STOCK

HI. II TRIED TO MAKE SOME STOCK. I USED VEAL SHANKS LEFT OVER FROM OSSO BUCCO. ADDED WATER THYME, ONIONS, GARLIC, WHITE WINE, TOMATOES, PEPPERCORNS. RUDUCED TO HALF. STRAINED IT AND REDUCED IT AGAIN. IT WA BITTER. ANYONE KNOW WHY? USED BONES HAD SOME MARROW IN THE CENTER. THANKS

did you burn the bones? for any other ingredients, while browning? One speck of burnt... will make it bitter....

Tomato paste is usually used and helps sweeten......disagree with carol.....I caramelize the veg, bones and paste. Very commonly it will have very dark bits that could be considered black.....one method for sauce I learned in France was to half an onion and burn it face down on the flat-top.

[This message has been edited by cheflyone (edited November 24, 1999).]

I actually agree with Thomas Keller (french laundry) Ususally I prefer not to roast the bones but to blanch... The stock is purer and cleaner... and never bitter. Nothing is worse than nursing a stock for hours...straining, skimming, straining, skimming ... to have bitter stock because your bones were a little too black or your onions were a little black. Black is burnt.
Stocks are so crucial and really deserve such special attention.. I agree that tomatoes and tomato paste really sweetens the stock. celery often makes it bitter, too, though.

And don't use stock making as an excuse to use up garbage. Onion skins, carrot peelings ,etc. all make a stock taste bitter. If you wouldn't eat the stuff going into your stock, don't put it in.

thanks for all your responses. i will try again with out skins of onions. happy holidays faith