Pressure Cooker Beef Stock For Full GAPS

Pressure-cooker beef stock gives you a savory base for soup and gravy without keeping a stockpot at a simmer all afternoon. This version starts with raw, meaty beef bones, carrots, leeks and onion. The finished liquid tastes of beef with a mild sweetness from the vegetables, and the soft meat is worth saving for a meal.

Stock has always had a practical place in our house. What goes into the pot changes with the budget, what is on sale and what is already in the fridge. Starting a pot in the morning was the routine that made GAPS doable for us. With homeschooling before second-shift work, I want to know what needs my attention and when. A pressure cooker shortens the cooking cycle, but it still needs time to heat, release pressure and cool afterward. Those parts belong in the plan too.

The method here follows Rachael Mamane’s Mastering Stocks and Broths: half the vegetable-and-beef proportions from her roasted beef stock, prepared with her separate all-in-the-pot pressure-cooker method. Homemade ghee replaces the grapeseed oil. The ingredients go in raw for this pressure version; there is no roasting or browning step.

Ingredients

• 3 pounds raw meaty beef neck or leg bones, with meat and connective tissue attached
• ½ pound white onions, cut into large dice
• ½ pound leeks, dark green parts removed, washed and cut into large dice
• ⅜ pound carrots, washed and cut into large dice
• ½ head garlic, split across the cloves
• 1½ sprigs fresh thyme
• 1½ sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ tablespoon whole black peppercorns
• 1½ tablespoons homemade ghee
• Filtered water, enough to cover within the cooker’s pressure-fill limit
• Natural sea salt, to taste

The carrots weigh 6 ounces, which is the same as ⅜ pound. Weighing the vegetables is easier than guessing how many small carrots or thick leeks make the right amount. For the herbs, one whole sprig plus half another keeps this small batch in proportion. Save the remaining herbs for another meal.

Ask for pieces with a good amount of raw meat around the bone, along with joint and connective tissue. Bare marrow bones alone do not make the same GAPS meat stock. Have the butcher cut large pieces to fit comfortably inside your pot. An optional calf’s foot appears in Mamane’s larger stock recipe; it is omitted from this batch.

Wash between the layers of the leeks, where grit can hide. Use the white and light green portions after removing the dark tops. The vegetables are strained out afterward, but they still flavor the stock. Leave the peppercorns whole so the strainer can catch them.

How To Make Pressure Cooker Beef Stock

1. Rinse the raw meaty beef pieces with cool water. Put them in the pressure cooker’s cooking pot with the onion, leek, carrot, garlic, thyme, parsley, bay leaf, peppercorns and ghee. Add natural salt to taste. Pour in enough filtered water to cover, keeping the entire contents below the pressure-cooking MAX line. Follow the appliance’s minimum-liquid requirement. If the ingredients cannot fit with covering water below that line, divide the batch rather than overfill.
2. Fit and lock the pressure lid, with the valve in its sealing position. Cook at full pressure for 50 minutes. On a Ninja Foodi FD401, select PRESSURE, choose HI, set 50 minutes, then press START/STOP. The countdown begins after the cooker reaches pressure.
3. At the end of cooking, turn off Keep Warm and let the cooker depressurize naturally and cool before opening. Do not force the lid or use a quick release for this method. Open only when the pressure indicator has dropped and the lid releases normally, keeping your face away from the remaining steam.
4. Line a fine-mesh strainer with clean cheesecloth and set it over a large, clean, heatproof container. Gently ladle the stock through it, leaving cloudy sediment at the bottom of the pot. Reserve the soft meat and edible connective tissue, separating them carefully from the hard bones. Taste the strained stock and adjust the salt.
5. Cool the stock rapidly in an ice bath, stirring the liquid to release heat. Transfer it to the refrigerator when it no longer steams. Divide a large batch into smaller containers to help it cool. Once chilled, keep the natural fat with the stock, or reserve it for cooking. Refrigerate for up to 2 days, or freeze smaller portions for longer storage.

There is little to watch while the lid is locked, so the useful checks come before and after cooking. Before closing it, check the fill line against the whole contents, not just the visible water. A bone sticking above the liquid still takes up space. Keep the valve and pressure lid clear and correctly fitted according to your manual.

After opening, the beef should be soft enough to pull from the bones rather than tough and tightly attached. The cooked vegetables will be softened and faded. Ladle gently instead of tipping everything through the sieve at once. That leaves more of the fine sediment behind and helps keep the liquid clearer.

