Help with stock, please. Where did I go wrong?

I had a go at making beef stock for the first time and something has gone wrong with the flavour, it has an unpleasant, bitter aftertaste. Can anyone tell me what might have caused this, it’s pretty inedible?

I cooked the stock for 48 hours and it had in it:

beef bones;
carrots (unpeeled);
celery;
onion (peeled);
a couple of cloves of garlic (peeled);
some peppercorns;
a couple of bay leaves;
some flat leaf parsley (fresh);
some thyme (fresh);
and some tomato puree

I roasted the bones in the oven, putting the puree on about hallway trough. After removing the bones, I then oven-roasted the vegetables in the same pan, before deglazing the pan with water and adding the fonds to the stock pot.

It smelled fantastic as it cooked, and turned a rich dark brown, so I was expecting good things, but as I say, it went wrong somewhere.

Pic related, the stock in the pot after 48 hrs

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I thought at first it might be because the stock got to more of a boil than a simmer overnight when I was unable to monitor it (when I went back to it in the morning, areas were rolling quite vigorously), and that the fat may have emulsified into it. After cooling, there really was no fat cap at all, just a few large spots. I’ve experienced bitterness in chicken stock when I reduce it quickly on a rolling boil prior to cooling (which resulted in very little fat after cooling), so I fear it may be this. I’ve not made chicken stock since, so I can’t confirm this, though.

However, some articles/threads online have suggested it could be because the stock was cooked too long; that the herbs could have imparted a bitter taste; that it could be the garlic getting overcooked; or even that carrot peel induces bitterness (hence why I mentioned the carrots were unpeeled in the list).

I’m willing to go by a process of elimination, but don’t want to waste good bones, so are any of you guys able to give me some advice, please?

Many thanks

Pic related, the stock after cooling in the fridge overnight.

looks burnt.

looks like you boiled off the water.

my guess is you cooked the herbs too long. I tend to add them in the last 30 minutes or so max.

Why 48 hours? I would do 12 hours max but I would personally cook it for less than 6.

Vegetables definitely exhibit bitterness if cooked too long, as do some herbs - particularly in the vegetable peel but I know you've removed those so I would guess herbs..

I wouldn't have cooked it for so long, whenever I do it I only simmer it for a max of 6 hours and get gorgeous tasting stock, also peel all your veg as the skins can cause a bitter taste.

The vessel is very deep, a regular stock pot and there are two layers of bones, so 90% were still submerged, and I only let the level drop in the last few hours. Thanks for the suggestion, though.

this, making stock requires a really low flame especially when you're going to do it for extended period like 48 hours.

never add any herbs while making stock it will always ruin it. Add herbs fresh at the end!

Also add water and keep tasting. It's not like hey lets put it on wait 48 hours and walla it's done. No you have to keep tasting until it's right thats the correct way.

Most recipes I read stated that it should be 18 to 24 hours, but a few stated that it takes two days for all the flavour to come out. This one in particular
youtu.be/GrSpTrodD-w
(sorry, am on phone)
I will reduce to 18 and drop the veg and herbs in later.
Does anyone think this emulsification of fat is a possibility?

The heat was tiny,but thanks for the suggestion on when to put in the herbs.

Meh fair one, was just speaking from personal experience, then again I've only ever made chicken and fish stock as I don't eat red meat.

simmered too long.

you can brew bones for 48 hours, although that's retarded, but veg and herbs can't take it and they break down and get bitter.

rule of thumb: 2 hours at a boil gets all the flavor out, 4-8 hours at a low simmer(195-200F) gets all the nutrients out. after that you're overcooking it.

there's nothing you can do to save it. you can try and reduce it and make a simple sauce to test it out, but it's 90% not going to taste good. lesson learned

Remember that you always need to trust your intuition rather than recipes, which are often very dated.

Next time, don't add any vegetables until the last hour, no matter how long you're cooking the stock.

Also, roast the bones as dark as you can get them then simmer. Skim the scum and taste the stock as you go along. You might find that in much less time the stock actually tastes good and beefy. You can simmer longer if you're trying to draw a lot of gelatin from the bones.

You can also make a pure beef stock and a separate vegetable stock then combine the two when they're both finished.

As always watch your fat content when you make stock. Unless you're using sophisticated stuff like the old school egg white raft or the more recent ice filtration method, the fat and unskimmed impurities will cloud the stock and kill its freshness.

OP here, anybody have any idea why there was so little fat cap after cooling?

Depends on how much fat was on the bones to begin with and how much was left after it rendered out when you roasted them.

veggies and the bay leaf get bitter if you do them for more than 12 hours.

French Master race here.

To make stock, you take bones with some small meat on them, vinegar, cuttings of vegetable like onion, carrot, calory.

the vinegar is important it draws out the nutrients and flavour. You should not add hers to it they are long dead after 24-48 hours simmoring the bones. why the fuck would you add tomatoe puree?

I think the main recipe I was looking at said tomato puree, but I'm not at my place at the moment to check. I'll leave it out, but do you think it is part of the bitterness or you just don't think beef stock should have tomato in it?

To me, that is not stock. Stock is the bone protein and meat juices in water. The vinegar makes the juices extract better, the vegetables are just for sugar. You should not use tomatoe puree as the stock is and ingrediant you add to things and tomtoe is not needed sometimes.

I've heard of painting tomato paste on the bones before you roast them, or even just flat out roasting the paste on a pan for color (mostly), but not tomato puree...

Anyways you should read escoffier, the opening chapter is all about stocks and you'll get a good picture from it.

Yes, that's exactly what I did, apply the tomato puree to the bones, halfway through the roast.
Thanks for the suggestion re Escoffier, I shall check it out.

But yeah, it was tomato puree, so maybe that was a bit of a mistake. Isn't the difference between puree and paste just thickness and concentration? I used quite a bit less puree than the paste I've seem people use
Pic related, the bones after roasting, you can see some puree on them.
I shall consider leaving it out, though, or looking for paste.

Okay, thanks for the advice, how much vinegar should I use? A tsp for a regular sized stock pot? Or more?
I assume white wine vinegar would be okay?

Don't add spices next time. Beef, vegetables, water. That's it.
Use a pressure cooker next time, if you can. You'll get a lot more out of your bones with less cooking. Otherwise, don't go over 24 hours next time.