Simple Lamb Stock

5 (1)

Stock is one of those essential ingredients to have in your house if you’re serious about making some delicious home cooking. The most typical Stocks, and those used the most are Chicken, Beef and even Veal. However, a much passed over Stock but just as tasty is Lamb Stock. We’ve got a super Simple Lamb Stock recipe to ensure you’ve always got some handy for that next delicious meal you’re looking to ramp up

The key to Stock is, of course, saving those delicious bones. Stock is essentially formed by drawing out all of the delicious fatty flavor from the bones of meals you’ve previously eaten. Comparing adding Stock to a recipe vs. simply adding water is just a no-contest. Stock adds so much depth of flavor, as well as a richness and body to sauces that you simply cannot get with water

So, be sure to save all of your bones after you’ve eaten them to prepare some yummy stock. If you want, we highly recommend cooking our amazing 10 hour slow cooked Lamb Shoulder recipe (link to recipe here). Save the bones from that recipe and use them in this great Lamb Stock!

How to make this Simple Lamb Stock

There are a few ways to make Stock and Broths these days. A very popular option is the use of Pressure Cookers and Instant Pots. We’re actually big fans of those, and have several recipes including our Chicken Broth and Beef Broth which both use the Instant Pot

However, there is nothing like preparing good quality homemade Stock the old-fashioned way, which is what we’re doing with this Simple Lamb Stock Recipe. The technique has been around for centuries, and it involves patience and time. Yep! This recipe will take about 6 – 7 hours to complete. But trust us, it’s well worth the wait

Also, the good news is that the recipe does take a long time to make, for the vast majority of that time you actually don’t need to do anything. You’re either roasting ingredients in the oven or boiling them on the stovetop. So, you can prepare this dish in the morning and have it ready for cooking in yummy meals well before dinner time

Roast the Lamb Bones along with some Vegetables

The first step in preparing a classic Lamb Stock is to roast the ingredients at a relatively high temperature, in this case 400F, in the Oven. For our recipe we’re simply adding some Onions and Carrots along with the Lamb Bones, however another popular ingredients to include in Stock is Celery. There’s no real need to peel the skin away from the Carrots or Onions, as ultimately we’ll be straining everything, so just keep them on

The roasting process is important as it helps to caramelize the ingredients. As you all know, caramelizing things equals loads of flavor! Don’t be too concerned if the vegetables are starting to go very dark, this is a good thing as we’re trying to get that beautiful caramelization from them

Once the ingredients have been roasted you place them all into a large Pot that is filled with water to cover everything. A critical step we encourage everyone to follow is to ensure you scrape as much of the bits of meat and vegetables that have stuck to the roasting tray. These pieces, similarly, to gravy, bring so much flavor with them. So, make sure they’re added to the pot

You then cover the Pot and bring the mixture to a simmer, and thus begins the 6 hour wait! This step is basically transferring all that delicious flavor of the Lamb and vegetables into the water, turning it into a Stock. This step can’t be rushed, so just set it and forget it. Most restaurants make huge batches of Broth most days, and this would be one of the first steps they take once they get into the kitchen

Strain that Broth once it’s ready

After the 6 hours the Water would have absorbed as much flavor as possible from the Lamb and Vegetables. So simply remove the large bones and vegetables, and then strain the liquid into a large bowl through a sieve. We like to strain the liquid a couple of times, first through a sieve and secondly through a sieve lined with Cheesecloth

The Cheesecloth gives a super-fine strain, which will remove any little bits and pieces in the liquid. What you’re left with is a super smooth Lamb Stock that’s ready to be used in cooking

You’ll find that the Lamb Stock when cooled will turn into an almost jelly-like consistency. Don’t be put off by the weird texture and looks, this means its great quality! All the fat and collagen from the Lamb has made its way into the Stock, which is why it has that lovely jelly-like texture. It will help to thicken up sauces when cooked, so you want your stock to be jelly-like

Use what you need and place the rest in the freezer for future use

Stock is one of those ingredients that is simply critical for cooking. It’s just as vital as Salt in the ingredients that it’s utilized in. However, unlike almost every other staple ingredient in the kitchen, Stocks shelf life isn’t ideal. You can’t just keep it in the refrigerator until the next time you want to use it. It’ll go bad after just a few days of refrigeration. So, for such a vital ingredient, maintaining it is important to ensure you always have access to good quality Stock when you need it

We recommend cooking up a large batch just like in this recipe. Use what you need, and then freeze the rest. Stock will freeze very well and can keep for months in the freezer. A good technique is to pour individual 1 cup portions of the Lamb Stock into their own separate Ziploc bags

Label the bags, then place them flat in the freezer. This way you can stack a bunch of them on top of each other without taking up too much space. Whenever a recipe calls for Stock, you’ve got them ready to go!

Simple Lamb Stock Recipe

Ingredients

• 3-4 lbs. Lamb Bones and any Lamb Scraps
• 2 Carrots, halved
• 2 large Onions, halved
• Water
  
  
  You will also require Cheesecloth to strain the stock along with a fine sieve. You can make do without the Cheesecloth but it will definitely deliver you a better final result
  
  

Instructions

1. Scatter the Lamb Bones, Scraps, Carrots and Onions evenly across a large roasting tray. Roast in the oven set to 400 degrees for 40 – 50 minutes
2. Remove the Ingredients from the Oven and set aside. Scrape all the residual meat and vegetable bits stuck to the roasting tray and store alongside the Lamb and Vegetables. These are packed full of flavor, so we want to keep these in the stock!
3. Place the roasted ingredients into a large pot and fill with water, just submerging all of the ingredients. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce to a very low simmer
4. Continue to simmer for 4 – 5 hours at this low temperature. No need to remove the lid and stir. Just leave it! What could be simpler
5. When done, turn off the heat and skim the scummy, fatty parts of the stock off the top with a spoon or ladle. Try to get as much as you can and discard
6. Remove any large pieces of bone and vegetables and discard. Then, place the cheesecloth into your sieve and carefully pour the Stock through it into a large bowl
   
   

The stock will be quite hot so leave it at room temperature until it’s cooled enough to handle. Use whatever you need in your cooking and then, when cooled, cover with cling film and refrigerate overnight

Once the stock has refrigerated there will be a layer of fat that has formed on top. Discard that layer and then store the remaining stock in the freezer for later use. It can keep for months, so store in individual 1 cup Ziploc bags for later use

This Lamb Stock can be used in a lot of beautiful dishes and sauces. For example, it creates an amazing Sauce in this Lamb Empanadas with Caramel Sauce (recipe here). Happy cooking!