What are your favourite bone broth recipes?

Mmm, healing bone broth.  Delicious bone broth.  

and yet, mine always just tastes ... meh.  Nothing as amazing as other's bone broth.

So it's time to improve my recipe.  I would really like something I could pop in the thermos and sip throughout the day like a delicious and nutritious tea.  

What is your favourite bone broth recipe?

Well, "favorite" would be stretching the description. Let's say, best so far. I roast, and boil the bones away. I tried just adding salt, yes, meh. But put a sprinkle of CELREY SALT in a serving, and it is better than tolerable. I might even say pleasant. This works for bird or beast bones.

I've never understood that term bone broth. Traditionally, a broth was made with meat or a whole bird, and stock was made with bones. When I first starting hearing the term I asked what the difference between bone broth and stock was, and basically found out, there is no difference.

So my favorite stock recipe is basically browned bones, mirepoix(onion, carrot, celery), parsley stems, thyme springs, mushroom stems/bottoms, salt and black peppercorns, bay leaves, bits of other root veg scraps, if I have them, and depending on the stock, halved garlic heads.

Stock cooking time varies by type, fish - the least, 30 minutes-1 hour, poultry - 2-6 hours, and red meat - 12-24 hours. If after this time the stock isn't a strong as I would like, I strain off the bits, and further reduce just the liquid. I season initially with some salt, but not all that it will eventually need. Seasoning should be done in layers. Taste often, and make adjustments.

My broth itself never tastes too fantastic by itself. But, when added to other foods, it makes them delicious, and vice-a-versa.

Our bone broth usually consists of whatever random leftover bones we have stashed in our freezer from previous meals and some meat scraps that are attached to said bones. This time it was 6 marrow bones, a turkey bone, and some chicken bones. I stuck in it my Instant Pot pressure cooker with some salt (1/2 tsp, I think) and peper and applecider vinegar and clicked "meat stew" for 2 hours.

It came out tasting, well, bone-y. Drinkable, but not delicious. So, I turned it into egg drop soup. It was seriously the best egg drop soup I'd ever had. Egg drop soup without broth is blegh, and broth without the soup flavoring is blegh, but by their powers combined, they are delicious!

Here's what I did. I didn't measure anything, so this is a rough estimate of what went in.

4 quarts (gallon) bone broth
1 tbsp palm oil/coconut oil "shortening" (any sort of yummy oil or butter would work)
6 green onion stalks
3 cloves garlic
1-2 tsp-ish grated ginger
salt to taste
6 duck eggs (or 10ish chicken eggs?)
2 cups of sweet peas
4 or 5 carrots diced
1/8th-1/4 tsp turmeric (optional--to be added to eggs)

Put oil in bottom of pot with diced garlic and grated/powedered ginger and put the burner on medium. Let those simmer in there while you slice green onions into the pot, and add carrots and peas to pot. Add broth and bring to a low boil. Taste test to see if it needs more of any type of ingredient. While pot is coming to a boil clean and crack all the duck eggs into a measuring cup with a pour spout. Add in some turmeric for color and medicinal goodness. Stir the eggs enough to mix them up.

Now the tricky part, which works a whole lot better with two people. While the soup is at a low boil, have one person stir the soup while the other attempts to slowly drizzle egg into the pot. It may come out in glops--it's not supposed to, but it always does for us. A slow stream of egg makes for thinner, more-delicate egg drops. The person stirring needs to keep stirring while the egg is poured in to keep those nice strings of eggs from turning into clumps of eggs. Once all the egg is added take the soup off the burner. If you don't take it off, the eggs will turn rubbery. If you don't have two people, you can stir with one hand and pour eggs with the other--it usually works okay but it's a lot easier with two people!

------

I also like use my broth to make chicken soup (parsley, lovage/celery, marjoram, rosemary, garlic chicken, thyme, carrots, peas. random mild greens from garden). It's also great as a base for broccoli soup (broccoli, chicken, lovage, parsley, onions &or garlic, thyme, salt/pepper and then blended with a immersion blender). Really, any kind of chicken/turkey and vegetable soup is 10x better when broth is used instead of water. I also once made the most delicious french onion soup with bone broth.

