Beef stock soup or brodo is a simple and popular Sardinian meal, generally served for lunch on Sundays and or mid-week. Homemade beef stock is rich in flavour and less salty than store-bought stock.

Beef stock is a flavoured water preparation and forms the basis of many dishes: soups, sauces, risotto and even pasta dishes. For a richer and fresher-tasting stock use only fresh meats like beef shoulder or shin.

Beef Stock Ingredients

The flavour from the stock comes from the cartilage and connective tissues in the bones and stock made with bones needs to simmer for longer. Stocks are simmered not boiled, if boiled the stock will be cloudy.

The acid in tomato paste helps to break down the connective tissues which helps to accelerate the formation of gelatin. The gelatin may also be spooned away during the cooking process, or when the stock has cooled and the fat floats to the top.

How to make Beef Stock Sardinian Style

• Head to your local supermarket to pick up the vegetables and fresh meat.
• Wash veggies.
• Cut carrots, celery and onion into large chunks. It’s also okay to leave these vegetables in whole.
• Clean parsley and fresh basil.
• Fill a medium-sized cooking pot half with cold water.
• Add meat first and let simmer for a few minutes allowing the fat to rise to the surface. Skim off fat and put into garbage.
• Add carrots, celery, onion, parsley and basil.
• Add one tablespoon of tomato paste.
• Add chili peppers, to taste.

Beef Stock Sardinian Style

• Stir stock.
• Allow stock to simmer on low for 4-5 hours. (Remember – boiling stock will result in a cloudy soup base.)
• Continue to skim from the surface the fat that rises and solidifies. Or, if it’s easier wait until stock is completely cooled to complete this step.

Simmered Beef Stock with gelatin deposits

• When stock is finished simmering, place colander in a large cooking pot and strain stock into pot.
• Put the remaining ingredients: carrots, celery and meat onto another plate and cover. This can be eaten right away, or put in the freezer for a later date.

Things You Need To Make Beef Stock

• Carrots
• Celery
• Onion
• Water
• Patience
• Basil
• Parsley
• Tomato Paste
• Choice meat
• Patience

Plan on using the beef stock the moment it’s ready? Here’s a super simple soup that will warm the body.

• For two people; put 5 ladle spoonfuls into a pot and bring to a boil.
• Add any type of pasta; about 160g. We prefer the tiny pasta Tempestine which is very popular among the Sardinian people.
• And voilà.

Beef Stock Soup The Way The Sards Do It

See the above photo? See how cloudy the stock is? I boiled, I didn’t simmer. Don’t do what I did, simmer your stock for a clearer meal. This was the first time I made beef stock and am pleased with the outcome. I will simmer next time and use less carrots.

Cloudy Jarred Homemade Beef Stock

I am not a professional chef, nor do I play one on the internet. Everything you see and read here has come from my (in)sane head. Use at your own discretion.