Bone Broth?
 

I've been reading this morning on the health benefits of bone broth, and now I'm super interested in making a batch to try out.

I'm wondering if anyone here has ever tried making their own from scratch, and if so what tips do you have? Did you add anything other than water? How long did you decide to cook yours for? What did you cook it in? How did you decide which bones to use?

From what I've read, beef joints that contain a lot of connective tissue like ankles are good to use because they seem to produce a broth that's high in gelatin?

Apparently an author named Sally Fallon has a book dedicated to making bone broths that I'm going to look into picking up if this is successful :thup:

There probably are 100 thread here on it. Use advance search (google) I use instapot and made my last batch a couple weeks ago with bone/joints from whole pork butt. Small batch but no waste.

Yeah I haven't been terribly successful using the search option provided here.
I have a crockpot, but when it bites it I'll probably invest in an Instapot.
How often do you consume the broth? Like before every meal?

Oh and I forgot to say thanks for the suggestions! :thup:

- crock pot works fine

- i make when i've collected enough bones and desire to make. I don't look at this as magical stuff, just not waste.

- no schedule for eating. When make it, I eat it.

I’ve basically only made broth from chicken bones. If I buy a rotisserie chicken I save the carcass and put it in the crockpot. I cover with water - add maybe some salt, pepper, garlic powder, and some apple cider vinegar. Then set it on low for at least 24 hours.

I don’t actually drink it though. When it’s cooked enough I strain out all the bones, then portion it out into small containers which I seal and then freeze. I then use it for cooking, with recipes that use broth in them.

So make I don’t get the full benefit, but I do have a serving of collagen powder just about every day.

For poultry broth, I used to use mostly cheap boney bits like chicken backs and turkey necks, but now I hardly ever find them at the stores. :( Now, for the most part, I just save bones from whatever else I'm making in a large freezer bag until I have enough to make a batch of broth... or, if I'm out of broth, I'll buy whatever bone-on chicken is cheap - usually leg quarters.

For beef broth, I buy the big "knuckle bones". They're about $7.00 for a pair, but I get a lot of rich broth out of them, plus lots of TALLOW. :yum: That's another bonus of making your broth - delicious fat to cook with. For really awesome beef broth: roast the bones for an hour in the oven after covering them with a few Tbsp of tomato paste. Dump the whole mess into the crock pot, including all the juices and drippings, cover with water, let 'er rip.

I hate drinking broth. That said, it makes a lot of other stuff taste awesome: my soups, sauces, stir fries, etc; and I do believe in the health benefits because I don't otherwise get nearly enough collagen or gelatin.

I do find it tastes better in the Instant Pot. Pressure cooking just adds so much depth of flavour. Save up for one. Don't wait for your crock pot to die, it probably won't. My mom died before her crock pot did and she had it before I was born. :lol:

When you pressure cook, you need to have at least 1 cup of liquid to create the steam, and this is probably one of my more common ways to use the broth. It infuses a lot of flavour, then makes a fabulous sauce or gravy.

It used to be suggested that you add vinegar to the broth so that by acidifying it, you draw out more minerals. I don't bother anymore; I'm pretty sure it was on Mark Sisson's site that that was debunked. The bones often crumble after I've made the broth, so that indicates to me that the minerals are gone (and into your broth.) If you choose to add vinegar, you won't taste it afterward, at least in my experience. I hate vinegar, so I wouldn't have done it if I could taste it. :lol:

Oh that is smart. Not only do you save money from not having to purchase ready-made stock, but you'd know exactly what's in it.

Funny that you say that. My mum purchased a crockpot back in the late 70s/ early 80s



Feast your eyes on that relic. That's some serious high glamour right there!

Mum passed January 2019, and that monster still works! Before the time of built in obsolescence :lol:

Some good discussion in this thread - Healing? Let's talk about collagen.

Thanks for the link! Heading over to check it out. Thanks! :thup:

at some point I put together a how to but can only find pictures. here you go. Use the fat for cooking or just snacking on.

keyword: Instant Pot, insta-pot, insta pot

Wendy, that's awesome. This was the one my mum had:


Thud, nice pics, of course. The most crazy gelatinous broth I've made was from bone-in pork shoulder. If you've ever made Jello Jigglers that you can cut with a knife and eat with your fingers, that was it. I think I mixed it in with the pulled pork and its sauce, though it could have been a meal on its own. :daze:

Oh wow! I haven't seen one of those in AGES!