So, we usually leave our broth plain and then season it when it gets turned to soup. I've also been known to just put "chicken soup" seasonings into the bone broth without the chicken or vegetables, and that works out pretty well, too. (Just add some parsley, lovage/celery, marjoram, rosemary, garlic, thyme and let it heat for a little while with the herbs). Another easy way to make broth yummy is to put garlic and ginger and salt and pepper in it. Even just some powdered ginger and garlic with salt and pepper works wonders. That makes it taste like egg drop soup (garlic and ginger is my go-to way to make things taste like "Chinese" food without any soy sauce. I put Chinese in quotes because I'm pretty sure the American versions of Chinese cuisine taste little like food in China...).

Stacy Witscher wrote:I've never understood that term bone broth. Traditionally, a broth was made with meat or a whole bird, and stock was made with bones.

If I remember right, Mrs. Beeton (writing circa the 1850s) said that Broth was like a soup, ready to drink/eat.  Stock was a thicker, jelly-like substance when cool, that was watered down to make broth.

I'm not sure what the modern ideas for these words are.  I suspect there's a great deal of regional variation.  

I guess I'm making stock, then, regadless of which defintion, because mines thick and made from bones.

But, really, I think it's just called "Bone Broth" because it sounds cooler and most hipsters have no idea what "stock" is. Like, isn't stock for Wall Street and buying things? People know about broth. It sounds tasty, and bone broth is an alliteration.

Similarly, people now call prunes "dried plums" because it sounds yummier...

Nicole Alderman wrote:
But, really, I think it's just called "Bone Broth" because it sounds cooler and most hipsters have no idea what "stock" is. Like, isn't stock for Wall Street and buying things? People know about broth. It sounds tasty, and bone broth is an alliteration.

Similarly, people now call prunes "dried plums" because it sounds yummier...

I love how language changes like this.  

So the thing is... the butcher lost our bones.  He'll have twice as much next week.  But I'm still eager to bone up on broth recipes so that I can make something delicious to drink.  Thanks to everyone who posted here.

I heard there's a 'broth-el' in town.  Not sure how to spell it, but we had a thread earlier about them.  Like a cafe that serves broth.  I might check that out later... if only the holiday traffic wasn't so bad that it turns a 10 minuite trip into an hour and three quarters.  

My favorite recipe:

1. Put a bunch of bones in the stockpot.  Most have some meaty bits still attached.
2. Add water.
3. Simmer for hours and hours.

That's about it.

Joylynn Hardesty wrote:Well, "favorite" would be stretching the description. Let's say, best so far. I roast, and boil the bones away. I tried just adding salt, yes, meh. But put a sprinkle of CELREY SALT in a serving, and it is better than tolerable. I might even say pleasant. This works for bird or beast bones.

Yep, I remember this one from my mom in France. She could not afford the commercial Viandox, but she read the ingredients on the bottle and came up with a delicious dark broth that we all enjoyed at home.
The French have been ingenious in making do when there was not enough. The closest thing I can relate to this is the famous "Viandox", which was cheap enough but mom could not even afford that. As the name implies, it is made with "viande"= meat, and OX. [ So ox meat]If you want to make your own, you will need:
water,
salt,
yeast extract,
soy sauce (or cook together with the oxtails water, soy beans, wheat, salt),
flavor 'enhancers': monosodium glutamate, disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate, [very optional, I think, but that is what the Viandox bottle said]
sugar,
flavors (like celery, from celery salt),
acidifying agents: lactic acid and citric acid, [I use a little lemon]
beef extract.
The sugar and the celery do a lot for this recipe.
I do not have the exact recipe but these are in decreasing amount order.  For the "beef extract" that is the bone broth mentioned above. Make sure you have the marrow. That is the best part. Mom used ox tails and cooked them until the marrow would just fall out. This can be cooked and canned, to be used during a chilly day, or when you feel the flu or a cold coming on. Mom had tons of trick to keep us in good health, like how to keep the congestion off our chest: Mustard poultice was a nasty one, and I lost more than a little skin to that remedy. The other one is while I was laying on my belly,  mom would bring baby jars and swab them with a little alcohol, ignite the alcohol and immediately place it on my back. She could put 24 on my back, practically touching each other. As the jar would cool, it created a strong suction and there you go. The congestion was soon gone. Believe it or not, it worked and was not nearly as painful as it sounds.

