Bone Marrow Soup: Recipe
Bone Broth Ingredients
2-3 lbs. (or more) of marrow soup bones or knuckle bones
1-2 lbs rib or neck bones
1 lb cubed calves foot (optional)
2-3 carrots
2-3 stalks/sticks of celery
1 red or white onion
1/2 cup white or apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon (or more) of sea salt
1 teaspoon (or more) of crushed peppercorns
Optional:
Garlic (add at end for more kick)
Herbs (tie in a bundle using chef's twine)
Parsley
Rosemary
Thyme
Sage
Make sure to get bones from a healthy source. We most often use beef but you can also use chicken or fish bones. Remember, the healthier the animal, the healthier the soup. We purchase grassfed, organic soup or bone marrow bones from Alderspring Ranch. You can find this at the Dekalb Farmers Market. While you're there look for the calves foot. While the calves foot isn't always the easiest to find it is one of the most important ingredients when healing digestive disorders, joint and skin conditions. If you can find it have the butcher cube it for you and use it! When it comes to veggies any soup or broth veggies are fine. Use your favorites as they will drain their flavor into the broth and make it tastier.
Bone Broth Instructions
1) If using beef bones, roast the bones! Place them in a roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes at 350 (15 mins each side). They should start to brown before the roasting process is complete.
2) Place the bones in a large stock pot or crock pot. (You may want to use a crock pot if you have any concerns about cooking on low overnight).
3) DO NOT FORGET THIS STEP! Pour filtered water over the bones and add the vinegar. Let sit for 20-30 minutes in the cool water. (The acid helps make dissolve the hard nutrients in the bones so that you get the nutrients out of the bones and into the broth!)
4) Rough chop and add the vegetables (except the parsley and garlic, if using) to the pot. Add any salt, pepper, spices, or herbs, if using.
5) Bring the broth to a boil. Once it has reached a vigorous boil, reduce to a simmer and simmer until done. These are the times I simmer for:
Beef broth/stock: 48 -72 hours
Chicken or poultry broth/stock: 24 hours
Fish broth: 8 hours
Important:
During the first few hours of simmering, you’ll need to remove the impurities that float to the surface. A frothy/foamy layer might form and it can be easily scooped off with a big spoon. Throw this part away. Check it every 20 – 30 minutes for the first 2 hours to remove this. Grass-fed and healthy animals will produce much less, if any, of this than conventionally raised animals. There will also be a thick layer of oil and fat on the surface. I prefer not to skim this off if it comes from healthy animals and is healthy for us to eat. As the water cooks off over the extended cooking time just add more water back into the soup and return the pot to its full amount.
Storage:
Get your muffin tins! After 24 hours you can ladle some of the liquid off of the soup, strain through a fine metal strainer to remove all the bits of bone or vegetable and fill up your muffin tins. Put it in the freezer to make large, meal-sized cubes for later use. You can also use an ice cube tray that makes big cubes like the one above. Silicone trays make removal easy. This makes it easy to eat over time and we always have a big bag of broth cubes in the freezer! We often cook up a few cubes for breakfast, drop an egg or two in the broth with some veggies and have egg drop soup!! It’s a great way to start the day. And it's one of the best multivitamins you can have!! The cubes are also great in soups and stews that call for chicken broth. Broth will otherwise store (covered) in the fridge for about 5 days. But it sure is a lot of work to have around for just a few days. Make the cubes. You will use them later. Trust me.
Happy cooking!!