What are your favourite bone broth recipes?

As I have mentioned previously, I have been making broth/stock for many years.  I started with using a whole turkey carcass though now days it usually just chicken bones.

I rarely have other kind of bones.

What I have started doing is cooking longer than it takes to get the gel and I am using all my vegetable scraps.  I am making this for my dog so I cook it until I can only find the large bones as I don't want to have a problem with her eating a bone.  I then cook brown rice in the resulting liquid.

I went to culinary school and we learned how to make stock. Broths were flavorful liquids that you added ingredients to before serving. Suddenly with the paleo world coming to the masses, broth is the go-to word. That being said, here's an article I put together on how to make broths/stocks.

Three Lily Provisions

I save bones in the freezer, then load up the pressure cooker.  I used to run the pressure cooker for ages, but my husband convinced me that the broth tasted overcooked with 12 hours of cook time.  I still run it on the high pressure for at least 3 hours. When finished, the chicken bones will crumble with pressure from your fingertips.  

I try not to break the bones as I'm filtering the broth into jars - that can make the broth a little cloudy.  The broth I get from the pressure cooker is rich, full of gelatin, and quite clear.

I simmer turmeric in diluted chicken bone broth, adding freshly ground pepper and salt, then drink it as an anti-inflammatory health potion.  I also love using the broth for soup, for chicken and dumplings, and of course for gravy!

I am in Japan and boned meat is limited but dried fish is available for Broth and looking to see if you get the same gut healing benefits from this method of broth making. The only thing I worry about is the smell it will produce.

Today, we just got a 1/4 of a free range local cow, and a whack-load of bones in bags with it!!!  So I've already got a pot of them on the wood stove, but I'm going to transfer it to the slow cooker for the night.  Super excited to get some of that in me.  

For me, I mix duck, chicken and deer bones, add a cinnamon stick, 3-5 whole star anise, 4 inches of sliced ginger,, 10-20 cloves of garlic, green onions, and 1/2 cup of leftover lacto ferment liquid (from mustard greens ideally). I blanch or roast bones, put everything in a pressure cooker for 2 hours, release pressure and remove all spices and veg matter you can, then run for another 2 hours. Strong, tasty broth, good for drinking or cooking with.

One thing I’ve never quite figured out is why some batches of broth go bitter, especially in the slow cooker. I’ve read this is a result of overcooking the remaining meat scraps, but for me at least it seems unrelated to the length of the simmer.

Re: Pressure Cooker, it's the reason I finally broke down and got an Instant Pot.  Couldn't see much use, until I found my favorite cooking bloggers all said that this way made the best stock... most nutrients, gelatin, flavor, etc.  I use the method from   --   https://www.hippressurecooking.com/pressure-cooker-bone-broth/
... and it is so easy!  Two or three chicken carcasses, in water up to the Fill Line, on High, 35 mins and cook.  Let it Manually Release pressure, then stir around and repeat.  (could add vinegar, or not)   Easy & quick to pour it thru a large sieve, into a large pitcher, into jars and into fridge & freezer.  (I crush the bones with my fingers, to give to the chickens with the rest of the 'exhausted' scraps.)  So much easier than the giant stock pot, lot of bones, stove top and oven for a couple of days, etc, etc.... now I,  much more often, can do 5 or 6 pints with little hands-on attention.   To make it flavorful, I add salt, organic onion & garlic powder, soy sauce (or coconut aminos), Tobasco, touch of honey, vinegar  - plus whatever, and drink it up!  Or use for stews etc.  Actually, it's what I use my Inst. Pot for most often... plus carnitas pork... yum.  

I’ve never seen an Instapot that could handle more than two chicken carcasses unless pulverized. When I break down chickens, it’s at least 6.

Louise Berns wrote:One thing I’ve never quite figured out is why some batches of broth go bitter, especially in the slow cooker. I’ve read this is a result of overcooking the remaining meat scraps, but for me at least it seems unrelated to the length of the simmer.

In my lifetime I have made many batches of bone broth.  I have never had any go bitter, even in the slow cooker.  I have used all methods mentioned above:  Pressure Cooker, Slow Cooker, Top of Stove.  I have never tried using the insta-pot.