I like to use bones with plenty of marrow. And I cook it for three days. I made a really nice one where I first lightly fried chopped beef heart in a skillet with clarified butter and olive oil then added that to the bones and simmered at least 10 hours a day and then let it cool overnight on the stove and heat it up again in the morning topping off water until the last day. In the end I added onion and carrot and celery with some chili peppers and salt until is was luscious.

Another great one I made in a huge pot hanging on a tripod with the pot to the side of the fire. I kept the fire hot all day and into the eve for two days then I stripped the bones the next morning and everything fell off easy. I then added some veggies and some organic veggie salt and it was perfect.

If you want to go crazy, save all your onion peels; tomato and carrot ends; hearts and ends of celery; any other waste bit of veggie and keep it in the freezer until you can fill a huge pot. Then boil it to half for three times then strain combine this with the bone stock that you did the same with. My uncle does this and wins any sauce or soup contest he has entered. mmmm yummy!

Good luck!

I don't really think it makes much difference what I call it.  Broth and stock might be cooking school terms or maybe something from french cooking.

A book that I have written in the 1830's does not have a recipe for stock but for broth it says "A leg of lamb should boil for an hour ...If your family likes broth, throw in some clear rice when you put in the meat."

I really like the term Bone Broth which has become very popular in the commercial world.

I have been making this for many years and I eat it almost every day.  I like to use it for gumbo or chow mein.  I have now branched out and use it for vegetable soup. It doesn't matter what kind of bones you use.  I make chicken, beef or ham.  I don't usually have pork bones. I have lots of deer bones but they do not have much fat so I don't use them and the tallow is nasty tasting.

The main thing for the health benefits is it needs to cook long enough that it gels, the longer the better. As mentioned you can throw in your veggies scrapes.  Adding a tablespoon of vinegar helps. It can be cooked in a pot on the stove, in a pressure cooker or in a crockpot/slow cooker.  Some folks like to cook it until the bones almost melt away.  I don't like roasting the bones.  

I feel lots of garlic (for health benefits), onions, carrots and celery cooked with the bones add a great flavor.  Also bay leaf.

Anne Miller wrote:I don't really think it makes much difference what I call it.  Broth and stock might be cooking school terms or maybe something from french cooking.
.

"

There is always a distinction when 2 different words are used. Sometimes it is the mannerism of the speaker[ sarcasm / irony], sometimes the locus of the word [Chicago pizza], the audience we speak to[belly / abdomen / tummy], the education of the speaker [is not / ain't], the time the language was used [gay no longer means joyful or happy]. But there is always a distinction. To keep our culture, we linguists must respect these differences, even if our audience is not picky as to which words are used.
Back to our "broth/ stock" appellation:
https://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-between-stock-and-broth-word-of-mouth-71199
Here is the essential of the article:
"Broth: Technically speaking, broth is any liquid that has had meat cooked in it. Of course, now broth really is a catch-all for any flavored cooking liquid, including broths made by simmering fish, vegetables, or even legumes.
Stock: Stock, however, always involves bones, simmered for a long time to extract their gelatin and flavor. The thick, often-gelatinous nature of stocks is only possible when bones are present. Roasting the bones makes for a richer, more deeply colored stock, but it's not essential to the process".

So a "stock" is more gelatinous [somewhat like the solids you get at the bottom of the turkey pan after the Thanksgiving turkey has cooled]. The broth may be just as delicious but will lack this consistency and, I believe, its nutrition. We may sometimes "cheat" a little by adding aspic jelly to a broth, too, adding to the confusion. So it is no wonder that folks are a little confused by the whole thing and I get your point that just to cook something delicious, people may not need to understand the finer points of language, just follow the recipe. It is still worthwhile in our head to keep the distinction. When we lose that, a little of our heritage dies with it. [Look at all the farming tools that have gone by the wayside because we are more "modern"]... http://passionforthepast.blogspot.com/2011/08/early-farming-tools-from-days-gone-by.html

I have used the recipe from Katie at WellnessMama, and love it!  Being alone, after roasting a chicken, I bone the whole thing, put the carcass+ in the freezer, to wait on three.. and also buy chicken feet from my nearby (free range, organic) chicken supplier.

