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Bone broth. Ever successfully make any?

Z Buck McFate

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Does anyone (besides [MENTION=7111]fidelia[/MENTION] ) have experience with cooking bone broth? (Instead of continuing to bombard her with questions, I figured I'd ask the whole forum).

I just tried making some according to this recipe, and it's supposed to simmer for 48 hours. Although I had it simmering over the lowest possible stove top setting, all the water evaporated within 18 hours of starting. Possibly sooner - the pot was dry by the time someone woke up. (I did initially bring it to a boil, as the recipe directs, before changing the heat source to the lowest possible setting).

So what am I maybe missing?
 

rav3n

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I make broth regularly, albeit don't simmer for 48 hours. If there's time, it's heated to boil on the stove and simmered on low in a slow cooker for a day. The vinegar is unnecessary and adds a subjectively distasteful flavour. Can't be bothered to skim (strain through cheesecloth once done), especially since once cooled and left in the fridge overnight, the fat and impurities are removed.
 

Z Buck McFate

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If there's time, it's heated to boil on the stove and simmered on low in a slow cooker for a day.

Thanks. Now I'm remembering fid said something about a slow cooker as well, but it didn't occur to me to boil on stovetop then move it to slow cooker. :doh: I'll try it next.
 

rav3n

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Thanks. Now I'm remembering fid said something about a slow cooker as well, but it didn't occur to me to boil on stovetop then move it to slow cooker. :doh: I'll try it next.
Yeah, I don't like to leave home with anything on the stove or in the oven, or while sleeping, so the slow cooker is a viable alternative.
 

ceecee

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I've made it in a pressure cooker (Instant Pot). It comes out very good and the addition of chicken feet added that collagen I was looking for.
 

Z Buck McFate

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Yeah^, I was going for the beef. Normally I try to steer clear of meat, but beef is my favorite. I found a local farm that sells grass fed/pasture raised/hormone-free/all that bones. Which is why I'm giving bone broth a try.


I've made it in a pressure cooker (Instant Pot). It comes out very good and the addition of chicken feet added that collagen I was looking for.

Do you have any tips for someone making bone broth in a pressure cooker for the first time? (I have already learned how to use a pressure cooker. I'm happy to report the second degree burns I got on my chest, face & arms while learning have healed nicely.)

Also, do you throw the chicken feet into any bone broth, or just chicken? I'm going to admit I'm too squeamish to try it soon, but maybe at some point.
 

Z Buck McFate

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Oh! Also ceecee, do you add any vegetables? I'm guessing not, because 3 hours in a pressure cooker would probably turn carrots and celery to pure mush.
 
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I'm Cantonese. Found out that the western "bone broth" is just our normal soup. We have soup at every meal. There is no need to boil for 48 h, even our cantonese congee is just cooked overnight. Mom typically boils soup starting in the morning, on low heat, periodically skim off the surface and it's ready for dinner. We add water along the way to make sure that it doesn't dry out, and add salt/pepper closer to the end to taste. We don't even have recipes for it - it's just a method of ensuring that we don't waste any component of food.

So typically we'd use something like pork bone/ribs as a base, and boil it with some soy sauce. Mom uses a pressure cooker when she's pressed for time, or when she's trying to cook something fancy like ox tail (which isn't a broth). Since I'm living alone I use a slow cooker - just chuck in the mean/bone base with water in the morning with herbs/spices/red onion/garlic/ginger, by evening it's done. If you want to add vegetables, just cut and add to the simmering pot for an hour or so before it's done. Or if they're hard/root vegetables, a bit longer than that. Don't add it at the start. You can also save the soup and use it as a base for "natural" chicken/beef/pork stock for noodles or risotto or stew.
 

ceecee

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Yeah^, I was going for the beef. Normally I try to steer clear of meat, but beef is my favorite. I found a local farm that sells grass fed/pasture raised/hormone-free/all that bones. Which is why I'm giving bone broth a try.




Do you have any tips for someone making bone broth in a pressure cooker for the first time? (I have already learned how to use a pressure cooker. I'm happy to report the second degree burns I got on my chest, face & arms while learning have healed nicely.)

Also, do you throw the chicken feet into any bone broth, or just chicken? I'm going to admit I'm too squeamish to try it soon, but maybe at some point.

Ouch. I assume this was a stovetop pressure cooker. It would be nearly impossible to injure yourself with an electric pressure cooker - too many safety features. The other plus is that it's replaced my slow cooker and rice cooker. It's a fantastic appliance.

In my mind, bone broth is just stock and that's how I use it. I use a normal mirepoix, bay leaf plus fish sauce. I brown the bones, deglaze, add the feet and vegetables plus other ingredients and set for 2 hrs. I don't use a fat separator - just chill overnight and remove the fat that's gelled at the top.

