Secrets of Bone Broth’s Cooking

Published: Oct 31, 2019 · Modified: Nov 1, 2019 by Jenny · This website earns income from affiliate links, ads, and sponsored content.

Wholesome and deeply nourishing, bone broths are among the most affordable and nutritious foods you can make at home. Rich in protein with a deeply savory aroma and flavor, broth gives foundation to soups, stews and sauces. Even more, you can also sip them on their own as a restorative.

What is bone broth?

Bone broth is the liquid that is leftover after you simmer meaty bones and connective tissue in water for an extended period of time. In addition to bones, connective tissue and joints, bone broths often contain vegetables, herbs and spices as well as wine or apple cider vinegar.

Vegetables, herbs and spices give flavor bone broths, but sometimes cooks add medicinal herbs like reishi or ashwaganda to give broth unique therapeutic properties.

An acidic ingredient, like wine or apple cider vinegar, helps break down the protein in connective tissue and collagen to produce a gelatinous, protein-rich broth. And it’s that protein that you’re after when you drink broth.

While you can use it as a base for soups, stews sauces and gravies, it’s traditionally sipped on its own as a restorative food. That is, people traditionally sipped broths with the intention of mitigating an illness, like a cold, or to restore and maintain general health.

What’s the difference between broth, stock and bone broth?

Broth, stock and bone broth are similar foods. Further, cooks often exchange one for another easily in cooking, but there’s a few key differences between these three foods. Namely, broth, stock and bone broth are made in slightly different ways and used differently.

• Broth is typically made from meat and simmered a short while. Broths are light in flavor, and often sipped on their own as a restorative tonic.
• Stock is made from meaty joints and bones, simmered a moderate amount of time and cooks use them as the foundation of other foods like sauces, soups and stews.
• Bone broth is made from a variety meaty joints and bones, simmered for an extensive period of time, and typically sipped one its own as a restorative tonic.

Which bones should you use for your broth?

Good bone broth gets its characteristic gelatinous structure from collagen. And collagen comes from the connective tissue in meat, ligaments, and on bones. So, for a good-flavored broth that’s also rich in protein and gelatin, select a wide variety of bones that include some joints as well as meaty bones.

• For beef bone broth and beef stock, use knuckle and neck bones, shanks and oxtails. You can also use marrow bones, too. But, be careful, as too much marrow makes for poor flavor, greasy texture and no gel.
• For chicken bone broth, use a whole chicken, chicken feet, the frame of a roasted chicken, or chicken backs and wing tips. You can even make it using only chicken feet.
• For turkey bone broth, use the frame of a roasted turkey, turkey backs, wing tips and feet, if you can find them.
• For pork, use ham hocks and pork neck bones. If you’re lucky enough to find them, you can also use pork trotters, too.

Tips for Making Bone Broth

Making bone broth is fairly straightforward and easy. And if you can turn on your oven, or boil a kettle of water, you can make good bone broth. Of course, there’s a few key tips you’ll want to pay attention to so that your broth comes out perfect every time.

How to Get Started

• Roast your bones first. Roasting bones caramelizes their proteins and releases some fat. And that means a richer and more robust flavor for you.
• Use wine for a touch of acidity. An acidic ingredient like wine helps to balance the flavors in bone broth, and gives better flavor than apple cider vinegar.
• Use enough water to just cover the bones, but not too much more. Bone broths achieve their gel and high protein content because they tend to use less water than the amount used for meat broths and traditional stocks.
• Spoon off any foam or scum that rises to the top, while it’s mostly made of protein and is fine to eat, it can make your broth cloudy and muddy the flavor.

How to Get a Good Gel

• Bring your kettle to a boil, and then immediately turn down the heat to a slow simmer. Simmering broth at a low temperature means better clarity, better flavor and a less greasy broth. The right temperature is also key in making sure your broth gels.
• Simmer bone broth for several hours, not days. Simmering your broth for too long may make the gelatin break down, and it can release histamines to which some people experience sensitivity. You’ll still get plenty of protein and loads of flavor with a shorter simmer. And you won’t waste energy in the process.

How to Develop Great Flavor

• Add medicinal and culinary spices at the beginning. Black pepper and tough, woody herbs like dried bay, and dried roots like astragalus need time to release their flavor so add them to the pot with your bones.
• Add roasted garlic and onions at the beginning. You can toss onion halves and garlic in with your bones when you roast them, and they’ll give your broth fantastic flavor.
• Add vegetables at the end. Vegetables like carrots and celery can give broth a lovely flavor. But, they can also make your broth taste overly sweet, tinny or like overcooked vegetables. And no one wants that! Add them in the last 20 to 30 minutes of cooking for the best flavor.
• Add leafy herbs at the end. Leafy herbs like parsley, savory and basil can give it a beautiful punch of flavor. Unfortunately, they’ll lose all their vibrance if added to early. So add them in the last 10 minutes of cooking, or right when you take the pot off the heat.

Finishing Your Broth

• Strain the hot broth into glass containers, and allow at least 1 inch of head space (or 2 if you plan to freeze the broth).
• Degrease your broth by letting it sit and spooning off any fat that floats to the surface. Or transfer it to the fridge, and the fat will rise to the surface and coagulate as it cools. Lift off the fat with a spoon or fork before you eat it to avoid a greasy, unpalatable broth.