I have had a lot of friends asking me for my bone broth recipe lately as I have been posting pictures of soups and other sauces made using the broth on my personal Instagram. If you're wondering why you should make broth - you can find that out here, here or here. Or just Google it.
So, after making about 1 batch of brother per week since the beginning of this Winter - I've just about made mega-litres of the stuff, experimenting with different methods and flavours each time.
I'm going to talk about making chicken broth in this blog - as I have not been able to source any other free range (or pasture fed) bones from lambs or cows at this stage (because i'm a working mum of a toddler). Plus the flavour of the chicken broth isn't as dominant as beef or lamb would be, therefore you can add it to almost anything and it will just enhance the flavours rather than becoming the flavour. But why is free range or grass-fed meat/bones important? Because we are extracting the nutrients from the bones and so we want the source to be as healthy as possible i.e an animal that has been fed its natural diet. Not to mention that we absorb cellular memory from animals that we eat and its just plain narcissistic to support methods of animal farming that do not offer the animal a worthwhile existence.
So, how do we do this?
Ingredients:
The skin, bones and cartilage (and any left over bits of meat add flavour) of a free range chicken OR about 1-2kg (depending how much you want to make) free range chicken legs and/or wings, roasted
About 1/4 cup proper apple cider vinegar (I use Braggs)
About 6 peppercorns
1-2 Tblsp of pink sea salt
1-2 Onions, quaterterd, skin still on
1whole bulb of purple garlic (dont bother peeling it)
1 leek, white part only
A whole bunch of parsley, stems and all
1 tblsp of tumeric (optional, depending on your tastes)
1-2 bay leaves
You can really use whatever flavours you like here but id definitely make sure you have at least some onion, garlic and celery in there. Please take my advice and DO NOT add carrots (seen in the picture of one of my first attempts), sweet potatoes or any other sweet vegetables to your broth. The sugars in these vegies, after being cooked for so many hours, tend to take on an unpleasant off-caramel flavour that dominates the broth - not nice!
We start with the meat and/or bones. Now a lot of people say you should roast the bones first to add to the depth of the flavour of the stock. And, as annoying as this is, I've definitely found it to be true. If you like, you can roast a whole free-range chicken, consume most of the meat, and save all of the bones, skin, cartilage, neck etc and use this for the base of your broth (ie from your Sunday roast). Alternatively you can just buy a packet of free range legs and/or wings and season them, roast them, leave all of the meat intact and then use the meat for a soup after you've made the broth. It's really up to you. You don't HAVE to roast the bones/meat but you really should, for your own sake. Here's how i did it with some legs:
So, after making about 1 batch of brother per week since the beginning of this Winter - I've just about made mega-litres of the stuff, experimenting with different methods and flavours each time.
I'm going to talk about making chicken broth in this blog - as I have not been able to source any other free range (or pasture fed) bones from lambs or cows at this stage (because i'm a working mum of a toddler). Plus the flavour of the chicken broth isn't as dominant as beef or lamb would be, therefore you can add it to almost anything and it will just enhance the flavours rather than becoming the flavour. But why is free range or grass-fed meat/bones important? Because we are extracting the nutrients from the bones and so we want the source to be as healthy as possible i.e an animal that has been fed its natural diet. Not to mention that we absorb cellular memory from animals that we eat and its just plain narcissistic to support methods of animal farming that do not offer the animal a worthwhile existence.
So, how do we do this?
Ingredients:
The skin, bones and cartilage (and any left over bits of meat add flavour) of a free range chicken OR about 1-2kg (depending how much you want to make) free range chicken legs and/or wings, roasted
About 1/4 cup proper apple cider vinegar (I use Braggs)
About 6 peppercorns
1-2 Tblsp of pink sea salt
1-2 Onions, quaterterd, skin still on
1whole bulb of purple garlic (dont bother peeling it)
1 leek, white part only
A whole bunch of parsley, stems and all
1 tblsp of tumeric (optional, depending on your tastes)
1-2 bay leaves
You can really use whatever flavours you like here but id definitely make sure you have at least some onion, garlic and celery in there. Please take my advice and DO NOT add carrots (seen in the picture of one of my first attempts), sweet potatoes or any other sweet vegetables to your broth. The sugars in these vegies, after being cooked for so many hours, tend to take on an unpleasant off-caramel flavour that dominates the broth - not nice!
