What bones do you use for Beef and Pork Stock?

Me also.... they look delicious....

Some outstanding information in this thread!

dougmays.   Me too!

 All my life I've made homemade chicken & turkey stock, but it was lacking something, (I didn't know what), no matter how many veggies bone and such, nor how long I simmered and etc.  Found this turmeric hint on you tube about 3-4 years ago.  It said nothing about flavor, just that it was cheaper than Saffron to color a stock or sauce.  So I bought some just to try the color thing.  Low and behold, it also added the missing flavor!

So.... I posted it in our family forums, thinking I had made a great discovery!  LOL 

My goofy older sister said she had ran across that tip years ago.  Now why wouldn't she tell all of us, I'll never know.  But I still love her.

Just buy a little stubby container.  It will last a long time.  Doesn't take much to color or flavor.

When I first started, I used too much do to bad lighting over stove.  Later I cooked some chicken breast in that stock, to make a chicken and noodle dish.  They were the yellowest chicken breasts and noodles you ever saw!  LOL

I just re-read thread and realized I had erroneously typed in this post.  http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/171627/what-bones-do-you-use-for-beef-and-pork-stock#post_1269932 which read 1 to 4 days of cooking.

On cooking time, it should have read 1 to 2 days.  My apologies.

I just made chicken using chicken feet purchased at a local Asian market.  The stock after cooling was like jello and the taste was wonderful.  No more boxed stuff for me.  Next up, beef stock, but having trouble locating beef bones.  

A few days ago I found some nice meaty crosscut beef shanks. I roasted them to brown them, then put them in a crockpot with the usual stock vegetables and water. I let that go until the meat was pull-apart tender. I had only two big bones to find, that was easy. I replaced the vegetables, shredded the meat, and made a hearty beef stew.

I live back in Mid Michigan now, and it a terrible place to live, if you are looking for deals on meat.

No beef farms around me.  (No dairy farms either, if looking for raw milk source)   No butchering places, nearer than 60 miles from me.  Frustrating!    And the prices the stores charge for cross cut beef bones is horrible.  Almost as much as the meat itself.  Crazy!

I miss not living in northern Michigan. 

There was a guy up there, who owned a beef farm with his Dad.

He used to come into my wife's convenience store a lot, and we got bags and bags, of good beef stock bones from him.  FOR FREE! 

Knuckles, cross cut shanks, and what have you.  He was tickled that we would want them, because most people don't want them included with their processing order.

They thought it was just a way to pad the weight and cost more.  They were, and are stupid!  LOL

I sure miss that guy, as well as living up north in Michigan!  It's a great place to be.

Now I'm restricted to using what little bone I get in the beef meat we buy.  So I will use any beef bone I get my hands on, regardless.

I can't afford to buy them at the prices around here.  Plus they usually don't even sell the really good ones with lots of cartilage on them,

and there in NO meat scraps left on the bones either.  Scraped super clean.

My favorite treat (as was my grandfather's, and mother's), is beef bone marrow, spread on hearty bread.  MMMMmmm!   Not too healthy maybe, but Darn Good!  LOL

I also remember buying chicken backs and necks or 11 cents a lb. when I lived in GA. for a couple of years in the early 70's.

I 'd cook them until meat was just done, pull meat off and use in dishes later.  Then cook the bones to make stock and soup with.

When is the last time you ever saw a chicken cut up by hand, (in a store by a butcher) to where all the pieces were separate, and recognizable portions.  Nope!
Now, apparently chicken only grows only in four pieces.  Cut with ban saws, and back is distributed onto breast, thighs and etc.

I also used to buy JUST neck bones of chicken, for stock.  When the last time you saw that at the store?  LOL

So my chances of finding chicken feet for stock around here is nil.  Too bad.

Now downstate further, around the bigger cities, you have a much better chance of finding the stuff I crave, than I do here. 

