Time for Bone Broth! A Recipe for Essential Soup Stock

Ancient civilizations and cultures around the world knew that a good soup stock was the key to health. Not only do they add rich and wonderful flavors to our meals, they are extremely nutritious, adding protein, electrolytes and vital minerals like calcium, magnesium and potassium to our diet. A home-made stock is invaluable—add them to stir-fries, cooking water for rice or vegetables, sauces and more—and offer ways of getting more nutrition out of your food, without spending extra money. Not only that, having home-made stocks at home is the time-tested, best way to treat a little one’s cold or flu (our grandmothers new a thing or two about that didn’t they?)! A prepared or packaged broth is often inferior because they may contain sugars, too much sodium, vegetable oils or thickening agents, all of which may detract from, or even denature, the meals to which they are added.

There are several keys to making the most delicious and nutritious stock:

Pasture-raised meat. A pastured animal will produce a stock with more gelatin. Gelatin aids digestion, contains amino acids, and helps the body more fully use the proteins it takes in. By spending the money on pastured chicken or beef bones and using their stock in your meals, you’ll get all the benefits of the meat itself and spare yourself the money on having to buy extra meat for other meals. You can also do something like roast a whole chicken for one meal then use the carcass and any leftovers to make a stock, getting more than two meals in one. If you can’t find pastured meats, go with organic or hormone-free.

Vinegar. Adding vinegar to the cooking water helps to draw out minerals from the bones.

Filtered water. Use only filtered water for your stocks and let the vegetables and meat rest in the water for about 30-60 minutes before cooking.
Time. The longer the stock cooks, the richer and more nutritious it will be. Anywhere from 6 to 24 hours will create an ideal broth. The good news is, once the stock is on the stove, you don’t have to do a thing to it until you turn it off.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Vegetables: 1 large onion, 2- 3 peeled carrots, 2-3 celery stalks, all roughly chopped.

Meat: 1 whole chicken cut into parts, or leftovers (as mentioned above). For a beef broth, use about 4 pounds of meat with the bone still in. You can use knuckle bones, feet, rib or neck bones, for example.

2 tablespoons of vinegar.

1 bunch of parsley (to be added at the end) to enhance the mineral content.

1 large soup pot

Enough filtered water to cover the ingredients

Containers in which to store the stock for later use. I recommend glass jars in pint or quart sizes, which will make it convenient to use them for other recipes, and also ice-cube trays for freezing smaller amounts. Stock can keep about 5 days in the refrigerator, and several months in closed containers in the freezer.

Place the bones, meat or carcass, the vegetables and the vinegar in the pot. Cover with filtered water and let stand 30-60 minutes. Bring to a boil and skim off any scum that comes to the top (this is a very important step). Then reduce the heat, cover and let simmer for 6 to 24 hours. Add the parsley and simmer in the last 10 minutes. This can all be made in the crock pot as well. Simply place all the ingredients in a large crock pot, cook on high for 4 hours, then once the broth is simmering, reduce the heat to low and cook for at least another 4 hours and up to 24 hours.

Strain the broth using a slotted spoon or tongs to remove the vegetables, meat and bones, reserving any leftover meat for another meal. It can be used in salads, soups or even sandwiches. Let the stock cool in the refrigerator and skim off the fat that rises to the top once it’s cooled. As mentioned above, the more gelatinous the stock the better, so don’t be alarmed by a thicker, globbier-looking liquid. The beef bone stock can be particularly intense, but once it’s cooled it makes a delicious base for other recipes.

Store the stock in glass containers in the refrigerator or freezer and use anywhere stock is called for: soups, casseroles, stir-fries and for cooking anything from fish to vegetables to rice.

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