Doing something with meat juice

[Shalmanese]

If you buy wet-aged, cryovaced meat or if you freeze your own meat & defrost it, you're often left with a pool of raw, red meat juice. Almost everyone I know throws this stuff away and I've never read a single cookbook that talks about it in any way. But this is ridiculous! That meat juice is liquid fond and it should be cherished.

The main problem is that liquid fond almost instantly coagulates into a rubbery mass and becomes difficult to work with. Over the years, I've tried a couple of different techniques to effectively utilize it. One technique that works decently if I'm doing a stew or something is to toss onions with it just before they're about to hit the pan. The juice coats the onions and browns into a rich, meaty undertone. Another that requires a bit of patience is to pour it into a pan with some hot oil and then don't touch it until all the water has evaporated and it's starting to brown and stick to the bottom of the pan and to then deglaze the pan. If you even prod it a little bit with a spatula, the entire thing clumps into a ball and becomes unworkable. A 3rd way of using it if you have a lot (I can usually get a cup or so from a leg of lamb) is to simply heat it at a high boil for 20 minutes and then strain it for a rich, meaty stock. This is great if you want to boost the volume of gravy for a roast.

But I'd love to hear if anyone else is utilizing this ingredient and if there are superior techniques for working that flavor into foods.

[Darienne]

O.K. Remember that you did ask.

Our dogs get to drink it.

[rooftop1000]

Mostly tomato sauce if the timing works out. The pets get the canned tuna water But I do have to remember to add the leftover beef jus to my sauce tonight.

T