That includes ethnic markets, restaurants and etc.  I'm kind of jealous of those who live there, but you couldn't PAY me to live in a city.  LOL

Bear55 said:

I just made chicken using chicken feet purchased at a local Asian market.  The stock after cooling was like jello and the taste was wonderful.  No more boxed stuff for me.  Next up, beef stock, but having trouble locating beef bones.  

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Ask the butcher at your grocery store for beef soup bones. All 6 of of our large grocery stores (except that Walmart place) have soup bones. At all of them they aren't out with the meat they are frozen and in the back. One store has them in the freezer where the frozen hamburger patties are.

dirtsailor2003 said:

Ask the butcher at your grocery store for beef soup bones. All 6 of of our large grocery stores (except that Walmart place) have soup bones. At all of them they aren't out with the meat they are frozen and in the back. One store has them in the freezer where the frozen hamburger patties are.

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Thank you, will ask.

dirtsailor2003 said:

Ask the butcher at your grocery store for beef soup bones. All 6 of of our large grocery stores (except that Walmart place) have soup bones. At all of them they aren't out with the meat they are frozen and in the back. One store has them in the freezer where the frozen hamburger patties are.

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I will give that a shot too.  I guess I always just assumed that when they had soup bones out for sale, that they wouldn't give any out for free,

It's worth a shot anyway.

I couldn't find any free bones yet, so I bought some for $1.99 lb.  at two different stores. 

1st store only had long femur bones that were frozen. 

They wouldn't cut the frozen bones smaller.  Too hard on the band saw when frozen.  Hmmm.... why didn't they do it before freezing?

Maybe they were just meant for dog bones.  You sure need a much larger pot than I was planning on using, for 4 or 5 of those bones.

I then stopped at 2nd store.

They were willing to cut the femurs to size I wanted at same price of $1.99 lb.  They were also frozen.  They were out of knuckle joints, so I won't get much collagen out of this batch, but the other nutrients will be in there.  I had to use ALL my will power not to scoop out the marrow onto some toast and eat it, but I want everything leeched into the broth, so I managed to only de-marrow one bone after roasting for tasting purpose.

Due to the long bones I had to use much more liquid to cover, which means a weaker stock, or longer time reducing.  2nd store will be my goto place now for bones.  Shorter bones, less liquid needed to cover = better stock.

Anyway, here they are roasted and just started in the pot.  Will simmer for three days, before canning broth up.  Broth will darken as it absorbes the roasted stuff. Plus tomorrow I will roast the onions, garlic, carrots, celery and add to the pot.  This will also darken the stock more.

What else is there to do, while waiting for cold temps to break for spring, that is healthy, fun, and keeps the house warm with some humidity in it.  LOL

1st day Just started beef bone stock.


2nd Day Beef stock with added veggies.


Some Chicken bone stock, chilling on back porch, waiting for fat removal tomorrow and then canning.

Couldn't find any feet.  Even called some Asian markets in near by cities to no avail.  Bummer!


By-the-way... these both have lids on when not taking pictures.  LOL

Day 3 - canning.


24 pints, Fresh from Pressure cooker!

3 pints of chicken soup
8 pints of chicken stock
13 pints of beef stock (+ two pints in fridge to process later)

(3 pints of chicken soup, 4 pints of chicken stock, and 8 pints of the beef stock, will go up north to our friend undergoing a second back surgery in 10 days.) Debbie is up there now to help her, and take care of her horses.

I had to process 5 pints of stock with the 3 pints of soup for 75 minutes, because it had meat in the three pints.

Rest of the stock processed for 25 minutes.   I know, I know... 20 minutes for pints, and 25 for quarts for stock/broth.
What's 5 extra minutes gonna hurt?    I just processed 5 pints of broth for 75 minutes, when in with the soup. LOL

Here is a warning for lids that come on new jars.

I bought 2 cases of pints with lids and rings. I've always just used the lids that came with them on. NOT ANYMORE!

