---
title: 'Mixed-Bone Brown Stock'
slug: 'mixed-bone-brown-stock'
kind: 'preparation'
revision: 1
source: 'mcp'
created: '2026-10-21T12:48:06.471Z'
url: 'https://noble-notations.ryanjnoble.dev/recipes/mixed-bone-brown-stock'
---

# Mixed-Bone Brown Stock

_Roasted beef, marrow, chicken and lamb bones held at a light simmer overnight, with no salt_

A brown stock made for the braise of the South African pepper steak pie.

Beef bones and marrow bones roast first. A freezer mix of chicken carcass and lamb saddle bones goes in for the last 20 min. Tomato paste, onion and celery brown on the trays for the last 10 min.

The bones then go into cold water. The stock comes up slowly so the foam can be removed. It holds at a light simmer of 88 to 90 degrees C overnight, with the lid off.

The stock has no salt. The braise reduces it, so the salt goes in there.

It makes about 3 litres.

## Why this revision

First record of this stock. Made fresh for the braise of a batch of individual pepper steak pies, using bones bought for the pie and a mixed bag of bones from the freezer.

## Categories

- **Cuisine**: French
- **Diet**: Low sodium, Gluten-free
- **Technique**: Roasting, Simmering
- **Equipment**: Stockpot, Fine-mesh sieve, Roasting tray

## Ingredients

- 5 g Black pepper, whole peppercorns
- 4 sprig Thyme
- 2 leaf Bay leaf
- 30 g Tomato paste
- 2 piece Onion, halved, skin on
- 150 g Carrot, cut into 50 mm chunks
- 4 stalk Celery, cut into 50 mm lengths
- 1900 g Beef bones
- 370 g Beef marrow bones, sawn
- 1700 g Mixed bones
- 4500 ml Water, cold

## Method


### Mise en place

1. Set the oven to 200 °C, fan. _(200 °C)_
   > Fan keeps two trays browning at the same rate. 200 °C fan gives the same browning as 220 °C conventional.
2. Cut all visible fat off the lamb bones.
3. Pat the beef bones and the marrow bones dry.
4. Spread the beef bones and the marrow bones on two roasting trays in one layer.
5. Cut the onions in half. Keep the skin on.
6. Cut the carrots into chunks of 50 mm.
7. Cut the celery into lengths of 50 mm.

### Roast

8. Roast the beef bones and the marrow bones for 20 min. _(20 min · 200 °C · Roasting)_
9. Turn the beef bones. Move the top tray to the bottom shelf and the bottom tray to the top shelf.
10. Add the mixed bones to the trays. Roast for 10 min. _(10 min · 200 °C)_
11. Spread the tomato paste in a thin layer on the beef bones.
12. Put the onions cut side down between the bones. Add the carrots and the celery.
13. Roast for 10 min. Stop when the paste is dark red, before it turns black. _(10 min · 200 °C)_

### Stock

14. Move all the bones and vegetables into the stockpot.
15. Pour 250 ml of the water onto the hot trays. Scrape off all the brown residue.
16. Pour the liquid from the trays into the stockpot.
17. Add cold water until it covers the bones by 50 mm.
18. Heat slowly on medium-low heat for about 45 min. Do not let it boil. _(45 min)_
19. Remove the grey foam from the surface as it rises.
20. Add the peppercorns, the thyme and the bay leaves.
21. Hold at a light simmer for 10 h with the lid off. _(600 min · 89 °C · Simmering)_
   > A light simmer is 88 °C to 90 °C. One slow bubble breaks the surface every 1 to 2 seconds. A longer time does no harm.
22. Add hot water when the bones show above the surface.

### Finish

23. Pour the stock through a fine-mesh sieve. Do not press the solids.
24. Divide the stock into shallow containers. Refrigerate until the fat sets solid. _(240 min)_
25. Remove all of the solid fat from the surface.

## Notes

### The lamb flavour is in the fat _(science)_

The typical lamb flavour comes mostly from branched-chain fatty acids, such as 4-methyloctanoic acid. These dissolve in fat. They are concentrated in lamb fat and in the marrow.

Three steps keep the lamb in the background:

- Cut the visible fat off the lamb bones before they roast.
- Roast the lamb for 20 min only. Browned lamb fat tastes stronger.
- Remove all of the solid fat cap from the cold stock.

Some of these acids dissolve into the water over 10 h. A small lamb note stays in the stock. The pepper, the merlot and the demi-glace in the braise cover it.

Conditions: fat trimmed before roasting · 20 min roast for the lamb · fat cap removed cold

### Start the stock cold so the foam can be removed _(science)_

Bring the stock up from cold water over about 45 min.

The soluble proteins of the bones set slowly as the temperature rises. They join into large grey rafts on the surface, which a ladle can remove.

If the bones go into hot water, these proteins set at once as very small particles. The particles stay in the liquid and the stock is cloudy.

Conditions: cold water start · about 45 min to 88 °C · medium-low heat