Hi I have read NT and was amazed at how closely it described the way my mother used to cook when I was a kid. The first recipe I tried was chicken broth. I wasn’t able to get the LaIonica chickens I usually get, so I just bought safeway chicken from the deli. I put 1/2 kilo of chicken necks, 1 frame and 3 Marylands into my pot with the veg and vinegar and followed the recipe. My mum used to get me to skim the foam off the top and I had forgotten this instruction as I never skim when I cook stock. It made me feel close to my mum and the old days cooking with her in our kitchen. I simmered the stock for about 5-6 hours, but it didn’t turn to hard jelly in the fridge, just soft wobbly watery jelly. I tried the recipe again yesterday and got the same results with the LaIonica chickens. It might be that I’m not cooking it for long enough? Could someone suggest what I might be doing wrong? Is it because the chick isn’t organic? I can’t afford organic, so if that’s the problem then I’ll just have to miss out. The broth is still jelly like, so I’m still getting some nourishment from it. The chicken necks were yummy. Mum and I use to very rudely devour the necks at the table to the horror of my father and sister. My husband didn’t like the flavour of the broth because of the necks unfortunately. So I have to make his stock separate. I then made soaked brown rice which turned out gluggy. I rinsed the buttermilk soaking mixture off and then added unmeasured fresh water to the pot with salt and butter. Is it o.k to rinse off the soaking mixture before cooking or is it important for some reason to have it cooking with the grain? The soaked oats were great, though again I rinsed it before adding milk to the pot and cooking it. I was scared that my fussy little toddler would taste the sour buttermilk. The oats were so soft and bub didn’t seem to mind the texture. I seem to be spending a lot of time in the kitchen as ‘Im such a novice at this NT. Every time my hubby asks me what I’m doing, I have to say “I’m soaking”. I look forward to having it all worked out soon. I was wondering also how everyone manages to cook bone broth for 6-24 hours or longer. Do you just turn it off when you go out and then pop it back on when you get home? Do you leave the pot on whilst sleeping at night? My hubby thought that would not be safe. I would love to hear people’s bone broth recipe methods!RegardsSuzanne
About the Author...
My family and I have recently moved from Melbourne to Ballarat in order to buy a house. I am enjoying the slow pace of Ballarat and the closeness we now have to family. We get to feed grandpas chickens and I am growing vegies in pots. My background is in anthropology and sociology, but left an honours degree to have my daughter Bella a few years ago. So now I am at home full time and hope to have another bub before moving onto another degree and committing to full time work. I am a bit of a magpie when it comes to my approach to my and my families health. Dabbling in both alternative and orthodox medical traditions. I do however enjoy the beauty of alternative medicines and body care. I guess I just love nature. Having said that I also have a passion for science. I am always situated in an uncomfortable in between place, as I struggle to make my way. Having spent 13 years thinking about nutrition and managing my PCOS and reading cross culturally as well as historically about nutrition. I am very much drawn to Sally Fallon's Nourishing traditional ways. I spent months doing the Atkins diet with lots of meat, fat and fresh vegetables and felt wonderful. My cycles were perfect and I had no PMS. Unfortunately my weight wouldn't reduce, it just got stuck. However, I was eating tonnes of food, so the nourishing traditional way of eating, despite its high calories, maintained my weight. I changed to a ketogenic, protein sparing, low fat diet and it completely sent me into a state of depression, anxiety, low mood and lethargy. So I am now doing a nourishing traditions version of the zone diet, in order to have a structured calorie controlled way of losing weight. I have to reduce my carbs and replace it with more fat in order to control my hunger. I am hoping that as I learn and adopt the NT way of eating, my hunger will balance out. Having PCOS is so hard. My body is super at holding on to weight. So it will be a long journey for me. Fortunately, i have 9 kilos to lose until I reach my goal weight and can get pregnant. I can't weight to nourish my baby in the NT ways. Living in Ballarat however, I can't get lots of things like raw milk. So I will have to do the best I can. I am so looking forward to learning from all of you.
Mar 16th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
We use pasture-raised chickens, (usually organic, but not always) but just that you’re making bone broth is so healthy, even if you can’t find the “perfect” chicken, you’ll still get many nutrients from your stock. I’ve used the neck in my broth before, too, but never noticed a different taste - that would be a pain to have to make separate broth for your husband, but what a sweet wife to do it anyway! To answer your other question, I don’t leave my stock on the stove all night, I’ll turn it off mid-evening so it is cool enough for the frig (tonight I threw in a few ice cubes) then I just get it going again in the morning. (In the winter I put a lid on the pot and set it just outside our door on the snowy deck.) Cooking it longer may get you a more firm jel to your stock, but if you can find pasture-raised, that could help, too.
Hope that helps!
Kelly p.s. I use the words “broth” and “stock” interchangeably - hope that doesn’t confuse anyone.
