Game stock

Ingredients for 8 servings:

• 2 kg bones and trimmings of game (roe deer, wild boar, stag, fallow deer)
• 40 ml oil
• 2 onions with skin, roughly chopped
• 1 bunch soup vegetables, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 5 grains of allspice
• 10 juniper berries
• 1 tsp thyme, dried
• 1 tsp coriander
• 4 bay leaves, fresh or 2 dried
• 3 carnations
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 250 ml red wine, strong
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp mustard
• 1 tbsp cranberries
• Salt

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Cooking/baking time approx. 8 hours; Total time approx. 9 hours

Basic recipe for a strong stock as a sauce base

Preheat the oven to 250°C. Arrange the bones and trimmings in a deep roasting pan and baste with oil. Roast in the oven until nicely browned. This takes about 20-30 minutes. Then add the chopped vegetables and onion. Sprinkle with sugar (this helps to create a better browning) and continue cooking at 200°C for about 45 minutes. Occasionally add a little water and let it reduce. Add the spices during the final basting. Mix the red wine with the mustard, cranberries, and tomato paste and baste. Add the diced tomatoes and simmer for another 20-30 minutes. Then transfer the contents of the baking tray to a large pot. Fill with cold water up to the top of the bones, sprinkle in the salt, and bring to a boil. Then simmer gently, but not boiling, for about 2 hours. Skim off any foam that forms. Strain the contents through cheesecloth into a smaller pot. Reduce this liquid by half while gently simmering with the pan uncovered (this yields approximately 2 liters of stock). This can take up to 3 hours. Then let the stock cool (preferably overnight in the refrigerator). Remove the hard fat and freeze the stock in portions. I calculate 250 ml of stock for 4 portions of sauce (as a guideline), deglazing the meat juices with red wine/port wine/Madeira beforehand.