Beef stock too sweet?

Hi everyone,

lately I made the CS' pressure cooked beef stock, but with a traditional mirepoix and no tomato paste (which I personally don't like very much). I used onions, carrots, and celery with a ratio of 1:1:0,5 respectively.

Then I reduced the stock in demi-glace (following the CS recipe as well).

The demi had a glorious texture, but came out really sweet, I would say too sweet comparing to past attempts.

Any idea? I read that sweetness can be due to too much carrots, but I usually use this ratio for the mirepoix and seems ok.

Thank you

cicero

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tshewman

The first thing I saw was the carrots and would tend to think it might be sweet (especially if you are using sweet onions). I also tend to use some red wine and do use the tomato paste, but roast the bones with tomato paste rubbed on (like in the SV version I think?). Pepper and thyme also seem to take away from some of the sweetness (IMHO).

HammeredChef_DEFINITELY_does_NOT_work_at_22134

Im with Todd, the acid in the wine and tomato paste as well as roasting off set a lot of the sweetness from the carrots and even regular onions. You should not be able to taste the tomato at all as it lends simply acid and glutamates (for the umami) in the specified quantities

bkeene12

Not sure where you are located (or what temp it is) but carrots harvested in cooler months tend to be sweeter. That said, you might modify your winter stock recipe.

Reference

cicero_69405

Today I tried adding some more reduced red wine to the demi and it got a bit better (but still on the sweet side). Maybe the classic ratio for the mirepoix has to be adjusted with the pressure cooker method . I'll add some tomato paste as well (but less than CS suggestion, with which I find stock comes out a bit too "tomatoey").

Brandon_Byrd_40557

Isn't the classic mirepoix ratio 2:1:1?

cicero_69405

Actually I found both. Escoffier's fond brun recipe calls for an equal amount of onions and carrots.

I should check the the Larousse Gastronomique later. Anyway, probably I'll try 2:1:1

artstype

I think that the danger in such ratios is the variance in the ingredients, particularly the variety of onion. I also prefer a bit of tomato paste. If you are in Europe, some european pastes are 3x more concentrated than in the US. I sometimes roast not only the bones, but also the veggies.