Last Sunday at 7.45am I rolled out of bed and into the kitchen. I unloaded and rinsed a $2 bag of bones, patted them dry, smeared on tomato paste, sprinkled flour and threw them in the oven,  later adding another tray with onions, carrots and celery.  After an hours cooking and turning the bones they looked like a million bucks. I restrained myself from going at them then and there for a full on gnaw.

It took my best Tetris skills to arrange the bones and fill the gaps in with veges to just fit them all in my biggest pot. I filled the pot to the brim with cold water and let it do its thing. It was around this time I realised our biggest pot is rubbish for this task as the handles are bolted to the pot and the stew leaks out here. Luckily as the stock thickened these holes began to clog, and the problem diminished.

The recipe calls for the pot to simmer for 8-10 hours. At about 7 hours I realised I would have to stop in order to finish the demi-glace in one day. the solids were put aside(read: gnawed on) and the stock sieved, strained and some put aside. The rest earmarked for the demi-glace. At this stage around half a bottle of wine and some chopped shallots were getting acquainted in the wonderful cast iron of the Le Creuset.

Later the stock was added back in and the remaining mixture reduced, stirred, reduced.. for another 4 hours.

It took over 12 hours in total, filled the house with warmth and delicious smells and provided me with rich stock and demi-glace for dishes to come.

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