When ready, I cook maybe 2-3 chicken carcasses, 4-6 chicken feet, 3 carrots, an onion, 3-4 celery, all rough chopped, and distilled/filtered water, to fill my 5 gallon pot; I sit it with maybe 3 healthy tbsp apple cider vinegar for about 1/2 hour, then bring to low boil, add 3 tbsp salt, maybe a tbsp pepper, turn down, put a lid on, and simmer for 24 hours. I like to add sweet basil, oregano, sage, rosemary, thyme, too, not a measurer, just like when I coat the turkey for holidays...
& I stir with a wooden spoon. Stir maybe every half hour/hour while you are awake? just to check the simmer, and add water as need. But I go out if need, and sleep well...the house smells lovely!

You have to play with the temp, and add water, occasionally, then, the last half hour, I add garlic cloves, and a large handful of parsley or cilantro, then taste for salt, pepper needs.

Then I strain the broth through a cotton cloth, into a bowl, and fill 1/2 gallon mason jars, leaving lots of head room, probably 2 inches. I then freeze all, except one. (I put waxed paper between the metal lids and the jars, and leave them loose until they freeze. I believe the one will last in the refrigerator for a week (but between drinking and adding to recipes, it usually doesn't!)...I believe it is responsible for a good bit of my healing, my immune strength and repair, just anecdotal, but sure warms the winter days!

Several folks have videos on you tube, nice to see the process, as the straining can be messy, until you get used to it, everyone does it a bit differently. I have a big bowl, with a spout, so I put my cloth in it, ladle broth into it, gather the cloth up, and lift it,  slowly (very slowly, like it was gold!) pour the broth into a clean jar, (while holding the cloth 'bag') then, repeat...it goes easier and faster than it tells! I have even started to scoop the bigger bones etc, out before I strain, as the cloth is easier to handle...I have thrown mine away, but just read of others who give it to their chickens, or compost it.

I just heated a cup, mmmmm, hope you try it, so worth the effort!

I see so many wonderful threads on permies and wish I had time to comment more but this one I had to make the time! Before I moved out of the area, I sold & delivered bone broth all over the NYC area and got many rave reviews. I helped friends who felt broth was just okay and they really loved the results. My kids favorite drink is my homemade broth with a bit of sea salt.

Anyway, after years of experimenting, I came to the conclusion that the method is more important than the recipe. I took cues from Nourishing Traditions (cookbook), The Nourished Kitchen website, Healing Spices (book) and meetings with others in the NYC area who were passionate about traditional foods. Here are some tips that I don’t see mentioned above:

Make sure you are starting with clean spring water or using a good filter, any contaminants in the water are going to be concentrated when you cook the broth.

Add apple cider vinegar as the acid helps extract minerals from the bones and adds another layer of flavor. For chicken, I add about 1 tablespoon per 2 gallons and for beef I add 1/2 cup per 2 gallons. For fish, I use white wine instead of ACV.

For darker, richer tasting broth, bones should be browned (or leftover from cooking meat).

Start with cold water and let everything sit in the pot for 1 hour before beginning to cook.

Never boil the broth but bring to a simmer.

Pay close attention early in the cooking stages, and remove any scum that forms at the top of the pot. I usually do this 3 times before leaving it alone for the remainder of the cooking time.

Do not completely cover the pot. Either leave it uncovered or (my preference) keep the heat low and leave the lid cracked.

Add herbs no more than 3 hours before the broth is finished cooking.

Filter the broth (I use stainless steel strainers) and cool as quickly as possible.

Remove the layer of fat that forms at the top once the broth has cooled. (Save for cooking with!)

Wait until you use it to salt it, otherwise you may end up with too much salt if it is added to another dish or reduced.  To drink as a hot beverage, I like 1/2 teaspoon Celtic fine salt per pint of broth.

I hope this is helpful!

I don't like the term "bone broth" because I find it to be pretentious, hence my asking what it meant. The implication is that it's new, which is absurd, people have been boiling bones since fire and bones have existed. I was conventionally trained, cordon bleu and everything.

Couple points on the process, I scoop out all large bits with a spider, let them cool, and pick through it for the dogs. The rest gets poured through a chinois (fine strainer), and either further reduced or canned.

Maybe, it's because I'm not a capitalist or maybe because the capitalists always trying to manipulate consumers into thinking "bone broth" is harder than it sounds, you don't need to purchase your health.

