The Importance of Bone Broth

Prodigal Son said:
I pressure cook my bones for three to four hours too, however I stop there, no further reduction of water. For me it is sufficiently dense at that time. It is OK to cook it as you have, many cooks do this to make bouillon, or stock, freeze it in this reduced form and then re-hydrate it for sauces as and when required.

Thanks, Prodigal Son, that's good to know.
 
When looking for bones eventually it is a good tip asking smaller butchers/local stores. So I tried it myself today and went to 2 different stores. One gave meat bones (or bones with meat left over) for free (and I could come back another time) and another bigger store sold just ribs.
 
I do my broth in a crock pot with onions, garlic, salt and pepper, for about 24 hours. Then strain it out once and run it through a cheese cloth once more just to make sure there's no bone fragments.

A tip for getting local bones - if you live in an area where a lot of whitetail deer hunting goes on, there will be small independent butchers who process deer for the hunters. Some people don't care about the excess bones from the legs or the ribs. The spine especially is thrown away after the backstraps are removed. If you can strike up a conversation with a butcher, ask them to give you a call when they have excess bones. You'll most likely get them for free or at least a small cost.

I'm about to make some venison rib bone broth for the first time (have always used beef bones). The deer are wild and exceptionally healthy (local grass, acorns, fruit and veggies), so I'm eager to see how this turns out. I'll report back once it's done...
 
Jonathan said:
I do my broth in a crock pot with onions, garlic, salt and pepper, for about 24 hours. Then strain it out once and run it through a cheese cloth once more just to make sure there's no bone fragments.

A tip for getting local bones - if you live in an area where a lot of whitetail deer hunting goes on, there will be small independent butchers who process deer for the hunters. Some people don't care about the excess bones from the legs or the ribs. The spine especially is thrown away after the backstraps are removed. If you can strike up a conversation with a butcher, ask them to give you a call when they have excess bones. You'll most likely get them for free or at least a small cost.

I'm about to make some venison rib bone broth for the first time (have always used beef bones). The deer are wild and exceptionally healthy (local grass, acorns, fruit and veggies), so I'm eager to see how this turns out. I'll report back once it's done...

I will be very curious how it comes out. I've only ever had venison jerky. Interesting flavor, as I recall. Unfortunately, if it is good, I really won't be able to make a batch, without incurring shipping costs. There ain't many deer in FL ;)

Kris
 
I've been having bone broth more or less regularly since August came around, and I have to say it's been really delicious. Although I didn't figure out until recently that you could re-use bones for a few times. Usually I would toss them after the batch because I was leery about diminishing returns on the mineral content. ^_^ but I found that throwing other animal parts in (such as extra tendons and connective tissue) that I accumulate in the kitchen as time goes on also helps to keep it nice and gelatinous and nutritious.
 
Our butcher offers smoked pork hocks, which are not full hocks, but slices of them. I'm staring to question their prices, as they've gone from giving me a full pork hock to slicing them and still charging full price. There's some price gouging going on. Hubby's been picking these up for me, and wasn't aware of it. We'll see what they say when I give them the 'stink eye'.

Anyway, the smoked hocks are not done with a 'smoke flavor', and make a very good bone broth when done in the crock pot for a day. I've been switching off between the pressure cooker and the crock pot, using different kinds of herbs: fresh ground coriander/cumin, and turmeric, with garlic is the latest experiment.

The crock pot appears to do a better job than the pressure cooker at breaking down the bones, but its still an experiment in progress. I'm having a large soup mug (holds two cups) twice a day. I can't imagine going without this now, some days its all I want to eat.
 
Gawan said:
When looking for bones eventually it is a good tip asking smaller butchers/local stores.

Agreed. I also found a small organic butcher and he puts away bones for me regularly and takes only very little money, like 2€ for 4-5kg, and I freeze the surplus.

Jonathan said:
A tip for getting local bones - if you live in an area where a lot of whitetail deer hunting goes on, there will be small independent butchers who process deer for the hunters. Some people don't care about the excess bones from the legs or the ribs. The spine especially is thrown away after the backstraps are removed. If you can strike up a conversation with a butcher, ask them to give you a call when they have excess bones. You'll most likely get them for free or at least a small cost.

Yes, a good tip indeed. My father recently got his hunting license and has already brought deer meat, which is superb indeed - much different even to the organic meat I've eaten. And for those in Germany who're interested in getting wild meat, look for a "Wildhändler" - they are the people who buy the hunted meat and process it, and according to my father, it should be much cheaper than otherwise bought. Once I've got my pressure canner, I'll be using wild meat as well.
 
I just tried RflctnOfU's recipe, below. Excellent. Really delicious. I didn't have any ginger, so left that out, but this will be on my daily menu from now on. Many thanks all. :P

I can't speak on the cooked bones from rib roast, however I have found a yummy way to make it. About 3 lbs of grass fed beef marrow bones, one onion chopped, one bulb of garlic - cloves crushed, 1 1/2 tsp of sea salt, dash of white pepper, about 1/2 tsp of each of the following: cumin, tumeric, ginger, and a tiny dash of cayenne (opt.) splash of balsamic vinegar...cover with water about an inch. Turn crock pot on low. Let cook at least 24 hours. voila!!
 
Rick3 said:
I just tried RflctnOfU's recipe, below. Excellent. Really delicious. I didn't have any ginger, so left that out, but this will be on my daily menu from now on. Many thanks all. :P

I can't speak on the cooked bones from rib roast, however I have found a yummy way to make it. About 3 lbs of grass fed beef marrow bones, one onion chopped, one bulb of garlic - cloves crushed, 1 1/2 tsp of sea salt, dash of white pepper, about 1/2 tsp of each of the following: cumin, tumeric, ginger, and a tiny dash of cayenne (opt.) splash of balsamic vinegar...cover with water about an inch. Turn crock pot on low. Let cook at least 24 hours. voila!!
:thup: on having bone broth on daily menu. Glad you like the spice mix ;)

Kris
 
Reporting back on the venison broth, it turned out really well. The bones cooked down quite a lot, and the broth has a definite venison flavor, though not too "gamey" ... I would recommend that to anyone, and will definitely be making another batch soon. :)
 
Here's a link to an Underground Wellness podcast on the benefits of bone broth:

_http://undergroundwellness.com/radio/
 
I've been making my broth with grass fed beef bones but was wondering if anyone has tried it with goat bones? :huh:
 
Vulcan59 said:
I've been making my broth with grass fed beef bones but was wondering if anyone has tried it with goat bones? :huh:

Not so far but I have tried it with lamb bones and it was delicious.
 
Gandalf said:
Vulcan59 said:
I've been making my broth with grass fed beef bones but was wondering if anyone has tried it with goat bones? :huh:

Not so far but I have tried it with lamb bones and it was delicious.

Do they give the "lamb/goat" taste to the broth? Because lamb/goat meat is something I usually dislike.
 

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