Easy Bone Stock

More than one person has asked me recently to tell them how to make bone stock. I think I read how to make this in Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon. But at any rate, although I'm fairly new to the process, it it simple and here's how I do it:

After we've eaten a roasted chicken (or other type of meat), I pick all the meat off the bones to use for sandwiches. Then I put the bones in a crock pot and cover them with water. I might cut an unpeeled onion in half and put in there, perhaps some garlic, any leftover veggies that I might have had from the roasted chicken meal that we just ate.

To this I add between 1/4 and 1/2 cup of vinegar. The acid helps leech the minerals from the bones.

I turn the crock pot (which is big and rather full by now) on low. I let it go overnight, and throughout the next day.

My goal is to cook it until the bones are soft and crumbly (in the case of chicken bones) or if it's beef or pork bones, until the marrow has come out. I add more water as necessary.

24 hours...36 hours. It can go for awhile. If doing it on the stove top, it requires more monitoring but will boil faster. Your mileage may vary. Also, I've read about a froth forming on the top that should be skimmed off. I've not seen any froth in the crock pot.

When it's done, I put a colander over a big bowl, strain out the veggie gunk and bones and catch the stock in the bowl. I pour the stock 3/4 full into quart mason jars and freeze. To thaw it, I put them, opened, in a pot of water and boil it on the stove.

This is the kind of thing that gave chicken soup its good reputation for being a healing food. Not. Campbells.

Homemade soup stock. Mmmmm Mmmmm, good!

Comments

Unknown said…
Just curious, how seriously does the vinegar impact the final flavor of the stock? I'm not a particularly big fan of vinegar.
Alana said…
You could use lemon juice and it would work, too. You need a bit of acid in there in order to leach all the nutrients out of the bones. It doesn't make it too vinegary if you don't use too much, in my opinion. Next time I'll make chicekn stock with lemon and see how that turns out.
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