I finally received my Nourishing Broth book (Sally Fallon) in the mail this week, and I've been skimming through it trying to get a feel for which ones I'd like to try. The only thing I can see being a bit of an issue right now is getting bones or joints from my butcher. He's pretty low on everything right now, but he assured me it's temporary. I might have a look at the grocery store and see if they have any in stock.

Get a whole chicken. Roast the whole thing, remove the meat for eating, use the bones for broth. Or cut up the chicken, if you prefer cooking the individual pieces. Set aside the back and wing tips for broth, adding the bones from the rest of the bird as they become available. You can quite safely use the bones left on the plate after dinner; the heat & long cooking time will be sufficient. Or you could check if the market has any "family packs" of chicken pieces.

Loving the pics of the old crock pots! Nothing is built to last like that anymore which is such a shame.

That sounds like a good idea. I've got a bunch of chicken legs left over from my last few butcher box orders sitting in my freezer. I think I'll try using them.

You said it sister ;)

I just cooked some chicken soup with 4 thighs, celery and onions and lots of herbs. So easy and so good and filling!

My original "Crock Watcher", bought in the late 1970s/early 1980s, is still going strong. About 8 years ago I decided to upgrade, just because the first one was looking really dated, and I thought a new one might be better, for some reason. I was, in fact, ready to toss the old one out, on the premise that I only needed one. Turns out, the only advantage the new one has over the old is size. The old one has a feature which I love; it can be set to be on high until it reaches heat, about 1 & a half hours, and then switches automatically to low. New ones don't do that. Also, the temps on new ones appear to be higher than in the old ones, which isn't always a good thing. Needless to say, I never tossed the dated old one, and have, on occasion (Thanksgiving mostly) found that I don't mind having 2 slow cookers at all.

That sounds perfect. Can I ask what you cooked it in? Crockpot, Instant Pot, stovetop? Also, what herbs do you prefer to use?

I cooked it on the stove in a big pot.
The herbs I used this time were thyme, poultry seasoning, bay leaves s&p.
I think that was it.
Oh wait, toward the end of cooking I had a couple of sprigs of parsley from trimming a plant so I threw that in too.

Was it gelatinous due to protein content? I'm not familiar enough with bone broth I guess.

My mother always hosted Thanksgiving dinner. Her house was more or less central; we had all grown up there, it was Home. As the only daughter, I ended up doing most of the cooking, but I didn’t mind; this was the kitchen I learned how to cook in, and I have always felt that Thanksgiving dinner is the easiest meal of the year to cook - you don’t have to to think about it; it is what it is, and don’t you dare change it! One year mother insisted that I take the turkey carcass home with me (1 1/2 hour drive) because she couldn’t face any more turkey broth. She was unable to consider throwing out the carcass, but she couldn’t face having more broth in her freezer. I took it home, but my husband said “never again”, because of the smell, in the car. I take after my mother: I cannot throw out bones that could make broth or soup. I actually tried it once; my freezer was full, I had a chicken carcass, I had the garbage bag open and ready to accept it, and wasn’t able to do it. Chicken stock was made, and room was found. And I realized I was, indeed, my mother’s daughter.

Yes, that's how they make Jell-o. Gelatin is the protein (or group of proteins?) that makes it jelly-like. I think most of it comes from joints and connective tissues. It also makes up our joints and connective tissues. :)

I suppose it would also depend on how much water you used, and how much cooked out. :idea:

Okay guys; I'm ready to try this. :) I have chicken leg bones. I plan to simmer them in 1 gallon water with 2 tbsp ACV tomorrow night for 12 hours.
Any tips?

I use a 7 quart crock pot and cook for 48 hours, so twice a day I add 3-5 cups due to evaporation. Just keep in mind that you have to add as it gets reduced, which leads to a richer broth - so you're not watering it down.

I do add some extra water during cooking time .. just enough to ensure everything stays covered with liquid. However, when it's done I strain out all solid scraps then return the liquid broth back to the crock (or inner pot if I've used my pressure cooker). Then I crank up the heat, leave the lid off and let it bubble away for at least 15 or 20 minutes to reduce by about half. It's easier to store 2 quarts of concentrated broth than a whole gallon :idea:. I freeze the broth in 2 cup portions .. then add extra water as necessary at time of use.

If I don't freeze it, how long will it keep in frig? can I freeze tupperware? i'm using a soup pot; i don't have a slowcooker.