Capon and Beef Broth, grandma’s recipe, a flavorful broth with mixed meats perfect for tortellini, risottos, tagliolini, passatelli, or simply to enjoy with good homemade bread.

Capon and Beef Broth just like grandmas make it, a right mix of flavorful meats to make a good beef broth, aromatic and tasty.

The secrets to a good broth are many but all simple: the right types of meat, mixed white and red meat, and the presence of bone and cartilage; vegetables and herbs; patience, it cannot be made quickly, a good broth must cook slowly and for a long time to encapsulate all the best of its ingredients.

What recipes can you make with a good meat broth? At Christmas but also throughout the rest of the year, tortellini in broth are a must. It is also perfect for passatelli, pasta with Sicilian meatballs, tagliolini, a Milanese risotto, or any other risotto. In short, you are spoiled for choice.

Moreover, grandmas used to make Capon and Beef Broth in large quantities, sometimes clarifying it by removing the fat and freezing it in portions, so it was always ready to use in different preparations.

Let’s see some recipes…

Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Medium
Preparation time: 20 Minutes
Portions: 3 quarts of broth
Cooking methods: Boiling
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

Ingredients

1.1 lb capon
1.1 lb veal shank
1.1 lb beef (with bone)
1.5 gal water
2 carrots
1 onion
1 celery stalk
2 leaves bay leaf
1 clove garlic
8 cherry tomatoes
1 sprig parsley
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp whole peppercorns

Steps

The first thing to do to make a good capon and beef broth is to rinse all the pieces of meat under running water to remove impurities and small bone fragments. Additionally, if you wish, you can remove any hairs on the capon’s skin by passing it near a stove flame over the entire surface.
At this point, fill the pot with cold water, add the vegetables, herbs, meat, and salt.
Turn on the heat and let it cook for about two hours over medium flame.
It is not necessary to add oil, as the fat will be released from the inserted meat.
To make the broth lighter, it is necessary to skim it by occasionally removing the foam, especially during the initial boiling stage.
After the two hours, add one more quart of water, lower the heat to minimum, and continue cooking for another hour.
At this point, you can use the broth as it is, or after removing the meat, you can use it to cook tortellini.
Alternatively, if you desire a lighter and clearer broth, you can filter it through a thin cloth or cheesecloth.
Another way to remove fat is to prepare the broth well in advance, let it cool completely, and store it in the refrigerator.
The next day, a thick white layer will have formed on the surface, consisting of all the solidified fats, which will be easy to remove and discard with a spoon.
I use this last method before freezing the broth in half-quart portions.