Hello friends! Welcome back to the blog! Today I am making bone broth, and I wanted to share my process. I am going to put my process first, and the story after.
WHAT YOU NEED
Large stock pot
Chicken Carcass(es)
Onion
Garlic if desired
Bay leaf (or 2 or 3, depending on # of chickens)
Salt
Water
Apple Cider Vinegar
HOW TO PREPARE
24 hours before cooking chicken(s), salt them generously. Bag and return to refrigerator. The salt will diffuse through the muscle (salt always moves from high concentration to low concentration; thank you 10th grade science class) and where salt goes, water follows. Once the salt is inside the muscle, you lose a lot less water during cooking, so the meat stays more tender and juicy.
Roast the chicken(s). I do 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour 15 minutes or so - I always use a meat thermometer to make sure the chicken is fully cooked (165 degrees Fahrenheit in the thickest part of the meat).
Let the meat cool, then pick the meat off the bones. Save the skin. If you’re starting with whole chickens, save the feet and necks too. All that goes in the broth. All the fat too. It adds incredible flavor, and you skim it off later.
Store or eat the meat. I’m making chicken soup once the broth is finished, so the meat is in the fridge until the broth is done.
Put the chicken bones, skin, and odds and ends in the stock pot. Mine holds about 4 chickens. Peel and coarsely chop the onion, toss in a bay leaf (I use 2-3), and peel a few cloves of garlic. Smash the garlic with the broad side of a knife. Cover with water, bring to a simmer. Add a splash of vinegar (helps leach the minerals out of the bones). Add salt. After a few hours, taste the broth, and probably add more salt. Keep tasting every so often and adjusting the salt. I used about 4x as much as I expected to, but you will know when you have it right.
Simmer, covered, 24-48 hours. Strain with a fine strainer or layered coffee filters or cheesecloth (I lined my colander with paper towels and used that). Refrigerate for 6+ hours until fat has risen to top and solidified. Remove fat. I’m reserving the fat to cook with - it adds an intense chicken-y flavor almost like adding a bullion cube to things like rice or couscous. Your broth is ready to use! I will add the chicken soup recipe another time.
STORY TIME
This broth is incredible. It is loaded with minerals like Calcium. It’s delicious and intensely flavorful. I think my favorite part of the homesteading journey so far is getting to learn to make incredible, healthful food from scratch. The chickens I used for this broth were not hatched on the homestead, but we had them shipped here as day-old chicks. They ranged in age from 18 months to 4 years old. We needed to make some space in the chicken coop before winter, so we butchered 11 birds and they will nourish us all winter long.
I look forward to reading your thoughts! Please comment below, or send me an email: info@honeybunnyhomestead.com. Thanks for reading!