Bone Broth

You will need: 1 kg bones from a pasture-raised animal*, 4 litres cold water, 50 ml vinegar, celery, onion, garlic, carrot (leftovers of peppers, tomatoes, etc.), bay leaf, allspice.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).
2. Blanch your bones: place bones in a large stock pot or instant pot insert and cover the bones with cold water, bring to a boil, and let them cook at an aggressive simmer for about 20 minutes (if you're using the Instant Pot method, simply use the sauté setting to bring to a rolling boil). While the bones cook, skim any brown foam that rises to the top with a slotted spoon. Drain the bones and pat dry.
3. Place bones on a rimmed baking sheet and coat evenly with olive oil and a bit of salt. Roast until bones are crispy and caramelized, about 30 minutes.

Notes on ingredients: Bones are best from various parts of the animal, but whatever you have will do. Most important is that they come from a pasture-raised animal, to guarantee a concentration of valuable nutrients. Bones and marrow are rich in minerals, amino acids (like proline and glycine), collagen and gelatin — beneficial for the gut and much more (joints, bones, teeth, skin, hair, nails, connective tissue, digestion, immune and cardiovascular systems).

The water will boil for hours, so there's no need to use spring or bottled water — plain boiled and cooled tap water is fine. The ratio is: 1 kg bones covered with 1 gallon of water (3.785 litres). The vinegar is needed to extract the valuable nutrients from the bones and marrow — don't skip it. Use whatever vinegar you have; apple cider vinegar was used here.

Extras (optional but recommended): onion and garlic, vegetables of choice. They give a nobler, more finished flavor. Onion, garlic, carrots and crystal Himalayan salt were used here; leek and celery also work well. Some people even save all organic scraps (potato and carrot peels, etc.) in a bag in the freezer and add them to the broth. Herbs and spices are added at the very end, or best of all afterwards, right before consumption.

*For maximum health benefits, it is essential to use clean bones, ideally from a pasture-raised animal.

Simmering times vary by animal:

• Beef bones — 24-48 hours
• Lamb/chicken/poultry bones — 12-24 hours
• Fish bones — 8-12 hours

When making broth from raw beef bones, it's good to roast them in the oven for about 30 minutes for better flavor (bones and vegetables in a pan, 30 minutes at 200°C). This step is optional but ennobles the broth. If using chicken bones, save those from already-cooked chicken and skip the roasting, as they've already been roasted.

Then transfer all the ingredients to a large pot or slow cooker and cover with the required amount of water. The bones must be fully submerged, so choose a suitable pot. Turn the heat to maximum until the water boils and start skimming the broth. Foam forms only from beef bones and is far less when they are roasted and pasture-raised; if you skip the roasting, skimming will be necessary. Foam starts appearing about 1 hour after the mixture is put on the heat.

Then reduce the heat to minimum (1 or 2), just enough to simmer gently, cover with a lid and forget about it for 24-48 hours. After 48 hours you can leave it longer, no problem. The only important thing is that it's not less than 24 hours (or 12 hours for chicken). When the time is up — turn off the heat, wait until it cools slightly (but not too much, or a layer of fat will begin to form on the surface) and strain. Some people remove the fat, but I leave it to seal the jars. When sealed with their own fat, jars of broth keep up to 6 months in the fridge without needing sterilization.

Pour the broth into jars, wait until they cool a bit more and store in the fridge. If there isn't enough fat to self-seal the jar, you have 2 options — store it in the freezer or sterilize it. Otherwise it will spoil after 4-5 days. When using quality pasture-raised bones there is always plenty of fat, but it's good to know what to expect. Once refrigerated, the broth will gel. Sometimes the broth fails to gel — this usually means the simmering temperature was too high and the gelatin was destroyed. Such broth is still usable, don't worry. Just follow the storage rule for timing:

• if sealed with a layer of fat — 6 months in the fridge;
• if no fat — 5 days in the fridge, 6-12 months in the freezer, or sterilize if you have no freezer space.

THE KEY IS TO SIMMER SLOWLY!!

Important! From 1 kg of bones covered with 4 litres of water and cooked in a pot on the stove you get about 2 litres of finished bone broth. So if you have a large cooking appliance, you can directly double or triple the amount. With the same amount of bones and water in a slow cooker there is no liquid loss, so the amount of broth is preserved.

A tip on cooling the finished broth (from Bon Appétit): Hot broth can be a breeding ground for bacteria — cool it as quickly and efficiently as possible. Once you've strained out the bones, add ice and transfer to a shallow, wide container where it will lose heat more rapidly. Don't worry about the ice diluting the broth; it's so intensely flavored that a few cups of cubes won't drastically impact the flavor. Never put screaming-hot broth in the fridge — it invites bacterial growth and raises the fridge temperature, potentially contaminating other contents. (From https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/common-mistakes/article/common-mistakes-bone-broth)

From https://nadiapetrova.bg/bone-broth/