I feel the forum would need a little more information in order to help you solve this problem.

What kind of bones goes bitter?

Also, what are you adding in with the bones that might make it go bitter?

Do you freeze your bones until ready to use?

Louise Berns wrote:One thing I’ve never quite figured out is why some batches of broth go bitter, especially in the slow cooker. I’ve read this is a result of overcooking the remaining meat scraps, but for me at least it seems unrelated to the length of the simmer.

I had this happen recently because I oversimmered a mushroom/kombu broth, I’m inclined to think in that case it was due to the bay leaves, peppercorns, or garlic. Perhaps adding aromatics nearer to the end of the long simmer? I’ve had a bitter batch of bone broth before, but this was super concentrated bitter, which points to the veggie ingredients.

I haven't experienced the bitter result, either.

I've been making bone broth/stock for years and through trying different methods came up with what we like.  I think it's all very personal.

First, I do all my broths unseasoned because they will go into a wide variety of recipes where any one seasoning wouldn't necessarily fit. I also don't add salt or vinegar. Plain water. My goal with broth is to make what Sally Fallon has referred to as "beautiful broth" where it's pulled as much of the gelatin and minerals out as possible.  When refrigerated in a jar, I'm aiming for a jello-like consistency and a cloudy, but still translucent look.

Chicken - my husband and I loathe the smell of chicken carcass broth. I finally tried chicken feet after watching a Korean cook, and WOW what a difference.  The smell is so mild.  I cook the chicken feet plain, raw (from the freezer), in water on its own for at least a day.  I still don't like to waste chicken carcasses and will do a quick broth with them.  But I do a long simmering broth with the feet. And I pull the first broth off the feet and then add more water and make a second.  Even after that, there is still enough jelly-like skin on the feet to pull off and give to animals.  Bones get buried in new garden beds.

Beef bone - I discovered I like the smell of the beef bone broth best when the bones are browned first.  So if I'm going to make marrow bones into broth, first we eat as much of the marrow out (raw, it's a thing). Then I brown the bones in the oven. Then I separate the marrow fat that melted off into the pan, and use that for tortillas.  Then I deglaze the pan and throw everything into a pot (deglaze and the browned bones) and start the broth.

Salmon - Salmon heads and bones I do raw as a broth and really work to "fish" off the scum.  I'm not as diligent with the other broths on the skimming part.  Skimming seems to make the most difference for us with the fish head broths. Fish head broths I just do for a few hours (4-6?), not overnight.

Broth is one of those foods that healed my gut, and has helped heal me from osteoporosis.  I was found to have osteoporosis at 29 years old. I'm in my 40's now, haven't lost any more height, and doing pretty well. So I'd say it helps. :-)

Anne Miller wrote:
I feel the forum would need a little more information in order to help you solve this problem.

What kind of bones goes bitter?

Also, what are you adding in with the bones that might make it go bitter?

Do you freeze your bones until ready to use?

Good point! I am thinking  of stock made with chicken bones, frozen and usually leftover from whole roasted chicken, with raw feet added. I've had this issue stovetop and in the slow cooker, though the latter is definitely worse. I suspect, based on other replies, that the culprit may be adding alliums--I usually do at least onions and garlic, often shallots and leeks as well.

Ida Schwartz wrote: I had this happen recently because I oversimmered a mushroom/kombu broth, I’m inclined to think in that case it was due to the bay leaves, peppercorns, or garlic. Perhaps adding aromatics nearer to the end of the long simmer? I’ve had a bitter batch of bone broth before, but this was super concentrated bitter, which points to the veggie ingredients.

I'm thinking this as well! Will have to do some testing.