Without pressure cooking I'd roast the bones and vegetables, be it beef or chicken, in the oven. Deglaze, add water, seasonings and herbs, feet and simmer. That part you could do in the slow cooker.
 

prplchknz

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I'm Cantonese. Found out that the western "bone broth" is just our normal soup. We have soup at every meal. There is no need to boil for 48 h, even our cantonese congee is just cooked overnight. Mom typically boils soup starting in the morning, on low heat, periodically skim off the surface and it's ready for dinner. We add water along the way to make sure that it doesn't dry out, and add salt/pepper closer to the end to taste. We don't even have recipes for it - it's just a method of ensuring that we don't waste any component of food.

So typically we'd use something like pork bone/ribs as a base, and boil it with some soy sauce. Mom uses a pressure cooker when she's pressed for time, or when she's trying to cook something fancy like ox tail (which isn't a broth). Since I'm living alone I use a slow cooker - just chuck in the mean/bone base with water in the morning with herbs/spices/red onion/garlic/ginger, by evening it's done. If you want to add vegetables, just cut and add to the simmering pot for an hour or so before it's done. Or if they're hard/root vegetables, a bit longer than that. Don't add it at the start. You can also save the soup and use it as a base for "natural" chicken/beef/pork stock for noodles or risotto or stew.

I talked to my mom because i was skeptical of bone broth and she told me that bones have a lot of minerals we're missing from our diet and that the longer cooking time probably leaches those nutrients into the broth that a shorter cooking time wouldn't. But yeah I was like you how is this different than soup. Of course here we boil the bones for an hour or two for broth. So that's all i have to say. I'm alway skeptical of fad foods that are cure alls. Which even if this does have health benefits i don't think it's a cure all otherwise we wouldn't need doctors. we'd just make bone broth. btw my mom has a ph.d in nutrition that's why i asked her specifically.
 

rav3n

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I'm Cantonese. Found out that the western "bone broth" is just our normal soup. We have soup at every meal. There is no need to boil for 48 h, even our cantonese congee is just cooked overnight. Mom typically boils soup starting in the morning, on low heat, periodically skim off the surface and it's ready for dinner. We add water along the way to make sure that it doesn't dry out, and add salt/pepper closer to the end to taste. We don't even have recipes for it - it's just a method of ensuring that we don't waste any component of food.

So typically we'd use something like pork bone/ribs as a base, and boil it with some soy sauce. Mom uses a pressure cooker when she's pressed for time, or when she's trying to cook something fancy like ox tail (which isn't a broth). Since I'm living alone I use a slow cooker - just chuck in the mean/bone base with water in the morning with herbs/spices/red onion/garlic/ginger, by evening it's done. If you want to add vegetables, just cut and add to the simmering pot for an hour or so before it's done. Or if they're hard/root vegetables, a bit longer than that. Don't add it at the start. You can also save the soup and use it as a base for "natural" chicken/beef/pork stock for noodles or risotto or stew.
Yup. The extended time doesn't make the broth any more healthy but it does intensify flavour like any other reduction.

What's the scoop on bone soup? - Harvard Health

Claims with some support


Chicken soup helps clear nasal passages. A 1978 study of nine women and six men reported in the journal Chest found that sipping hot chicken soup increased the flow of mucus significantly better than sipping either hot or cold water.

Chicken soup may reduce inflammation. Laboratory tests of chicken soup reported in Chest in 2000 determined that chicken soup inhibits the activity of neutrophils—white blood cells that are the "first responders" of inflammation. However, this effect hasn't been confirmed in controlled studies of adults.

Claims with no support


There is no scientific evidence, however, to support many of the claims for any type of bone broth. For example:

Bone broths don't relieve joint pain. Arthritis is a result of the loss of collagen, which cushions joints. Although bone broth contains collagen, dietary collagen isn't absorbed as is and sent straight into your joints. Like other proteins, collagen is broken down into amino acids, which become building blocks for body tissues. It won't be transported directly to your knees, hips, or other joints.

Bone broths don't make skin firmer and smoother.
This claim is also based on collagen, which forms a layer of tissue that supports the skin. Just as dietary collagen isn't transported directly to your joints, it isn't taken into your skin, either.

Bone broths don't improve digestion.
Bone broths contain gelatin, which is claimed to be a digestive aid, although there is little evidence of its effectiveness.

Bone broths don't strengthen bone. Just because a soup is derived from bone doesn't mean it will build bone or prevent osteoporosis. Even when simmered for 48 hours, bones release very little calcium into the broth.
 
