Photo credit to Rebecca Caridad Facteau of Manzanita Photo & Thank you sweet cows <3
I used a beef stock recipe from the Weston A. Price Foundation website. Check it out, all real food, all day ;-) I also used Sally Fallon’s beef stock recipe for how-to information from her grand cookbook: Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats.
Photo credit to Rebecca Caridad Facteau of Manzanita Photo
Bone Broth
Beef Bones
(other bone recipes below)
About 4 pounds beef marrow and knuckle bones (from organic, free range cows who have access to pasture, who have eaten a diet that most resembles their natural diet, were 100% grass fed from start to finish, and who have had a good quality of life).
1 calves foot, cut into pieces (optional)
3 pounds meaty rib or neck bones
4 or more quarts cold filtered water
1/2 cup vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar)
3 onions, coarsely chopped
3 carrots, coarsely chopped
3 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
Several sprigs of fresh thyme, tied together
1 teaspoon dried green peppercorns, crushed
1 bunch parsley
I bake the bones and the onions for 45 minutes on 350 degrees Fahrenheit before simmering them in water. I then put the ingredients below in a large stainless steel pot. I bring it to a boil. If you are cooking other things or hanging out in your kitchen you can then periodically check the pot and when you see it, remove the scum from the top. Once it simmers for 12-72 hours, remove the bones (recycle them with a farmer if you can) and you can strain the sock with a cheese cloth over a large glass bowl and yet you don’t have to if you just put it in the fridge and take the tallow off the top once it’s cooled. It may look like big brown soup slop. Sally gets it right when she says in her cookbook:
You will now have a pot of rather repulsive-looking brown liquid containing globs of gelatinous and fatty material. It doesn’t even smell particularly good. But don’t despair. After straining you will have a delicious and nourishing clear broth that forms the basis for many other recipes in this book.
Yes, it has all the nutrition in it I promise! I put the stock back in the pot and I put the entire pot in the fridge. Once it cools by the next morning I harvest the beautiful fat layer of beef tallow from the top and put it in the freezer for future cooking use. I break the broth up into small mason jars. I put what I am going to use in the next few days in the fridge and then the ones I wanted for later in the freezer. Mmm. Wonderful.
use the bones of any pastured, ORGANICALLY raised, well treated animal for bone broth
If you want to use the bones after baking a chicken that's a great idea because not only do you get the protein and fat from the meat and skin for many meals you also now have the bones to heal further. I also sauté the liver and heart up with rosemary, leeks, and sea salt :) If there are other organs I sometimes out them in the stock if I don't want to eat them. I used the turkey bones from our wild thanksgiving bird and those have been the gift that keeps on giving! I am just on my last batch now in January because I alternate with beef bones. You can use any animal bones you can find especially from local farmers. Those are the best. Sometimes they have so much if you create a good relationship they'll give them away!
Photo credit: Organics Park
chicken/turkey/duck stock
1 whole pastured, organic chicken/duck/turkey or 3-4 pounds of poultry parts (any cartilage, feet, neck, gizzards, or any left pieces of the animal can be used, it improves the stock)!
1 gallon cold filtered water (if you have less bones, use less water)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (this does give it an acid taste. It is beneficial because it brings out the minerals from the bones)
1 large onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
3 sticks of celery, chopped
If you roasted your whole animal and are not in the mood to make stock right away, put all the bones and left overs in a zip lock bag and freeze them for later. When you are ready take them out and throw them in the water! It's truly that easy. No big deal.
This will yield about two quarts or more of stock depending on how long and the intensity you cook the bones with. Bring to boil. Set to low heat or use a crock pot on the low setting. A bigger crock pot with more bones is better to make more of this at once. Both are perfect. Cook 24-48 hours. Skim the cream-ish colored film off the top every once in a while. Throw away bones once finished. I store the broth in the fridge for up to three days or freeze it in individual mason jars for other soups or to drink on it's own in the morning with breakfast. It is great to use in many recipes to add nutritional value and flavor.
Roasting a whole duck recently was one of the best experiences of my life! Recipe coming soon. SSWWOOOONN!
Serving my loves
I know I am repeating myself, it is of vital importance that the beef and bones are from organic, free range cows that have access to pasture, were 100% grass fed from start to finish, who have eaten a diet that most resembles their natural diet, and who have had a good quality of life.
I served a group of friends who I had not seen in a long while that I went to college with at Naropa. I also served a second group of folks with one batch (because stock is the gift that keeps on giving ;-) I served my niece, my father, and a dear old family friend who loves all that is food. It was great to all be together (in both instances) and to serve beef stock as a warming amuse bouche with pieces of tender grass fed beef, onions, carrots, celery, and mushrooms. I blended it together with my immersion blender and it was a creamy, rich, and delectable mini soup.
Please Amelia May I Have Some More?
They loved it! They said it was nourishing, warming, and had a good flavor. They inquired why beef and not chicken. For me it is about the feeling I get when I drink/use beef stock. My fiend described to me that in Chinese Medicine beef is considered to be cooling while chicken stock can be warming. I find I like that cooling, centering, grounding feeling that beef stock brings me.
I have found beef broth to be particularly healing. I have been restoring my gut lately. I am starting with the foundations of my own foundation! I believe it is most powerful to practice what you preach. I drink beef broth as an appetizer before meals much like I eat miso soup at a Japanese restaurant here in the states. It brings warmth and blood to my digestion which helps get things going. It is helping me with gut inflammation, bloating, and digestive discomfort.
Is there More?
Absolutely. If you look in Sally Fallon’s splendid cookbook: Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats, you will find many dishes that use beef stock in the beautiful art of reduction glazes and gravies, an art I very much look forward to exploring. Stay tuned for more recipes that use yummy reduction glazes!
What would I change about it?
I loved the flavor of the beef broth and the warming digestive support. I would change the process in which I processed the fat off the top. I find chicken stock was much easier in this regard. I did as Sally suggested and put the stock in the fridge once it was done simmering for about 24 hours. This did create a layer of fat (beef tallow) after it cooled that came right off easily. I saved it and have been using the beef tallow for other cooking needs. The next time I would heat it and drain it once more through a cheese cloth to get a bit more of the fat out. Don’t get me wrong-that fat is precious. I love the fat for the purpose of reduction glazes and soups and yet for my purpose of a gut warmer it was a bit much. I llooovve the healing powers of it though! I am so thankful to those cows and to all the hands that went into getting the beef stock to my kitchen. They have made accessible such a wonderful remedy for any digestive and mineral concerns/imbalances. Happy rejuvenation friends!
Your,
Amelia