The backbone of my kitchen is homemade stock. It’s what makes the difference between a decent enough cook and a deadly serious one. If you’re willing to take the time to make homemade stock you can seriously up your game in the kitchen.

I make two basic stocks: Chicken and Pork. Beef stock is another beast entirely. Easy enough to make in a professional kitchen but quite a difficult road to walk down in a normal home kitchen.

This formula relates to pork stock.

Ingredients:

5 lbs Pork Neckbones or Pig’s Feet (I prefer the feet but the neckbones work fine too)

1 bunch Celery

5 each Bay leaves

3 each Onions,sweet,quartered

3 T. Peppercorns,Black

6 quarts Water,municipal

Method:

Part 1

Heat oven to 300 degrees

Place pork in casserole pan

Roast 2 hours

Place half the vegetables in pan

Roast 1 hour longer

Part 2

Place pork, pepper, all vegetables, both raw and roasted and bay leaves in large vessel

Cover with 6 quarts municipal water

Bring to boil

Dip out 2 cups of boiling liquid and use it to deglaze the pan you roasted the meat and vegetables in (Absolutely crucial step, do not omit, Classic French methodology)

Add deglazing liquid to vessel

Reduce to simmer

Cook for 4 hours

Skim foam off surface as needed

Strain stock into large vessel through colander

Discard vegetable and bone matter

I like to refrigerate my stock at this point and let it sit overnight. In the morning you can remove the layer of fat off the surface and prepare to use your delicious, homemade stock. It’ll last about a week in the fridge or 5-6 months in the freezer.

While I’ll use this stock as a base for just about anything it’s really my primary weapon when making bean dishes. If you like Borracho Beans, Refrieds or Charros then you haven’t lived til you’ve had them prepared with homemade pork stock.

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Hey y’all thanks for checking out my site. I’m a writer living and working in Austin Texas. Here are a few of my favorite articles and recipes I’ve written for this site.

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