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I talked to my mom because i was skeptical of bone broth and she told me that bones have a lot of minerals we're missing from our diet and that the longer cooking time probably leaches those nutrients into the broth that a shorter cooking time wouldn't. But yeah I was like you how is this different than soup. Of course here we boil the bones for an hour or two for broth. So that's all i have to say. I'm alway skeptical of fad foods that are cure alls. Which even if this does have health benefits i don't think it's a cure all otherwise we wouldn't need doctors. we'd just make bone broth. btw my mom has a ph.d in nutrition that's why i asked her specifically.
:) Yep us cantonese people have been doing that for eons, not because of the nutrition pov (that's very modern) but because we don't like wasting any part of the animal. That's how we end up eating stuff like innards with noodles or chicken feet (my mom does a mean chicken feet+peanut soup!). It's a nose-to-tail eating philosophy that's so much a part of our culture already that cantonese people have soup at every single meal. We were quite surprised when suddenly bone broth become a "thing". We don't see it as a cure for anything. To us, it's just a component of our meals.

Yup. The extended time doesn't make the broth any more healthy but it does intensify flavour like any other reduction.

:) Yep, depends on how intense you want it. I prefer my soups to be lighter, a good way to finish off a meal. Not to be eaten as a meal in itself, unless I've used it as the base for an actual stew. Then I'd eat the stew with rice.
 

prplchknz

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:) Yep us cantonese people have been doing that for eons, not because of the nutrition pov (that's very modern) but because we don't like wasting any part of the animal. That's how we end up eating stuff like innards with noodles or chicken feet (my mom does a mean chicken feet+peanut soup!). It's a nose-to-tail eating philosophy that's so much a part of our culture already that cantonese people have soup at every single meal. We were quite surprised when suddenly bone broth become a "thing". We don't see it as a cure for anything. To us, it's just a component of our meals.
after thanksgiving we make a soup with the carcass basically put it in water make a broth add seasonings, vegetables, and barley. and it's really good. I simmered the bones for probably 3 hours because i went out and ran errands. I'd try chicken feet and peanut soup mostly because i love peanuts.
 

rav3n

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after thanksgiving we make a soup with the carcass basically put it in water make a broth add seasonings, vegetables, and barley. and it's really good. I simmered the bones for probably 3 hours because i went out and ran errands. I'd try chicken feet and peanut soup mostly because i love peanuts.
A fave after thanksgiving and christmas is to make congee with the turkey bones in a slow cooker. To die for! :faint:
 

Z Buck McFate

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Ouch. I assume this was a stovetop pressure cooker. It would be nearly impossible to injure yourself with an electric pressure cooker - too many safety features.

Yes, stove top. I didn't even realize there was another kind. I'm just not much of a foodie. The only appliances in my kitchen that are remotely up to date revolve around coffee.

I might give the stove-top pressure cooker a chance though, just to see if it's feasible (for bone broth).
 

Fidelia

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I resisted doing the bone broth thing for a long time, but because of being celiac, I was not absorbing nutrients well and my skin and hair were both bad, I craved lemon juice and other sour things constantly because I didn't have the minerals I needed and I was tired all the time. While it hasn't been a cure all, drinking it regularly certainly was a turning point for me in terms of being less tired and my hair and skin responding favourably. I'm not sure how much it's healed up my gut, which is the claim they make that it does, but I think it's been a good addition to my diet on a regular basis.
 
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I resisted doing the bone broth thing for a long time, but because of being celiac, I was not absorbing nutrients well and my skin and hair were both bad, I craved lemon juice and other sour things constantly because I didn't have the minerals I needed and I was tired all the time. While it hasn't been a cure all, drinking it regularly certainly was a turning point for me in terms of being less tired and my hair and skin responding favourably. I'm not sure how much it's healed up my gut, which is the claim they make that it does, but I think it's been a good addition to my diet on a regular basis.

:) Great thing about it is that you can make a big pot, cool it down and freeze it in freezer bags. It doesn't go bad and you can just melt it in a pot, use that base to poach vegetables and other meat for a very nutritious stew. Or it can be used as the base for a smooth rice congee. Mom uses the pressure cooker to cook ox tail with diced tomato, herbs and spices and uses that as a sauce for pasta. It doesn't need to be consumed as a broth/soup, and the minerals don't get broken down under heat so it can be used very flexibly. Mom also keeps stocks of different soups in the freezer so we get something different at every meal. Skin+hair issues usually indicate insufficient protein. Hope that it's sorted now!
 

Fidelia

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Yeah I had insufficient protein, vit a, c, d and b12, plus wasn't absorbing some of the minerals like iron that I had on a regular basis.
 
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