It seems that so far, all those who have noticed some bitterness were making broth following a variety of methods [stovetop/ crockpot/ pressure cooker], so it does not appear to me that the method caused the bitterness.
Perhaps this is a good reason to add very few if any ingredients to season the broth. Remember, you can always add those at the last minute, when you actually are going to serve the broth.
I have added only carrots and celery to mine and I have never noticed any bitterness. I have used crockpot or pressure cooker each time. Both methods, if you reduce the broth enough will give you a very flavorful broth that will gel.
I am intrigued by mixing bones from different animals [beef, chicken, turkey, pork]. I just have not thought of mixing them. Maybe I will next time.
Perhaps different *species* of fish could be mixed in fish broth, but I think I'd keep fish out of the recipe for other kinds of broth. When it is well reduced, fish stock can be so strong that it will limit how you can use it.
Some folks seem to have found very specific ingredients that cause bitterness [Livers, dark greens and cabbage, turnips...].
https://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/28657/what-ingredients-should-be-avoided-in-stock
Look back at the recipes you have used and see if you could point to a specific suspect?
Personally, I'd stay with bones and carrots, maybe *a little* celery [I used the stalks because I added the leaves on the day of serving, so my stock didn't happen to have celery *leaves*.
I've had some pretty tough laying chickens, [3 yrs old] and a batch of broth is for me *also* a batch of chicken soup: I pressure cook my old layer chickens to the point that the meat falls off the bones, don some gloves and pull off the skin, then separate the meat for soup and the bones for broth. By doing 6 chickens at one time, I have plenty for a full pressure cooker batch of canned broth and canned chicken soup [large canner]. The skin, I usually toss, as this allows for a broth from which I don't have to skim too much yucky stuff. I discovered, ask me how, that any greasy stuff that gets on the rim while filling the jars will void the seal!
Since I'm sensitive to salt, I wait until I have reduced the stock as much as I'm going to and I add 1/4tsp to a pint or 1/2 a teaspoon to a quart. Plus, adding salt to a recipe and then reducing the stock will yield a much saltier product, so beware!
Pepper is also added at the last minute before serving. Salt and pepper are things you can always add later, but once you have too much of it it is pretty hard to remove!

Nice set of "older" posts with some newer ones to spice up the broth. Great read everyone thanks so much !

This particular poster is dealing with an AIP or Auto Immune Protocol diet that I decided to try for the new year. After struggling for a week or so with getting over cravings and settling into the knowledge of NOT eating some of my favorite foods, I've now come to bone broth part of the journey and fortunately there was a permies link in the old inbox the other day. Huzzah !

My paternal grandfather was a chef on Freighters crossing the Atlantic from Spain to Latin/South America before immigrating to the US and settling in the Bronx as a chef in a Manhattan bank. His approach to stock was to view it as an added source of flavor, and ideally not to be considered something one would simply eat from boiling down the bone remnants in the pot.

So when cooking a salmon steak, plan on pulling out some of that fish stock you made earlier.  Same is true for a pork chop or beef dish. The flavor is fantastic making an already wonderful meal even better.

What he would say is that we really want to produce Bouillon. There are plenty of excellent ways to produce this but an important ingredient is salt so we need to be mindful that it differs from the standard broth/stock in this regard. Producing enough bouillon is going to have so many long term benefits not only to our health but to the taste of our foods. So the home chef is now armed with the fantastic combo of stock, broth AND Bouillon.

For this chef, I prefer to use organ meats, hoofs/feet as well as the bones plus the aforementioned Mirepoix. Garlic, Ginger, Rosemary, Turmeric, White pepper, Sage, Saffron are added later just to name a few.

I'll also add that the Japanese have a wonderful broth culture mostly based around fish. The off the shelf product is "Dashi" and is a critical ingredient in making wonderful Miso soup. Basically its seaweed, fish and mushrooms so I humbly suggest this be added to our shelves thus improving the variety of flavors available to the chef.

If you don't have access to the carcass yourself then befriend a butcher pronto ! You will be glad you did. I repay the butcher with some of the stock/bouillon when I go to pick up more bones

I guess many here already are well versed in husbandry and the butchering of animals, but perhaps some of the city slickers could do with a major improvement in the healthy foods available to us. I know I grew up in the Greenwich Village neighborhood adjoining the meat market which has since transformed into high end shops, but back in the day the trucks used to drive down Washington St filled to the brim with trimmed carcasses bound for who knows where. The smell was unpleasant but I now appreciate how vital the bones are for a healthy diet.