Blimy, this has transformed more into an etymology exploration than a recipe resource.  Sorry about that.  I just picked a modern phrase because it was shorter than 'hot nutritious liquid that can be drunk from a mug, made from boiling bones and stuff, that isn't too thick, but might help heal my gut a bit.  Oh, and it absolutely must be delicious otherwise there's no point in making it kind of recipe.'

here's an interesting article on how the language is changing.  I love that our language isn't stagnant and we have the flexibility to change ... except for the misuse of the word 'decimate' (reduce by one-tenth) to mean desolated (destroyed).. but that's a small price to pay for how beautiful a fluid and changing language is.  




Now that's out of the way.

I'm really excited to try these recipe ideas.  A few more days until I get my bones then I can have a lovely warm liquid to drink from a mug in the evenings and maybe take with me in a thermos throughout the day.  

Questions:
1. what about pre-blanching the bones to get the 'guck' out?  I noticed a lot of old recipes do this.
2. If I'm doing it in the slow cooker overnight, do I keep it on high the whole time, or low?

My experience tells me that Sarah, a couple of posts up is really on the right path. Vineagar, low cooking temp, skimming the scuz, add delicate herbs late in the boil. Beyond that you should just play with stuff you like. I suppose I would add that legitimate odds and ends (chicken feet, poultry necks, organs, heads, ox tails, these things all help add depth) are pretty crucial to making a broth/stock that stands out. When we slaughter chickens I always make vacuum sealed packs of 2 feet, a head, a heart, a liver, a stomach, a gizzard. Then whenever we make broth out of a roasted chicken carcass I throw one of those frozen packs in the stew. But yes yes and also yes to Sarah's techniques.

Oh and also I really like the mushroom powders that fungi perfecti sells, also added late with herbs for flavor and health.

Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:

Anne Miller wrote:I don't really think it makes much difference what I call it.  Broth and stock might be cooking school terms or maybe something from french cooking.
.

"

There is always a distinction when 2 different words are used. .... But there is always a distinction. To keep our culture, we linguists must respect these differences, even if our audience is not picky as to which words are used.  When we lose that, a little of our heritage dies with it.

Cécile Stelzer Johnson, this is too funny

" I don't really think it makes much difference what I call it " .... dear husband doesn't pay much attention/hear a word I say nor does he eat my broth/stock; the dog likes it but she isn't going to tell anyone; I don't fix it for our deer hunters or talk to them about broth/stock; I don't talk about cooking to clerks in stores. or neighbors if I had them.

So I hope you were preaching to the choir.

I, too thought Sarah's post above was great and I liked everyone comments, too.

Here are some other threads on broth/stock:

https://permies.com/t/35589/kitchen/Dr-Bielers-Broth-mom

https://permies.com/t/60100/kitchen/America-brothals

https://permies.com/t/53212/Free-frugal-soup

https://permies.com/t/45497/kitchen/Beef-Stock-bone-type-ratio

https://permies.com/t/41543/kitchen/Bones

Technically, the difference between stock and broth is that stock is the liquid resulting from roasting bones and passing the results through a seive, where broth comes from having meat in the pot as well, which is used in the resultant drink.  

Personally, being raised in Scotland, I've always considered "Broth" to be "Scotch Broth", whiich is made with stock/broth, peas, lentils, carrots and whatever meat came off the bones.  Seasoned to taste of course

I wonder if it wouldn't be tidier to have a separate discussion about the meaning of words and keep this thread for recipes?

Anne Miller wrote:I have lots of deer bones but they do not have much fat so I don't use them and the tallow is nasty tasting.

I completely disagree with this statement.  First of all, tallow is fat and I actually really love deer tallow (I know some people don't like it but everyone should decide for themselves).  

I make dozens of gallons of very rich delicious deer bone stock/broth (call it what you will) every year and have been doing so for about 10 years.  I will admit though, it is not great on it's own, it needs to be made into a soup/stew or cooked with something else but it is an amazing base.  In many rural areas in the US, you can get as many free deer carcasses as you want from butcher shops during hunting season.  Be sure to avoid any areas close to the bullet wound as there are sure to be lots of lead particles.  I like to slow roast the ribs in a pan with just salt, eat most of the meat off em and then use the bones, spine etc in my stock/broth.  I always save the rendered tallow and cook with it and it's actually my favorite cooking oil.  Deer heads also make an excellent extremely rich broth/stock and the tongue (once boiled) is one of my favorite pieces of meat from the entire deer.  I like Sarah Milcetic's post and I have also drawn most of my inspiration from Nourishing Traditions, however my recipe is slightly less refined.  This is just my basic stock/broth (not soup) recipe.

