BACK TO ALL RECIPES

Beef, Pork, Lamb, or Veal Stock

Aya Brackett

BY Mark Bittman

PUBLISHED July 29, 2025

Meat stocks are less versatile than chicken or vegetable: Beef is the most useful option; I wouldn’t make pork or lamb stock unless I had a specific use in mind. But they’ll keep in the freezer for at least three months, so if you’ve got some meaty bones, go for it. You can use chicken stock in a recipe if you don’t have beef stock, but I’d rather use water than canned beef stock, which is essentially useless.

 

The following may contain affiliate links for which we earn a small commission. Thank you for supporting us in this way!
Print

Beef, Pork, Lamb, or Veal Stock

Prevent your screen from going dark

Makes about 14 cups 1x

Time at least 3 hours, largely unattended

Units Scale

Ingredients

  • 3 to 4 pounds meaty beef, pork, lamb, or veal bones, like shank, shin, tail, or short ribs
  • 2 onions, chopped (don’t bother to peel)
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 2 celery stalks, chopped
  • 1 bay leaf
  • At least 10 sprigs fresh parsley (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
  • 3 whole cloves
  • 10 peppercorns

Instructions

  1. Rinse the bones well under cold running water, then put them in a large stockpot. Add the onions, carrots, celery, bay leaf, parsley if you’re using it, cloves and peppercorns. Add about 16 cups water, enough to cover by a couple of inches.
  2. Bring just to a boil, then partially cover and adjust the heat so the mixture just barely bubbles. Cook, skimming off any foam that accumulates at the top, until the meat falls from the bones and the bones separate from one another, 2 to 3 hours.
  3. Cool slightly, then strain, pressing on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Skim off any fat and use the stock immediately. Or let cool, refrigerate, skim off any hardened fat from the surface, and use within 4 or 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

– How to Cook Everything: Completely Revised Twentieth Anniversary Edition

Log in, or become a member today.

Join in: enjoy 7 days free, plus 40% off your first year with access to 1,000+ highly vetted recipes from the How To Cook Everything series and beyond, essays from Mark, and original pieces from our contributors.

Join annually and save 40%
Log in to your account

GetBetterFasterHealthierSmarterTastier

in the Kitchen

Through our (more than a thousand, and growing) highly vetted recipes from the How to Cook Everything series, original food essays and reporting, thoughtful podcast conversations and introductions to new and responsible food products, we aim to showcase what’s possible, from farm to fork, and power a growing movement that encourages people to think about food not as a commodity, but as central to our health and happiness.

Start your free trial

We hope you join us on this journey. We’d love to have you as a part of the Bittman community. As a member, you'll have access to:

  • New recipes every week
  • 1000s of recipes from How to Cook Everything and beyond
  • First access to in-person events with Mark and Kate
  • Exclusive discounts from our favorite brands
  • Q&As with Mark and the team

 

Subscribe to our free newsletter

Join over 105,000 passionate individuals who receive our weekly emails. It’s 100% free and you can unsubscribe anytime. Plus, we’ll email you a sampling of what premium members receive on a weekly basis.