To our health

Just today, I made stock from Chinese roasted ducks carcasses. They include the heads. After the initial 6-8 hour simmer with bones, peppercorns, bay leaves and a little salt, I strain everything and add some onion and celery. After that, we will use this stock for udon soup.

Hmm. I think I’ll try making veggie scrap and chicken bone stocks separately this week and see if that helps. A nice side benefit will be being able to compost the spent veg.

I save chicken and duck carcasses for stock, I normally get round to cooking them when I have 10 or so, it's just not worth it for less.

Bung all bones into a large pan, fill with water to cover, bring to a simmer, skim the scum off for about 20 minutes then put the lid on and leave to simmer (never boil) for 2-3 hours. longer doesn't seem to make any difference and you risk the bones falling apart. I do not add any thing else because I use this stock for everything from chicken soup to chinese hot and sour soup, and the spices/herbs for one are very different from those for another.

The only time I do it differently is if I am making a stock for ramen, then I take my bones, hopefully a chicken a duck and some pork backs. these are put in a pan, brought up to the boil and then once the scum has risen drained and washed then returned to the pan, fresh water is put on and they are also simmered for 2-3 hours.

I make bone broth almost weekly in the instant pot. I love the broth in the instant pot and put mine on for 4 hours. When I started making bone broth I was a purist and only added bones, carrots, celery, onions and garlic. Then I started adding more veggie scraps from the garden.

After a while I didn’t like the taste of the broth, it was bitter. I researched and found that too many brassicas (kale, collards, cabbage…) will make the broth bitter.

Since then I keep brassica stems out of my scraps bag and I’m back to great broth again!!

I absolutely love broth with several feet in it. Makes it extra delicious. I also add a couple egg shells for calcium(as seen on Julia Child)

Also the apple cider vinegar is to help pull the good stuff out of the bones and salt should be added after it’s done because salt hinders that process. Or so I’ve been told.

the mention of Julia Child reminds me of Dan Akroyd's bit on SNL

Good morning "Folks"! Happy day to all!! Bone broth ... difficult??? NO WAY! I have a special reusable silicone freezer bag that I put all of my discarded vegetable ends and veggies that have gone a little South ... (nothing rotten or moldy) ... I store them in the freezer until I have enough to make a pot of bone broth. A small amount of bones or a large amount of bones the only thing that matters is the size of your crock pot! I dumped all of my vegetables that I've been saving, and the bones that I decided to use ...  chicken is usually what I have but ... turkey bones make the best tasting bone broth. Most of my vegetable savings end up being onions and celery ... because that's what we eat a lot of, but I put almost everything in there ... Except cabbage ... cabbage makes it bitter. Fill it to the brim with water. I am not a salt user, So I leave that part of it up to you. Turn your crock-pot on high for about 6 hours and then turn it to low for the next 24. Then I get out my strainers and my jars and I jar my bone broth and put it in the fridge because I use mine within a few days. But you can can this broth and it works out beautifully! The reason that you want to make bone broth???  THE MARROW!!. ( just FYI for all of you out there that don't know this, the morrow in bones is where the gelatin comes from and is the texture you are looking for, and though it may not look desirable when you poured into your cup once you heated it turns into liquid and it is just delicious!) It is really good for the digestive system and it helps repair a lot of your internal workings. I am 61 years old ... I have not had a cold or a flu since I was eight! And please don't tell Paul because I have no desire to be his experiment! But this way of living really really is good for all of us!

Here is a link describing the difference: https://www.chelseagreen.com/2017/etymology-stock-broth/
When I make chicken stock,just from bones I cook it for many hours to extract minerals and gelatin. When I had  slow cooker, I cooked it for 24 hours. Now I have a gas stove and a wood stove, and I only cook it for 6-8 hours. The most delicious stock is from when I cook chicken with the meat until the meat is done, strip the meat, and return the meat and bones to the pot, with other bones if I have any on hand. Then I cook it for another 6 hours. In every case I add carrots, onions, leek tops (they grow readily and are cheap to buy where I live), etc.