I save deer bones in the freezer until I have enough to mostly fill a big stock pot.

Put em in the pot, add water to cover, pour in some apple cider vinegar and then get em up to a boil.  

I leave them on our woodstove usually for at least 3 days.  We heat with wood and I try not to boil them hard, but the time they are actually simmering varies with the outdoor temp so sometimes I leave them on the stove longer.  

I let the broth cool outside and them take the hardened layer of tallow off the top and save it for frying food with.

I fish the bones out with a slotted spoon and try to leave all the other stuff in there because I like my stews to be meaty.  

If I have any marrow bones (leg bones), I split them open to get the marrow out and put it back in the broth.

Making sure it is room temp or cooler, I ladel it into empty yogurt containers and freeze it until I'm ready to make soup or stew.  One yogurt container is a great size for a small soup and you don't even have to fully thaw it, just partially thaw it and pop it out into the pot.  

I sometimes reduce the broth down longer to save on room in the freezer, then I just make sure to label it concentrated.  

I never add anything besides vinegar until I am ready to turn it into a soup.  

Sometimes we cook wild rice or other grains in the broth/stock, but we always have to add water when doing that as well.  Makes for very rich flavored grains.  

I do similar broth/stock with bird bones/carcasses and fish carcasses, pretty mush the same process but usually I don't cook them as long.  The fish bones are actually edible just like in canned fish after you cook them long enough though.  

Steven George wrote:

Anne Miller wrote:I have lots of deer bones but they do not have much fat so I don't use them and the tallow is nasty tasting.

I completely disagree with this statement.  
I save deer bones in the freezer until I have enough to mostly fill a big stock pot.


Making sure it is room temp or cooler, I ladel it into empty yogurt containers and freeze it until I'm ready to make soup or stew.  One yogurt container is a great size for a small soup and you don't even have to fully thaw it, just partially thaw it and pop it out into the pot.  

Sometimes we cook wild rice or other grains in the broth/stock, but we always have to add water when doing that as well.  Makes for very rich flavored grains.    

Steven, we are probably talking about different species of deer.  Your Minnesota deer are probably a lot larger than Texas deer.  And your deer are probably fatter.

Compared to other meats, venison does not have much fat. The tallow is also really hard to wash off dishes. Hot water does not melt it very well and soap doesn't dissolve it very well. It is like candle wax on dishes.  There is another reason I don't use deer bones but I won't mention it here.

Why do you add water when cooking rice?  I usually take a quart of broth/stock, add 1/2 cup rice and cook until the rice is done.  

You are probably right about there being a world of difference between Texas and MN deer.  Are you talking mule deer or whitetails?  I know nothing about mule deer (and I suppose I know nothing about Texas deer in general).  Our whitetails are super fatty in early winter and they tend to thin out by spring.  Our deer tallow does stick to dishes but it easily dissolves with warm water and a little castile soap.  

My broth/stock usually turns our pretty rich and concentrated so this is why I add water whenever cooking grains in it.  If I don't add water, sometimes it seems like it won't cook all the way, kind of like it's saturated with broth and needs more moisture or something.....  it's hard to describe.  

Anne I like your signature by the way!

What a great thread!

You are probably right about there being a world of difference between Texas and MN deer.  

I thought this was really interesting because I used to live in MN and moved to TX some years ago; hunted whitetail in both states and loved'm all. Anne I definitely agree about sticky, soap-defying dish nightmares though! I have the same problems with beef tallow though. If it's bad enough, I'll just boil a pot of water to slowly pour over the plates, with a pot to catch the water. Then I have to deposit it somewhere it won't set my dogs digging.


Sarah what a treasure, thank you for sharing! Some of your tips I'd never heard before. I especially appreciated the point about saving fat skimmings for cooking, it always seems such a waste to throw out! I was hoping you could elaborate on a couple of the points you made.

"Start with cold water and let everything sit in the pot for 1 hour before beginning to cook." I'd never heard this, what effect does it have?

"Do not completely cover the pot. " Does this have to do with maintaining the temp? Is there another reason?


Thanks to all for sharing! This thread has inspired me; my veggie scrap freezer bag and bone scrap freezer bag are calling!

