As someone who always gets a cold or the flu at least once a year, soup has always been a good companion. My frequent colds, combined with my love for cooking, introduced me to bone broth. As the weather has settled into Winter, what better way to warm up with this simple and easy bone broth recipe?
This article caters to a large range of people, from aspiring chefs to college students, as it requires very little money and nothing more than a handful of ingredients, a single pot and time.
I have been making bone broth for years and its uses are pretty versatile, you can drink it straight, use it as soup base, use it for soup dumplings, using it to cook to add extra flavor (i.e. rice), etc.
Let’s get started on this simple and easy bone broth recipe!
Easy and Delicious Bone Broth
Ingredients
Instructions
Rinse your stock parts under running water. (If you are choosing to do a beef broth, leave the stock parts in a bowl of cold water overnight to remove some of the blood). For my broth, I used both chicken and pork parts.
First, we are going to blanch the bones. If you do not know what this means, we are in essence going to quickly cook the bones, but then remove them and rinse them in order to u0022cleanu0022 the parts. Place your parts into a large pot big enough to fit all the parts and enough water to cover the parts. Fill the pot with cold or room temperature water until all all the parts are submerged and there is about an inch of water covering all the parts. Bring to a boil (as it starts to boil, you should start to see foam start to form on the top, that is scum). Skim off the scum and allow the pot to boil for 15-20 minutes. While the bones are blanching, cut up any vegetables or seasoning you wish to add to your stock. Remove the pot from the stove, dump out the blanching water, rinse off the bones, clean the pot, and return to the pot afterwards.
(OPTIONAL) Depending on whether or not you plan on adding vegetables, seasoning or aromatics to your broth, you can skip this step. If I add vegetables, I like to brown/char or caramelize them. This will add more to the flavor profile either a smokiness or a sweetness. In the stock pot I will add some olive oil and throw my vegetables in until they are are aromatic (start to smell). Then I add the animal parts on top. I used 2 yellow onions and a whole clove of garlic.
Fill the pot with enough water to cover the parts (and vegetables) and bring to a boil.
One it begins to boil, lower the temperature to Medium-Low and allow the stock to simmer. You can opt to cover the pot or leave the lid slightly ajar. Make sure to check in on your stock and stir it occasionally.
Add water if you notice it is getting low, make sure the bones/parts are always covered with water.
Simmer until you have the desired flavor, texture, thickness and body. This is a personal preference and something you can play around with. I typically let the stock simmer for at least 5 hours, and have done up to 10 hours. Again, it is up to your personal preference.
Once you are satisfied with your stock, turn off the heat and let it cool. Next, we will strain and store the both.
Once it has cooled down and is close to room temperature, strain the broth. First, I remove any big parts or bones and then I will use a finer strainer. This can be done using a mesh strainer, or something like cheesecloth. I strain the brother at least 3 times to make sure there are no bone bits or anything in the broth.
Storage: I typically use Mason Jars. It is important that you either prep the Mason Jars for hot liquid or, allow the broth to cool down so that the head does not shatter the jars. Depending on how much you end up making, you can store them in the fridge up to a week, or place it in the freezer.