1 Tablespoon dried parsley,




1 Tablespoon dried thyme,



a clove of garlic,


and twelve peppercorns.


 
Of course, you can add celery, chives or whatever spices/veggies you want. 
 
Then you add 8 cups of water.  Make sure it doesn't go above the top line...



Check.  That looks good. 



Select HIGH pressure by pushing the MENU button,




Push TIME for 30 minutes (if the beef wasn't fully cooked, I would have set the timer for 60 min.)
Then push START.
That's it!  You can walk away from this.  You are done with the cooking part!  Go watch a movie, do some wash, or something fun.  When the 60 minutes are up, it will BEEP and automatically go to a KEEP WARM setting and the pressure will come down naturally, which may take up to 30 minutes.

This red button is DOWN, meaning it is safe to open the lid.  Open the lid AWAY from you.


 Let's take a look!  Take a deep whiff.....Mmmmmmmmm....smells so good!

First, I take the meat out.  It is falling off the bone...




I put the meat on a plate and get ready to strain the stock.  If you have a fine mesh strainer, that is great.  If you don't, use a large coffee filter inserted in a colander, but it may take longer to drain.


Cover the stock with a lid or plastic wrap and put it in your fridge.  The next day, you will have a layer of fat that will pop right off!  Discard the fat.




You can freeze this stock for later use.  Make sure you leave some room for expansion...you don't want this liquid to bust out into your freezer!



Oh and the meat....it was perfect.  Tender, moist, shreddable for beef enchiladas.  



Clean up was a breeze.  The non-stick liner cleaned up easily.



To clean the lid, just grasp the metal pin and lift it straight up.  The metal disc, surrounded by a rim of plastic (the seal) come off easily for cleaning.
That's it!  This honestly was such a nice departure from using my pressure cooker on the stove.  I didn't have to worry about forgetting it at all.  If you leave a stove top pressure cooker on the stove, all the liquid can boil out and leave one big burnt on mess inside the pot to clean up.  Been there, done that.  Not fun.

The recipe for the stock is included with the pressure cooker.  Of course you can make this stock in a large pot on the stove top.....in FIVE hours.  Making it in a pressure cooker is a no brainer for me, now that I know how to use it.
 
I made some gorgeous, lovely, roasted baby red potatoes for my next pressure cooker project.  Roasted?  Yes, I said roasted!












8 comments:

  1. I'm the proud owner of a new pressure cooker! Can't wait to try it out. Thanks!!

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  2. Barbara! Yay! Where did you find it?

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  3. My mom offered to buy me a pressure cooker a couple of years ago and this is the one I asked for... I absolutely LOVE it - it's so easy! Perfect for someone like me who can never remember to soak the beans overnight!

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  4. I bought it at Costco right after you told me they had them at a great price. Thanks!

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  5. Barbara, that's great! I'm glad they had some at Costco.

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  6. It seems like the Cuisinart recipes should be compatible with an Instant Pot. But this seems like to much liquid. Is there a conversion necessary for the IP?

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    Replies
    1. Yes, these recipes will be compatible for any 6 quart pressure cooker. You can use 8 cups of liquid with no problem. The key is to wait for the cooker to go down naturally on its own before opening. :-)

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