I eat bone broth all the time, and love it!  However, when the thread was first posted, I didn't have a clue about what recipe I use... So I made a batch, and paid attention. At least for me, it's all about the fat and salt!

I collect bones from the table into a bag in the freezer. Then put the bones in a crock pot, with one carrot, one onion, and one stalk of celery. Fill the crock pot with water, then salt to taste. I use both sodium chloride, and potassium chloride. Then I add a bit more salt for good measure. Add not more than a tablespoon of vinegar.  Add some spices: turmeric and black pepper are essential for me. If it's allergy season, a hint of hot pepper works really well for me. Garlic really  pleases me in a bone broth. Then whatever other spices satisfy my mood: cumin, ginger, paprika, sage. Perhaps add one tomato if they are in season.

Then cook it on low overnight... In the morning, if there isn't a good layer of fat on the broth, then add some. For me, that's typically butter, lard, or coconut oil. Turn the crock pot onto "Warm" until the broth is consumed over the next few days.

Then the procedure is to  take out a huge mug of broth for drinking, replacing the lost liquid with more water, salt, and/or oil as needed. Take out a bone or two with each serving, gnawing on it before adding it to the compost pile. Savor whatever super-overcooked onion or carrot slices that end up in the mug.

One more note on Deer tallow...  I believe it to be the best fat in existence for seasoning cast iron pans......  Definitely keeps my skillets good and greasy non-stick whenever I am cooking with it.  Probably due to those "clingy" hard to clean off properties it has.

I eat deer every week. Haven't noticed that the tallow causes problems with dishwashing.

My favorite bone related soup is French onion. a girlfriends mother took the time to teach me her grandmothers recipe. It's a two day process but well worth the effort. The bones were brushed with olive oil,sprinkled with salt,fresh ground pepperand roasted very slowly for about three or four hours untill the were nicely browned. She put them along with the drippings into
A heavy pot and simmered them all day long with the lid off,adding water as needed. The aroma of those roasted bones is worth the effort alone. The stock would be reduced by a third.  This resulted in the deeper " beef flavor I have ever tasted. It's fine just like that.
The onions were carmalized in small batches with with attention to even browning. One piece of burnt onion will change the flavor of the soup.  These were added to the stock and simmered for a few hours longer. Toss in a loaf of " crusty" bread? Heaven

Y'all!!

Meat stock!  

add some kimchi juice to it, or a table spoon of raw yogurt.

<3

Larry - I've never heard of doing small batches for caramelizing onions. I've always found very large batches worked best, like 10-20 pounds of onions. The caramelization is more even in a large batch. But a slightly burnt onion also brings some much needed bitterness to what can be cloyingly sweet onions, which is otherwise added via coffee or beer. I also love to use french onion soup and cream in a braise for pot roast, amazing.

Stacy Witscher wrote:Larry - I've never heard of doing small batches for caramelizing onions. I've always found very large batches worked best, like 10-20 pounds of onions. The caramelization is more even in a large batch. But a slightly burnt onion also brings some much needed bitterness to what can be cloyingly sweet onions, which is otherwise added via coffee or beer. I also love to use french onion soup and cream in a braise for pot roast, amazing.

Stacy,
I have tried to carmalized the onions in larger batches and they ended up " steaming" instead of getting nice and tan/ brown. Perhaps it was the pan I was using or the wrong temp.  I usually do this outside on the grill on a flat griddle because the onion smell stays in the house for days. Next time I make this dish, I'll give it one more try.  I've never thought about braising a pot roast in the soup.  I bet beef shanks with whole carrots  would be another good candidate. More bones. Lol.

Larry - they do release liquid at first, but that will cook off and then they will start to brown. The whole process takes several hours, which is why I like to do a large batch.

Wow, thanks everyone for helping me find a use for the 33 gallon drums of bones we get periodically! Mostly cow, but occasionally deer.

We usually give them to the cats to gnaw on, and volunteers take them home for our dogs, but have been receiving more than we can store. I was just thinking yesterday looking at a bus bin full of bones that it was a shame we'd have to start turning them away.

My questions are, does it matter how the bones were sourced and stored? These come from a beef processing plant but are considered garbage, so they may not have been handled with the same care retailed parts are. The only drum I looked closely included crazy parts like pelvises and spines but it appeared to have been kept cold and fresh.

