Preparing To Make My First White Stock

All of my culinary textbooks start with preparing a few different kinds of stocks. As a chef, one needs to learn to do this and develop an understanding of the "mother" sauces that is used in grande, classic and some nouvelle cuisines. A good homemade stock is the base of the mother sauces and has many applications for adding silky, velvety texture and flavor to your dishes.

So I have purchased a 12 quart stock pot complete with the steam and immersion baskets as these will come in handy for straining. The other items I (and you if you are following) will need to aquire:

8-12 Large Glass Canning Jars, caps and lids (run through the dishwasher one time)
Cheesecloth
Twine
2 Bricks
1 bag of Ice
Large Ladle
16 lbs. beef bones (or combination beef and veal)
1 lb. onion, chopped large chunks
1/2 lb. parsnip, chopped large chunks
1/2 lb. celery, chopped large chunks
dried thyme and bay leaf for bouquet garni

(Note: the simmering is going to take 8-10 hours. The mirepoix  (veggies) need to be chopped large because of the long simmering time).

I will let you know how the acquisition of 16 lbs. of beef bones is a success.