Bone Broth has had quite the media attention in recent times. It is the basis for my Soup for the Soul.
See despite all the hype, there are some great benefits of meat stock and bone broth. They play a role in healing the gut, and can be so easily used in all types of cooking we do every day.
My recipe takes about 5 mins to prepare, and anything from 1- 48 hours to cook. Using a slow cooker makes it super easy to do.
So what are the potential benefits of broth
- bone and joint health is enhanced by the presence of gelatine and collagen
- it is rich in minerals often missing from our diet due to poor choices and soil depletion
- it aids digestion
- it helps the body to naturally absorb nutrients needed for increased immunity
So how do you make it?! Here is my recipe and notes.
Bone Broth
Ingredients
- 2 kgs of bones- you can use chicken, beef, fish, lamb, each has their own profile and each their own cooking time also so see below
- 1 large onion diced
- 1 large carrot diced
- 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
- water to cover plus 2 cups extra
- your choice of herbs
Method
- Place all ingredients in a large pot and simmer for hours
- Cool in fridge overnight
- Remove fat layer and use for cooking if desired
- To reheat, simply slowly heat and use
Cooking times
For a full blown bone broth, the cooking times are as follows:
- beef/lamb- 48 hours
- chicken- 24 hours
- fish- 8 hours
Choosing your bones
To get the most meaty goodness, and high nutrient levels, choose bones with joints and gelatinous areas. There does not need to be a large amount of meat. You can buy bones to use, or re-cook those left over, however if you re-cook, ensure you reduce the cooking time.
When using chicken, you can really increase the amazing nutrients by adding in some chicken feet.
A note on starting out with Bone Broth
If you, or your family, have gut health issues, allergies, or known histamine tolerance problems, you may find that broth is hard to tolerate from the start. For some people, it is necessary to start with a very short cooked broth, known as a meat stock, and then build up the cooking times once well tolerated. The longer meat is cooked for, the higher in histamine it becomes. So take care when starting out.
Consuming the Bone Broth
Lots of people love a cup of broth with meals, or as the replacement for a hot drink. But, for some people the flavour profile is not so palatable. In order to get this amazing broth in, you might need to be a little creative with how you use it. So here are some ideas:
- use as the base for soups instead of bought stock or water
- add as you would stock to other recipes such as sauces, bolognese, stroganoff etc.
- reduce and use as gravy base with added flavours
Bone broth is an amazing liquid that can really enhance efforts to improve gut health. The best thing is, it is so super simple to cook too.