We start with the meat and/or bones. Now a lot of people say you should roast the bones first to add to the depth of the flavour of the stock. And, as annoying as this is, I've definitely found it to be true. If you like, you can roast a whole free-range chicken, consume most of the meat, and save all of the bones, skin, cartilage, neck etc and use this for the base of your broth (ie from your Sunday roast). Alternatively you can just buy a packet of free range legs and/or wings and season them, roast them, leave all of the meat intact and then use the meat for a soup after you've made the broth. It's really up to you. You don't HAVE to roast the bones/meat but you really should, for your own sake. Here's how i did it with some legs:
Butter, rosemary, salt and pepper. Nothing else.
So, once your bones are ready/meat is cooked you add them to a large, heavy based soup pot and fill with just enough cold water to cover the bones. To this, you add you apple cider vinegar and allow to sit for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, add in all of your vegies and seasonings and bring to the boil.
Once boiling, a scum will likely rise to the surface in the form of a foam/bubbles like this (ignore the carrot):
Just skim this off with a metal spoon. Then turn the heat down to very low, cover with a lid and allow to cook (ever so gentle) for 16-24 hours, or until the bones are easy to crush between your fingers (and mind you don't burn yourself trying to do this as I have so many times!).
Once you feel its ready, turn the heat off and allow to cool completely. Next strain all of the veggies, meat and bones from the broth and set aside. Place the liquid into a large bowl/container (preferably glass), cover and place in the fridge over night.
Once your liquid is in the fridge, you can then separate all of the (extremely tender) meat from the bones (if you chose to use legs and wings) and then place this is the fridge to use for soup the next day, or have in sandwiches, on the side for dinner, or whatever you have in mind - just don't waste it! The rest of the veggies etc are usually not good for much at this point - when I was foolishly putting carrots in the broth I would feed them to my dog - but I cant feed him onions etc so it usually just goes in the bin.
Once left in the fridge over night, your broth should now have a layer of fat set on top of it (depending on how much meat . Just peel this off with a spoon if you want to. You don't have to do this but if i'm mainly using it for soup, I do. You can also keep the fat in a jay to use for frying if you'd like (good for savoury fritters, bacon and eggs etc). Don't be afraid of the fat - its actually good for you!
At this point, your broth should be a gel/jelly-like. If its still watery, its likely that you added too much water. It doesn't mean you cant use it, but you will need to boil it down quite a bit to get back some of the flavour.
Yes. My photos are terrible. I didn't stage them or try to make them look pretty because i'm not trying to sell you anything. The benefits of this stuff speaks for itself. Bare with me!
So now you can use your broth like a stock, make soup, add it to sauces (bolognaise, nacho topping), cook veggies in it (my daughter loves carrots boiled in broth for a snack) - or just drink it like a savoury tea. Be ware that when you first start drinking broth your tummy may react a little at first (as in any detox process). Just push through this stage and keep drinking it and your tummy will settle down and you will be feeling the benefits before you know it.
That's all from me for now. I am trying to get back to blogging, i've just been excessively "busy" since returning back to work outside of the home.
Let me know how it goes!
Angela
So now you can use your broth like a stock, make soup, add it to sauces (bolognaise, nacho topping), cook veggies in it (my daughter loves carrots boiled in broth for a snack) - or just drink it like a savoury tea. Be ware that when you first start drinking broth your tummy may react a little at first (as in any detox process). Just push through this stage and keep drinking it and your tummy will settle down and you will be feeling the benefits before you know it.
That's all from me for now. I am trying to get back to blogging, i've just been excessively "busy" since returning back to work outside of the home.
Let me know how it goes!
Angela
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