Bone stock! It has so many uses… foremost to get feeling better. However, it can also help with weight loss, the base of sauces, porridges, and soups. Did your grandma or mom ever give you chicken soup when you had a bad cold and did not feel so good? Mine did!
For thousands of years this ancient superfood has been a delicious effective mainstay among traditional cultures as a healing tonic. When prepared correctly starting with organic grass fed or wild bones slowly cooked for many hours to maximize the extraction of the amino acids.
Animal fats and cholesterol are not villains but vital factors in the diet, necessary for normal growth, proper function of the brain and nervous system, protection from disease and optimum energy levels.
Remember about two decades ago everyone said do not eat fat. Well, people were getting injured, were having joint issues, and plain just not thinking straight, the brain and joints needs fat to work. Correct, too much fat is bad if it’s the wrong kind of fat.
Monos (monounsaturated) are the good ones that come from almonds, olives, olive oil, and avocados, again in moderation. For health, bone stock is tried and true that helps heal many conditions because it helps restore the lining of the gut.
Plus, it is a relatively low-fat food. The disrupted GI tract, otherwise known as leaky gut, is the root of many modern ailments and diseases. Bone marrow provides the most iron, the trace mineral that is at the core of hemoglobin.
This iron type is called heme iron. Iron is essential for our bodies to transport oxygen and produce red blood cells. Bone stock can be a breakfast, lunch, snack, or dinner beverage. It takes time to make but oh so worth it.
It can be heated for a hot beverage for any time of the day or eaten like a healthy homemade savory gelatinous healthy Jell-o! Heated, it can even go into a baby’s bottle or sippy cup. Learn to cook for your family and you for a healthy life!
Cooking with love, the main ingredient! In memory of my friend and mentor chef Charlie Abowd of the famed Adele’s Carson City who always thought better of me than I thought of myself. The years of dessert making for him and cooking at the James Beard House with him are forever treasured.
Ingredients
10 pounds of chicken bones, including legs, wings, necks, backs, and chicken feet (Centro Market)
2-4 ½ gallons fresh water
1 tablespoon sea salt
2 onions, quartered
2 celery stalks, rough chopped
3 carrots, rough chopped
1 whole head garlic, smashed
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1½ teaspoons black peppercorns
2 bay leaves
A few sprigs of fresh herbs like thyme, rosemary, sage
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Directions
If you are using bones from previously cooked poultry that you froze/saved to make stock, you do not have to blanch them. Blanch, if they are fresh uncooked bones put them in a five-gallon stainless steel stock pot; just cover them with fresh cold water.
Bring to a boil, then simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes, skim off scum/foam. Discard the water, refill pot just covering the bones. Bring to a boil, immediately drop the heat to a low simmer.
Add additional ingredients. Simmer 10-12 hours. Skim off scum/foam. Turn off the heat and let cool to room temperature; take off burner. Remove the vegetables and meat/bones. Strain with colander and cheese cloth for a clear stock. Refrigerate. (I put mine in one-quart glass containers and freeze or use right away within a week.)
Michelle Peters is co-executive chef/culinary program director Thunderbird Lake Tahoe,
and owner of Absolutely Michelle’s Chef-for-Hire.