1st box of jars gave me two "wrinkled" Lids. Don't know how else to describe it.

I didn't notice it before canning, but did notice it after canning.  I had to re-process those two, because I didn't trust the seal.

Here is a pic of one of them.


And the next case of jars I had these bent edges, which I did notice before canning.

Bent edges on lids.


So, my advice is to double check each lid you buy, and never use the ones that comes with the canning jars.

Toss all of them and use new lids in a box.

What brand of jars and lids?

fpmich said:

Here is a warning for lids that come on new jars.

I bought 2 cases of pints with lids and rings. I've always just used the lids that came with them on. NOT ANYMORE!
1st box of jars gave me two "wrinkled" Lids. Don't know how else to describe it.


I didn't notice it before canning, but did notice it after canning.  I had to re-process those two, because I didn't trust the seal.

Here is a pic of one of them.

lid wrinkle.JPG

• fpmich
• Mar 7, 2015

And the next case of jars I had these bent edges, which I did notice before canning.

Bent edges on lids.

Bent lids.JPG

• fpmich
• Mar 7, 2015

So, my advice is to double check each lid you buy, and never use the ones that comes with the canning jars.
Toss all of them and use new lids in a box.

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I often make make full-flavored stock directly in the canning jar (processing time is longer.)
It's much less work and it captures ALL the flavor.

Not the best pic but here's a jar of chicken stock (this is a double stock so it's quite concentrated)......

They were either Ball or Kerr.  That is the only brands I buy. 

I'm guessing Kerr, because of no label on lid that came with the jars.

Kerr seems to label their boxed lids, but not the ones that come in a case of jars.  Must be a reason huh?  LOL 

However they are both made by same supplier now (Jardon).  They are one and the same.  Just different branding.

That's a nice looking jar of stock.  Looks like broth, except I see the bones, so it is stock,  minus any veggie's.

You say double stock.  What do you mean by that? (Process bones with chicken broth added, to quarts?)

Do you process it for only 90 minutes, or did you add extra water to canner and process it longer to draw out all bone value.

fpmich said:

You say double stock.  What do you mean by that? (Process bones with chicken broth added, to quarts?)

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The only experience I have had with double stock is double beef consommé. Basically you make a beef stock like you would regularly do, strain it and then repeat the process. Strain that and clarify with a raft...

Send them a message about the lids (with pics), they'll make it right, they have pretty good customer service....in my experience anyway.

It's double stock in that it's stock, rather than water, added to another batch of bones and such and then processed for 90 minutes which is more than enough time to draw out all the bone value at those temperatures.

I probably could get a box of rings sent to me, but all I was really doing was pointing out to people, NOT to use lids that came on the jars.

1.  They are always sealing and unsealing with temp changes.   It always worried me about jar indentions of those lids.  They put those to strengthen the jar against breakage during transport.  They should put warning label to not use those lids.

2.  They have a rough life during travel and stacking in stores.  I used to drive semi so I know some of the roads those poor jars travel.  LOL

They will travel from 90+* to maybe 20* in a single day.  And then repeat the other way.  If you rode in the back of a semi full of canning jars your ears would hurt from all of the popping.  LOL

Your method vs. my method.  Two ways of obtaining the same thing.   The good stuff from the bones. 

I imagine your way will work just as well as cooking first for a long time, to get everything from bones. 

I also imagine the liquid will still leach out the bones further as they set a few months on the shelf.  But... when you open and use, you have to strain them, add veggies and seasonings and cook some more, to get where you want the stock to taste.

My old way, is to do all that first,... then can. 

Then, when you open a jar, it's already seasoned to taste and has the veggie nutrients in it.  My old way is great if you know you want a distinct chicken soup type flavor.  (which I usually do)

Your way, leaves you more options for use, as it is very clear, and without Sage and Tumeric and veggies flavors.  I think I will can a few using your method.  There are times you don't want that strong chicken flavor.

I've learned something new!  That's why I love these forums.