Today I've been cooking beef bone broth to be used in soups, stews, rice, veggies and such. I've never made this kind of broth before, but I have made chicken stock many times. These beef bones are from a free-range cow from our friends' farm so I know how it was raised. The hamburger from this cow has been so yummy!
Bones are cooking with rough cut carrots, onions and celery, plus some salt and garlic. You can add whatever seasonings you like, such as thyme, rosemary, basil, etc. I had over 6 lbs of bones, which was too much for one stockpot so I had to split it into two large stockpots.
I roasted the bones in the oven first at 425 for about 45 min-1 hr. to get more flavor from the bones. I am cooking it all day, and have kept adding water as it boils down. I will stop adding water towards the end so it will be a nice, rich stock. I will then freeze it in small containers. I will also freeze some in ice cube trays, putting the frozen cubes into ziploc bags to make it easier to use in small batches of food or to heat up and drink.
This is our free-range organic chicken that we are having for dinner tonight. I put some water in the roasting pan, and stuffed partially crushed garlic cloves under the skin and put some sea salt on it. I put the lid of the pan on and am baking it at 400 for about 1.5 hrs. I will then pick the meat off the chicken, then put the carcass and loose bones in the crockpot, along with onions and celery and some sea salt and garlic, to simmer all night long. The chicken broth should be ready sometime the next morning.
One book that has been helpful on this journey has been The Nourished Kitchen by Jennifer McGruther. Here's a link to it on Amazon. (I am not being paid to endorse this book!! :-) )
The Nourished Kitchen
I'll post more books that are helping along this journey in another post.
