Recipe for making estouffade, a simple brown stock, at home (Escoffier, 1).

This brown beef stock is the basis for pretty much all other dark sauces in French cooking. It is used as the base stock in sauce espagnole, one of Escoffier’s five mother sauces…

Estouffade

Ingredients
6000g shin of beef on the bone
6000g knuckle of veal (or lean veal trimmings)
1 knuckle of raw ham, blanched
650g fresh pork rind, blanched
650g carrots, roughly chopped
650g onion, roughly chopped
100g fresh parsley
10g fresh thyme sprigs
5g whole, fresh bay leaves
1 clove garlic
14 litres water

Equipment
Salter digital scale
Measuring bowls
Cutting board and kitchen knife
Large stock pots
Wooden spoon
Chinois, strainer or sieve
Spoon or small strainer for skimming
Small bowl
Plastic containers

Total time: Prep: 15 minutes, Cook: 12-15 hours

Yields: 2-4 quarts of stock, depending on how long you simmer it.

From the Book:
1 Estouffade — Brown Stock

Preparation:
Bone out the meats. Break the bones small and lightly brown them in the oven. Fry the carrot and onion brown in a little fat. Prepare the stock by placing these bones, vegetables, ham, pork rind and Bouquet garni into a stockpot, add the cold water, bring to the boil, skim and simmer very gently for at least 12 hours keeping the liquid at the same level throughout this time by adding boiling water as required. Cut the meat into very large dice, fry brown in hot fat and place in a pan. Cover with some of the prepared stock and boil until it is reduced to a glaze; repeat this process two or three times. Add the remainder of the stock, bring to the boil, skim to remove all fat and allow to simmer gently until all the flavour has been extracted from the meat. Pass through a strainer and reserve for use.

Note: When preparing brown stock which includes bones, especially those from beef, it is recommended that the procedure should be in accordance with the above recipe by first preparing a stock from the bones, simmering it gently for 12-15 hours and using it as the liquid for moistening the meat.

It is incorrect to place all the ingredients in the stockpot and fry them together in fat before adding the water as there will be a danger of over-colouring the ingredients thus spoiling the flavour of the stock. In practice the principle of diffusion is sufficient in itself to colour the stock; this is the most natural and suitable method of obtaining the required colour.

A. Escoffier. Le guide culinaire: the complete guide to modern cookery, 1921.