Chicken and Beef Stock

3 pounds chicken backs and necks.
3 quarts of cold water.
4 celery stalks, chopped.
6 carrots, sliced thick, no need to peel.
2 yellow onions, peeled and quartered.
8 black peppercorns.

Add all the ingredients to a pot. Bring to a simmer. Froth will form on the top when it first starts to simmer. Skim this froth and discard. Continue to simmer for 2 hours. Strain out the non liquid ingredients and that's it.

Beef Stock

5 pounds bare beef bones, cut into 2 inch pieces.
1 bunch of carrots, sliced thick and unpeeled.
1 bunch of celery, coarsely chopped.
3 yellow onions, unpeeled and quartered.

Start this recipe early in the day. Its easy but it must stay on the stove for a long time. Thus I usually make a whole bunch at once. As a guideline, 1 pound of bones will yield 1 quart of stock. Adjust the amount of vegetables according to how much bone you are using.

Most butcher chops sell bare rendering bones. These are the bones they remove from many of the cuts of meat they sell. Since they have no meat, they should be very cheap. And the butcher will usually cut them into 2 inch pieces at no charge. Most supermarkets also sell something called soup bones. These usually have some meat attached to them and are more expensive. Bare bones are better and cheaper.

Roast the bones uncovered in 400 degree oven for about 2 hours. They should be a toasty brown, not black. Place the bones in a large soup pot, add the vegetables, and 5 quarts of water. Bring to a simmer and cook for 12 hours. Yes twelve, that was not a typo. Add water occasionally to keep the soup at the same initial water level. Strain out all the non liquid ingredients.

Place the stock in the refrigerator overnight and the fat will float to the top. For a very low fat stock discard this layer. IMPORTANT: If you plan to freeze the stock you may discard the fat and then freeze. If you plan to keep it in the refrigerator and use the stock within a few days DO NOT remove the fat layer. You may remove the fat prior to actually using, but keeping the fat layer on while in the refrigerator will actually seal in the flavor and allow it to keep fresh for a few days.