I seriously heart stock.  Learning to make stock has really upped the nutritional ante in my kitchen.  Now that I can make my own, for pennies, it has become a daily staple in our diets.  The other day, I made a beef stock that was unbelievable.  Thanks to some grassfed beef bone and my beloved Instant Pot, it was easy peasy.

We had Mexican Beef with potatoes for dinner.  This recipe is amazinly delish and super easy to toss together.  I used a cut of boiling beef, becasue that’s what I had, and it had two nice bones, so I decided to use them for stock.

The Mexican Beef left a bit of delicious gravy behind, so I didn’t even bother to rinse out the pot.  Why waste all that goodness??  I put the bones back into the pot and filled it to the “MAX” line.  In the sized Instant Pot that I have, this gives my about a gallon of rich stock.

Since the gravy from the beef was still in the pot, I opted to not add anything besides the water.  Nonetheless, it would have benefited from a healthy dash of salt.

I set the IP on Manual Mode to 120 minutes and go about my life.  Two hours later, rich stock is waiting for me!

I tried my hand at pressure canning (NOT in an Instant Pot, but in a pressure canner) a while back and not I can’t look back!  After the stock is finished and ready to be stored, I fire up the pressure canner.

I fill the canner with the manufacturer recommended amount of water and let the water come to a simmer, with the lid on loosely.

While the canner warms up, I sterilize and warm clean jars in a 170* oven, along with the lids and rings.  When they’re warm, I quickly fill them, clean the rim, place a lid, and twist on a ring.  I load the pressure canner and let it come up to 10# pressure.  Then I can turn the heat down a bit and hold it at pressure from 20-25 minutes.

After the time is up, I turn off the heat and let the pressure in the canner come down naturally.  This can take a loooong time, so be patient.  I generally leave it to the next morning.  Then I can open it, rinse the jars, and put them away in the cupboard.

And now we have plenty of stock set aside for when ever the meal or the fancy strikes.  Meal time is so much simpler when a few small preparations are made in advance!