Beef Barley Soup

A few days ago I showed all of you my Prime Rib and I'm looking forward to enjoying another during the holiday season.

Many know that it's not a cheap hunk of beef so, how does one stretch the use of such an expensive cut? Make stock with the leftover bones.

Don't throw out the bones from that Prime Rib after dinner. You can wash/rinse the bones, throw them into a stockpot with about 10 cups of cold water and boil them down for about 2-3 hours. What you'll end up with is a rich, flavourful beef stock which can be used for soups, stews and sauces.

If you simply want to make your own beef stock but do not have a leftover Prime Rib, then you might want to ask your butcher if they sell beef bones (most do). These scraps also have some meat attached to them and you can go straight to making a hearty beef soup when the stock is done.

I usually season the bones with some salt and pepper, preheat the oven to 425F and place them in the middle of the oven on a baking sheet for 1 1/2 - 2 hours to brown, render the fat and break down the meat. I also roast onions, carrots and celery with the beef. Now you have flavour.

When you're done roasting the beef bones, you can once again place them in lots of cold water and boil them down for 2-3 hours.

Both methods will also produce some impurities and fat. You can invest in a fat separater or after your beef stock has cooled to room temperature, place the stock pot in the fridge (or wintery outdoors) for the stock to chill overnight. The next day you will find the fat has risen to form a hardened white "crust", which can simply be skimmed off with a spoon and discarded.

Strain your beef stock and you can immediately use it for a stew, sauce or freeze it for later use. Today, I'm making Beef Barley Soup.

Beef Barley Soup

5 cups of beef stock
hand-shredded beef pieces
4 Tbsp. of vegetable oil
1 onion, roughly diced
1 carrot, diced
1 rib of celery, diced
1 large potato, diced
1/2 cup barley
1 bay leaf
1 Tbsp. of tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste
beef base

1. Place a large pot on a burner with medium-high heat and pour in your vegetable oil, vegetables and bay leaf and saute for 5 minutes. Add your tomato paste and stir in to incorporate and cook through for another five minutes.
2. Add your beef stock and turn the heat up to high and bring to a boil.
3. When you have a boil, add your barley, beef pieces and some beef base to taste. Cover with lid, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 90 minutes.
4. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Enjoy hot on a cold day!
   

Print this post