Pork, Chicken and Beef Bone Broth

I recently wrote an article on a greener kitchen. One of the tips I gave was to save the scraps of food you would normally throw away. I save bones, carrot peelings, onion peels and ends, celery ends, carrot stems and tops and parsley stems. They all go into a freezer bag that I add too until I have enough bits and pieces and time to make some nutritious bone broth. 

What’s the difference between broth, stock and bone broth? For me, broth is just bones and water, no aromatics. Cooked to make a meaty base. Stock is the bones, water and aromatics like carrots, celery, onion, bay leaf and peppercorns. After it’s cooked and strained it can be reduced for a super flavor base. 

Bone broth, is the same as stock but designed to extract as much of the collagen and minerals as possible. It does this several ways. First and mostly by using bones that are full of collagen, like chicken feet, knuckles, pig feet, neck bones, etc. If you get large bones, especially knuckle bones have your butcher cut them in half.

Low and slow is the other method. A good bone broth is simmered for up to 24 hours! I have done some pressure cooker methods, but they just done seem as effective. This low and slow methods leaches out all of the collagen. You will be able to tell after refrigeration. The broth shakes like jelly.

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Lastly, a bit of vinegar is added to help release nutritional minerals. Between the vinegar and slow and low simmer you get maximum benefits. Bone Broth can be used just like any other broth or stock. I prefer not to salt mine so I get the most flexibility out of it. If I have a mug of broth I add a pinch of salt before heating it up. 

Not essential to nutritional benefits but essential to maximum flavor, I like to roast my bones first. It makes a huge difference in taste and color.

If you would like to read the full article please visit the Great Falls Tribune.

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