Shin of Beef Stock for Gravies

Ingredients

• 6 lbs. shin of beef
• 9 pints cold water
• 1 oz. salt
• savoury herbs
• 1 teaspoonful peppercorns
• 2 blades mace

Instructions

1. Break the bone of the shin beef in one or two places and remove the marrow.
2. Clarify the marrow if not needed for immediate use and store for future occasions.
3. Put 9 pints of cold water (1½ pints per pound of beef) into a pot with the prepared shin.
4. Stew the beef very gently indeed for six or seven hours, or even longer, until the meat is quite reduced to fragments.
5. During the final hour of cooking, add the salt, a large bunch of savoury herbs, 1 teaspoonful of peppercorns, and 2 blades of mace.
6. Once the meat has become fragments and the stock has reduced to a jelly, strain it carefully.
7. Allow the strained stock to cool completely and clear all fat from the surface.
8. Optionally add bones of calf's feet previously boiled for jelly, liquor from boiled head, or any remains of ham (freed from smoky parts, rust, and excess fat) to enrich the stock.
9. Keep the finished stock in a cool larder and preserve it by boiling it softly for two or three minutes every second or third day, transferring it each time to a clean, well-scalded pan.