Lamb Stock

Oh yes! I found some lovely lamb bones on sale at Ver Brugge in Oakland a while back and had them in my freezer. I thought it was high time I did something with them, so I made a big pot of lamb stock. Those of you who are familiar with my blog, know I am a big fan of homemade stock. It is really cheap to make and it tastes far better than anything you can buy at a grocery store, and far less expensive! I got these for a steal-$5 for a big o' bag of lamb bones! I also had some extra pieces of lamb bones from some lamb ribs I made, and some shoulder blades that I had braised and cut the meat off when the meat was very soft. The good thing about using primarily bone is that the meat will usually stick to the bone until you cut it off-so you don't have little particles of lamb floating around in your stock. Which means you don't have to strain your stock so much.


Ingredients
Onions, red or white-quartered (unpeeled)
Garlic, a few cloves to half a head (depending on how much you like garlic)
Ginger, unpeeled, sliced think
Roasted Sichuan Peppercorns
Dried Mikan Peel
Star Anise
lamb bones, preferably with a little meat on them. I used about a large ziplock bag filled with bones.
Dried Onion Peel


For any stock, it is perfectly fine to just cut an onion up and not peel it-the heat of the pan will take the layers off for you! Same goes for garlic-just pop it in whole.



Also, I like to use dried onion peel in stocks. When I am cutting an onion, I will peel off the outermost layer of skin (its paper thin) and just store it in your onion drawer or in a zip lock bag. After a while you will get a drawer full of dried onion peel. You have to be careful about this--make sure it is just the outermost layer on the onion, and make sure it is completely dry when you store it. Otherwise, you will get mold on the skin and will have to throw it out. That would be a waste!








Add a little oil to the stock pot and swish it around to coat the pot evenly. Heat for a few moments, till the oil gets hot, but not smoking.Add the roasted peppercorns and the dried mikan peel. Stir fry for a few minutes until their aroma is release.

Add the onions (and not the dried onion peels) and stir fry for several minutes until the onion begins to separate into individual peels. Add the garlic (also unpeeled) and stir fry for a few minutes. Add the ginger and continue to stir fry. The mixture should become quite fragrant.

Continue to stir fry until the onion have separated into individual peels and have browned a little. Add the star anise.

Add the lamb bones and continue to stir fry for a few minutes.

Add the onion peels, give it a good stir and shut off the heat. Transfer the stock pot to the sink and add water to the pot until all the bones are submerged in water.

Return the stock pot to the range, put the heat to high. Allow the stock to come to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.

Cook for 2 hours on low heat. The stock will take on a dark brown color.

Remove from heat and let the stock rest till it comes to room temperature.

Strain the stock and freeze in ice cube trays (see my post on chicken stock).

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