Bone Broth

A lot of recipes call for the use of “stock,” “broth,” or “bouillon” (dehydrated stock) for flavor – and not just when making soups.  Sure, you can always go buy packaged stock at the store, but you don’t have any control over what exactly is in it when you do that.  Even the best organic stock contains things like cane juice (sugar), higher  salt, and ingredients labeled merely as “flavor” (what exactly is “organic chicken flavor” ???).  And if you get your hands on a “quality” gluten-free bouillon, you’re still going to see things like soybean powder, yeast extract, and “natural” corn syrup crystals.

If you made a pot roast or a whole chicken, you know that when you had carved all of the meat and removed all of the veggies from the roasting pan or crock, you were left with a bunch of water, juices, fat, and little bits of herbs and veggies, along with an assortment of bones with little bits of meat still attached (or lots of marrow inside of the roast bones).  Most people end up dumping the majority of it down the drain and out in the trash…

The better thing to do, however, is to make your own broth with it.  Save it in the freezer, and you’ll be solving a couple of problems at one time – how to control exactly what is in the broth or stock you use for your cooking, and what to do with the leftover juices and bones from cooking a roast or a bird. Bone broth also offers a lot of health benefits!

Start out with the “leftovers” from preparing something like a roast or a bird – either in a slow cooker or in the oven.  We’re using the remains of the pot roast recipe.  Dump all of the juices and smaller bits of veggies, etc, from the crock into a large sauce pan on the stove.  When you’ve finished carving up the meat, put all of the bones and other trimmings in there as well.  Chop up some additional veggies as desired to add to the flavor of the stock – perhaps a stalk or two celery, a carrot or two, and a half of an onion. Don’t forget to add in a couple of tablespoons of apple cider vinegar as this helps leach out the minerals from the bones. Throw in a 1/2 tsp or so each of some additional herbs like oregano, thyme, and rosemary.  Or you can stick to just the leftovers from cooking for a simpler flavor focused on just the meat itself.  Add enough water to cover the bones.

Optimal is to simmer on low for 48 hours.  Add water as needed to keep the bones just covered.  When finished, strain through a colander or strainer into a large heat-proof bowl or container. Put this in the refrigerator to cool it down a bit.  If you leave it too long, a layer of fat will form on the top. You can skim this off if you wish. I prefer to let the broth cool just enough that the fat layer does not form.

At this point, you have a few options for storage.  If you plan on using it within a week or so, you can simply throw a lid on it and store it in the fridge in the jar.  For more long-term storage, you could go through the efforts of canning it – with the water bath and everything – or simply freeze it. Options for freezing include pouring into a few zippered quart freezer bags or some sort of plastic freezer container. Another idea is to freeze into a muffin tin and then collect the cups into a freezer bag once they are frozen.  The advantage of this last method is that if you have a recipe that only calls for a little bit of stock, it is easy to only use as much as you need without defrosting a whole container – simply pull out the desired number of cups and toss them into the pot! I also like this method as it is beneficial to drink bone broth and heating up a couple of the cups is very easy.