Expect a warm beef aroma with the onion, leek and garlic in the background. This is an unroasted stock, so a deep mahogany color is not the goal. Its shade depends on the beef and vegetables. A little natural fat may gather on top, and a chilled portion may form a soft gel. The amount of water and connective tissue affects how firmly it sets.

Where It Fits On GAPS

This vegetable-seasoned version is for Full GAPS. It begins with raw meaty bones and joints, rather than a second cooking of bare bones left from dinner. The GAPS distinction matters when you choose a stock: meat stock and long-cooked bone broth have different roles in the protocol.

The 2020 Gut and Physiology Syndrome book delays bone broth for at least a year, and for some people for several years. That does not mean every homemade liquid called “stock” online is suitable at every stage. Look at the ingredients and method behind the name.

For the Introduction Diet, use the separate stovetop beef meat stock instructions, with their early-stage herb preparation, rather than treating this Full GAPS vegetable-and-ghee batch as an automatic Intro recipe. The cuts, seasonings and cooking method differ, so that post has its own complete recipe.

This stock contains vegetables even after they are strained out. It is not a No-Plant stock. It can supply the beef base for meals on Full GAPS, including a more plant-focused plate, but it remains an animal food. For a dairy-free batch, the same amount of beef tallow can replace the ghee; keep every other ingredient and the pressure method the same.

Using And Storing The Stock

Measure the finished, strained stock when adding it to another recipe. The starting water level is not the final yield. Pressure cooking loses relatively little water, but the size of the meat pieces, their arrangement and your straining all affect the amount you collect. Plan on approximately 2 quarts, then check what your batch actually gives you.

A cup can go into two-ingredient onion gravy for a beefier flavor. Using this Full GAPS stock keeps that particular batch of gravy on Full GAPS; the gravy’s Intro title does not make every possible stock suitable for Intro. The saved soft beef can go into soup near the end of cooking, once the vegetables are tender, so it only needs to warm through.

Label containers with the date and portion size before they go into cold storage. Smaller portions let you thaw what a recipe needs without repeatedly warming the whole batch. If freezing in glass, use freezer-suitable jars and follow their fill and headspace instructions. Mamane recommends chilling the stock before freezing and allowing room for the liquid to expand.

Recommended Equipment

I use a Ninja Foodi FD401 for pressure cooking. Its separate pressure lid is the one needed here. Select the Pressure function, not Steam, Slow Cook or the attached air-crisping lid. The manual requires at least 1 cup of liquid and sets a pressure-cooking MAX line. This recipe needs enough water to cover the ingredients as well as meeting that minimum.

You can use another suitable pressure cooker without owning my appliance. Read its manual for the matching full-pressure setting, liquid requirement, fill limit and lid-release procedure. Use its approved cooking pot. Do not replace the inner pot with an arbitrary bowl or jar. Have a scale, fine-mesh strainer, clean cheesecloth, ladle and heatproof storage containers ready before you start.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is This Ready In Fifty Minutes?

Fifty minutes is the full-pressure cooking cycle. Preparing the ingredients, heating to pressure, natural depressurization and cooling take additional time. The recipe card shows that cooking interval, not a promise that cold stock will be ready for the refrigerator in fifty minutes.

Can I Double The Recipe?

The card doubles the ingredient amounts. It does not double your cooker’s capacity. Use separate batches if the larger amount cannot fit with covering water below the pressure-fill line. Each batch still has a 50-minute full-pressure cycle, followed by natural depressurization.

Should I Throw Away The Cooked Beef?

No. Pick the soft meat and edible connective tissue from the hard bones and save them for a meal. Check carefully for small bone fragments. The vegetables have given much of their flavor to the liquid; strain those out along with the herbs and peppercorns.

Does It Have To Set Into A Firm Jelly?

Gel strength varies with the cuts and covering water. A soft gel is useful, but the amount of wobble is not a substitute for checking what went into the pot. Powdered gelatin is not needed to turn this into a stock recipe.

More Ways To Use Homemade Stock

For browned beef and vegetables, use the roasted beef stock. If a long LOW cook fits your day better, follow the slow-cooker beef stock method.

Keep the stovetop short-rib stock handy when you want that simpler pot, and use onion gravy when you need a small, measured use for the finished liquid. The upcoming Weekly Kitchen Rhythm Planner in the WFLI shop is for planning jobs like stock-making around the rest of the week, including time for cooling and putting food away.