OT - Recipe Bone Broths for Mineralization Re: Bone broth soups

[Guest guest]

> Would you guys who make these mind sharing your recipes for them?

I know you boil the bones with something acidy, right, like lemon

juice or vinegar? But what else do you add for flavor?

>

> And for those who don't know, the reason these are good for you is

they supply sulfate. The same with plain gelatin, or taking an

epsom salt bath.--------Jackie

As Dave or others here can probably attest, making bone broths are

more of a process, lifestyle or work of passion than a straight

recipe so here goes:

From the butcher, I order a case at a time of organic or " natural "

(hormone-free) chicken backs & necks. Feet are GREAT (lots of

collagen) if you can find them. I have the butcher package up the

case of bones into 5 or 10 pound amounts so I can throw it all in the

freezer and the packages are small enough to fit in my pot.

Into a large stockpot, mine is 16 quarts, I add enough frozen

packages of these bones to almost fill the pot. I let the bones get

started thawing in the pot and, when they're thawed enough, I unwrap

them from their packages. (When the bones are completely thawed and

lumped together mine fill the pot about 2/3 full.) Even while they're

still frozen I cover with water and add a little bit of vinegar,

maybe a 1/4 to 1/2 cup?. After the bones continue to thaw in the

water for a few hours (usually over night) I bring the whole thing to

a slow boil. (The vinegar cooks off fast.)

I cook my bones at a low boil for about 3 hours the first time. Then

I turn the whole pot off and just let it sit for a few hours or

sometimes all day depending on how busy I am.. When I think of it, I

just turn the pot back on and bring it to a boil again for maybe a

half hour or hour and then turn off again.

(I rarely worry about bacteria and if I do I put salt in earlier than

usual, just kid of float some on top..)

At night, I put the whole pot outside (heavy!) so it gets nice and

cold (there's never enough room in my fridge.) If you do this,

remember to put a weight on it so some animal won't get it into it.

In the morning I bring it in and scrape the congealed fat off the

top. I bring it to a gradual boil and do the same thing I did the

previous day, just sort of casually cooking it but not over-doing or

boiling the hell out of it. If I can get to it that evening, I strain

the bones from the stock with a chinois (great investment!!) which is

a wonderful big strainer on a stand. (The biggest problem here is

having enough big bowls or pans so you might have to invest a little

$ here. I make everything from scratch including a lot of ferments so

I can justify having these things. Invaluable!)

Okay so now you should have just the bone broth, which, after adding

some salt ought to taste divine on its own. But I next add whatever

root vegetables I can get my hands on: onions, turnips, parsnips (my

favorite) celery root, burdock root, rutabaga, carrots, whatever. you

get the picture... At the end, I also add a rather lot of seaweed,

kelp, digitata, nori whatever I have (it's all from Larch Hanson at

Maine Seaweed, LLC -- incredibly clean, free of pollutants source.)

Any leftover vegetables in the fridge would be good here too.

I chop up as many vegetables I can fit in the pot or as many as I

have on hand. Bring the whole thing to a gentle boil and sort of coax

it along all day boiling a little bit and then sitting, not as much

cooking as the bones..

If I haven;t added salt I add it here, something wonderful like that

pink Himalayan salt. But I generally try to mix my salt sources up.)

I also add in things like turmeric (the whole root is fun if you can

find it) and a stick of cinnamon and bay leaf or rosemary or whatever

comes to mind or heart.

I usually try to put my vegetable/bone broth outside one night too.

(I think the chilling helps to further infuse the minerals and

flavors.)

The last part is to strain the vegetables out of the broth. My thing

lately has been to blend in a food processer a lot of the vegetables

and then add them back to the soup. More filling, more fiber and,

heck, vegetables are just so expensive!

I divide up the soup into a lot of tupperware type containers and

throw them in the freezer. I usually have one 3-cup container amount

a day. I get about a dozen 3-cup container out of a batch.. It's

filling and so I take it in a thermos when I have to be out and about.

Oh and sometimes, to the pot, I add a vegetable like sweet potatoes

kind of near the end and then blend them up good. What a yummy soup

that is and the carbs don't bother me so much that way.

Anyway, it probably sounds like a lot of work but I, more often than

not, have a pot on the stove (it heats the house in the winter) and

so it's more of a lifestyle. I don't even notice I'm making it

really. It just is.

So that's my version of bone broth. Oh how I wish you could taste it.

yum :-)

~robin