And which bones (in the anatomy) taste best vs. have the most health benefits? I imagine you want lots of connective tissue and marrow, right?

My butcher is fantastic.  He saved the bones from the entire lamb (except around the hips as that makes good bone-in roast).  

I got up early and roasted the bones in the oven.  It's a powerful smell that reminds me how little meat we eat these days.  It's been years since we've had red meat in the house.  Anyway, we did a mix of ribs and neck bones, and now they are simmering away in the pot with a dash of apple cider vinegar.  I skimmed off the froth and now it's quite nice.  I'll probably add in an onion this afternoon.  

Red meat has been giving us a lot of digestive trouble, but I think it's the proteins in the meat itself as liver and fat are just fine.  The bones are very clean of meat, so I'm hoping that this broth will be okay on our tummy.  

My favorite recipe is one I learned from a Thai woman.  It's called Khao Man Gai (not sure about proper spelling).  I use a whole chicken, cut up, into a pot of tepid water with a bit of ACV.  I put it on the stove on low, skim the foam off a long while later after it comes to a simmer.  Then add garlic, ginger, peppercorns and pandan leaf (found at Asian food stores).  I add these to taste, so not sure on exact measurements.  For one gallon of broth, maybe 1-2 tsp. each of dried garlic, ginger, and peppercorns, and about 6 pandan leaves tied together in a knot.  Add salt to taste.  This is our favorite broth to drink by far.

Second favorite would be Pho (I think this is Vietnamese) beef broth.  I can't remember the recipe, but it has spices like star anise, cloves, cinnamon.  You can probably find a recipe online somewhere... maybe in Nourishing Traditions cook book or Broth (both by Sally Fallon).

I think it is less about what you put in rather than how to. In winter I do it on the woodfire, but in summer I use a pressure cooker. Has someone got a decend method for the pressure cooker? HOw do I skim the 'dirt' off??

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:I eat deer every week. Haven't noticed that the tallow causes problems with dishwashing.

I eat deer almost every day with no problems with tallow and dish washing.  The tallow problem comes when bones are cooked for a long time like with ribs or broth/stock.  I cook ribs only from mule deer as white tail deer that I have don't have enough meat on the ribs to make it worthwhile to cook. When I cook the ribs in the crockpot there is usually about a 1/2" or more tallow when it cools but if we eat the ribs before cooling the tallow is a problem.  If we smoke the ribs the tallow drips off and is burned up.

Angelika Maier wrote: Has someone got a decend method for the pressure cooker? HOw do I skim the 'dirt' off??

By "dirt" off I am assuming you mean foam, like others mention?  I don't have a problem with foam in any of the methods I use as I use a very slow simmer.  When the pressure cooker starts to jiggle I turn the heat down to very low, just high enough that it continues to gently rock and jiggle.  I have never had anything to skim off.  I put the bones in with enough water to cover, then add seasonings. Is the foam caused by the vegetable scraps?    

My Fav. Recipe: Slow-cooker White Chicken Chili

Stacy Witscher wrote:I've never understood that term bone broth. Traditionally, a broth was made with meat or a whole bird, and stock was made with bones. When I first starting hearing the term I asked what the difference between bone broth and stock was, and basically found out, there is no difference.

Ditto, it's become fashionable but really a misnomer. Bone broth is also very wasteful of time, fuel and ingredients. Enthusiasts leave these to cook for extended periods wasting BTUs and decent ingredients are reduced to sludge. There is no more (probably less) healthful nutrition in boiled bones than there is in properly made traditional Grandma's Chicken Soup, Pot-au-feu, Pho or Tonkotsu.

So my favorite stock recipe is basically browned bones, mirepoix(onion, carrot, celery), parsley stems, thyme springs, mushroom stems/bottoms, salt and black peppercorns, bay leaves, bits of other root veg scraps, if I have them, and depending on the stock, halved garlic heads.

And that's all decent broth needs - the only other ingredients I sometimes add for further enhancement would be Kombu (dried kelp) and Katsuobushi (petrified skipjack tuna) for a Dashi vibe (I start with the kelp and flakes, strain, then add the chiken/beef/pork, mirepoix, etc.).

Another wasteful aspect of bone broth is when premium bones are simmered and all that precious delicious marrow is skimmed off instead of being enjoyed: