Homemade Bone Broth

[Tempest63]

I had bought some “stock” bones from our local grocers recently and had intended using some of them with the sawn up bones from a leg of mutton that was in the freezer. I happened to find a whole leg of goat in an Asian grocers yesterday. The whole leg was a lot cheaper than where I usually purchase from so I got him to bone out the leg and saw up the bones. Mixed those with “stock” bones and put them in the oven at 180°C for 50 minutes, turning half way through, before dropping them in the slow cooker for the next 48 hours. Carrots, onions and celery will go in for the last 12 hours.

 

Before the oven

After the oven

 

[gfweb]

As I understand the term you are making a stock...which should be great.

 

Bone broth is the result of cooking bones free of attached meat with no vegetables. 

[Tempest63]

 

The recipes for bone broth that I have followed have always called for some veg quite late in the process. 
The bones go into the slow cooker, covered in water with about a tablespoon of cider vinegar then ticks over on low heat for 48 hours. The carrot, onion and celery, go in for the last 12 hours. Any longer and they give a burnt bitter taste to the final product.

I always see the difference between broth and stock being the time it is simmering. Stock for a few hours, broth for a couple of days. The addition of the vinegar helps break down the collagen in the gristle etc that clings to the bones. That is what makes it good for IBD patients as it helps to heal the gut.

I follow a recipe (sort of) from the Katz fellow and various IBD sites and recipe books.

I don’t drink it unless it is really fresh, but pot it up in 500ml pots, freeze and use in recipes that call for stock or water. The broth turns into jelly and is very very rich. Goes great in my curries. In this day and age a lot of people are averse to bones in their food, so using bone broth like this offers the best of both worlds, no bones on the plate but the broth delivers the flavour and goodness.

 

Edit: This similar to the bone broth recipe that I use. Given that I have made it a lot of times over several years I don’t actually follow a recipe line by line anymore. It is now a bit instinctive.

https://www.farmersalmanac.com/10-benefits-bone-broth-25512#

Edited July 28 by Tempest63 (log)

[btbyrd]

If you're just going for maximum gelatin extraction, pressure cookers are the way to go. Much faster and easier than doing it on the stovetop, and the results are often preferable.

Vegetables should only be added to stock or broth (or whatever) toward the very end of the process. After an hour or so, their vibrant aromatics become muddy and dull. I pressure cook roasted bones/meat alone and then simmer aromatics for 30 minutes once the pressure comes down and I have the lid off.

Adding vinegar doesn't really do anything to help with extraction. There have been a lot of bogus theories proffered about doing it, but adding a small amount of vinegar isn't going to appreciably shift the pH of a pot of stock. People like Sally Fallon and the Weston A Price foundation used to recommend adding vinegar to help extract minerals from bones, but then someone pointed out that bone broth doesn't really contain much in the way of minerals regardless of how it's prepared. Cooking bones for a long time or under pressure will convert a lot of collagen into gelatin, yes, but the vinegar isn't doing anything to contribute to that result. 

Edited July 29 by btbyrd (log)

[Shel_B]

On 7/28/2024 at 2:29 PM, btbyrd said:

If you're just going for maximum gelatin extraction, pressure cookers are the way to go. Much faster and easier than doing it on the stovetop, and the results are often preferable.

Vegetables should only be added to stock or broth (or whatever) toward the very end of the process. After an hour or so, their vibrant aromatics become muddy and dull. I pressure cook roasted bones/meat alone and then simmer aromatics for 30 minutes once the pressure comes down and I have the lid off.

Adding vinegar doesn't really do anything to help with extraction. There have been a lot of bogus theories proffered about doing it, but adding a small amount of vinegar isn't going to appreciably shift the pH of a pot of stock. People like Sally Fallon and the Weston A Price foundation used to recommend adding vinegar to help extract minerals from bones, but then someone pointed out that bone broth doesn't really contain much in the way of minerals regardless of how it's prepared. Cooking bones for a long time or under pressure will convert a lot of collagen into gelatin, yes, but the vinegar isn't doing anything to contribute to that result. 

I pretty much agree with you on all points, although I've not looked into the details about adding vinegar.  I've not noticed any difference in taste or the results with and without vinegar, although I've used a very small amount of it.

 

I love the pressure cooker for making stock and broth ... quick, easy, efficient, and it frees up my time considerably.