Mar 17th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Suzanne. Broth - sounds like you need to either cook for longer or use less water. Low simmer should be fine overnight. I’ve done it for years and never had a problem, except when I forgot to turn it down. Check for curtains or other dangers. I like gluggy brown rice. If you don’t just do the saute then cook on low heat recipe from NT. Rinsing the soaking water is fine. You’ll get into a rhythm soon and you’ll wonder why you thought it was hard.
Mar 27th, 2008 at 9:04 am
The way I cook mine for 24 hours is in a crock pot.
Mar 27th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Suzanne,
Are you soaking in the vinegar water for at least 30 minutes? Sometimes my stock is hard jelly and sometimes soft. I believe this has to do with water, or too much water. A lot of people actually do a two step process. After straining they put it back on the stove and reduce. You can do this whenever, the next day, after defrosting, whatever. I beleive it still is nourishing if it is a bit watery. As for the taste, you should definitely skim as the foam and crud will give the broth an off taste, as will using too much vinegar. I don’t believe that using non organic chickens has anything to do with the geletin. Although I believe Sally Fallon says if you can’t eat pastured chickens, you should avoid chicken completely. As far as cooking long hours, don’t turn it off and on. I, don’t think that would be safe. It could become contaminated. I have an electric stove and do not worry about leaving it unattended. I do it ALL the time. I always start my beef stocks at night and deal with them the next day. You might think of using a crock pot or “slow cooker”.
I hope this was of some help.
Mar 28th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Hi
Thank you for your suggestions. Kelly you mentioned that you put your broth in the fridge overnight and then resume cooking in the morning. I wasn’t sure if that was o.k because they say not to keep chilling and then reheating foods as it can breed germs of some kind. I have a gas stove and would be scared to leave it overnight. My husband is going away for 6 weeks to work away from home, so it’s just tot and me and I know that something freaky would happen and I’d somehow burn the house down. I might buy a slow cooker/crock pot and just leave it on. I was going to buy one anyway to make my casseroles. I do put the vinegar in Tara, but I put more water in than what sally suggests, it’s the Hungarian in me, we always put just a little more!
Mar 29th, 2008 at 5:31 am
Hi Suzanne,
I’m pretty sure that since the next day I’m boiling all day again that it would kill any germs…if someone knows more about this, I’d love to hear from them. Doing stock in a crock pot is even better, though!
Kelly
Mar 30th, 2008 at 4:51 am
Hi Suzanne,
I always get a jelly like broth doing it the following way:
Put into large pot
1 x whole chicken (with meat and skin left on)
4 x drumsticks
4 x wings (or necks)
1 x large onion cut in quarters
1 x large carrot cut into large chunks
2 x cloves garlic cut in quarters
2 x sticks celery cut into large chunks
1 x large splash (50 to 100ml I think) good vinegar like white wine
Salt, pepper and herbs to taste.
4 Litres cold well filtered water
MOST IMPORTANT… I break all the bones in two or three places to expose marrow. Use a Cleaver or very large knife on a sturdy work bench and chopping board.
Put all ingredients in cold, bring to the boil and reduce to simmer for 4 to 6 hours. Keep an eye on the water and top up as necessary, finnishing volume should be around 2 to 3 liters.
This gives a good concentrated stock.
I do the same with beef bones, but I get the butcher to cut them up for me.
(The beef stock ends up so thick you have to cut it up!)
I let the stock cool for an hour then strain it and put it into the refridgerator to cool it quickly.
We then bag 1 cup servings into ziplock bags and freeze for convenience.
We are thinking about videoing some of our WAPF recipies and their techniques to make a DVD for our customers later this year (Time permitting). Keep an eye out on our site.
Regards,
Damien Armstrong
Mar 30th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Damien, that seems very expensive for a stock. How about taking the chicken out after about an hour, cooling and stripping the meat then breaking the bones and returning them to the broth. That’s what I do. I add vinegar when I return the bones and use the chicken for all sorts of yummies. That way you have many meals from the one chicken, not just broth. I also reserve stalks from parsley, tops from beetroot and carrot and even onion skin for broth sometimes. That way I can keep the more edible parts of the veges for other meals. Cheaper and more tasty for the broth.
Kelly, I’ve heard double boiled stock is superior in taste. However, I’ve let stock sit between boils for too long and ruined the whole batch. It probably wasn’t dangerous since bacteria would be dead but it smelled and tasted really sour - hideous.
Mar 30th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Wow, I’ve never heard that before about breaking the bones to expose the marrow, but it makes sense! You mentioned doing a DVD showing different WAPF recipes, I wonder if you’ve seen the one done by one of the ladies featured in this phone seminar: http://www.kellythekitchenkop.com/2008/03/organ-meats-ick-or-superfood-urban.html - you can find their DVD through the link at that post.
Kelly