Stock, broth, elixir
grownandgathered
A guide to making meat stocks, from waste-bones. Look out for the recipe to follow Fig and "Waste" Pork Salad, that goes hand in hand with this recipe!
We think of stock as the base for a lot of meals, and at times it's a "medicine" for us. If you're not feeling 100%, this is the way to go, it is full of all the good things.
And if you have this ready to go in your fridge or freezer, add anything to it and you have a really tasty, quick and easy meal.
We eat little bits of well raised meats from different sources. Mostly we eat the waste bones from well raised animals that we get from the local butcher. Most butchers have "waste" bones - chat to your local butcher about what they have and the origin of those animals.
Bone broth is one of the best things for you, it is high in vitamins, especially vitamin A and it has a lot of "good" fats that help to metabolise vitamins and the fats are really important for your brain. It is super traditional and has been used for thousands of years as a "healer".We like to keep the stock very neutral and then add spices and flavours to it later, depending on the dish we are making. But, if you know you are making something specific - you can add spices in at any stage.
This is a slow and long cooked stock, to get the most flavour and nutrition out of those bones! And because it is cooked for so long, it becomes thick and gelatinous - a jelly when cold - rather than thin and watery.
Makes approx. 4 ltrs.
Recipe:
INGREDIENTS
About 15 "organic", "free range" bones (we love pork bones)
Water
8 ltr. of water
Ingredient notes
**please adjust ratios to whatever you have got! Don't feel limited by only having 2 bones or 50!
**for a gelatinous stock that turns to a solid jelly when cold ensure you've got some joint bones in the mix
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 100 degrees.
Get two oven trays out and place a single layer of bones on to each tray. Place in the oven for about 4 hours, or until they have browned.
Take them out of the oven and let them cool. Now at this stage, you can either take all the meat off the bones to eat separately (recipe for "Fig and "Waste" Pork Salad" to come!) or leave the meat on for a "meatier" stock.
Place the bones in a large pot and cover them with water. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 12 hours. Then, take the lid off and continue to simmer for another 12 hours.
Strain using a colander.
Enjoy as is, tear up some stale bread to dip, use as the base for stews, soups and sauces or freeze it for later use.
N.B.
Stores in the fridge for approx. 1 week. Freeze for up to 6 months.
