(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . What's For Dinner? v18.07 Stocking Up [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-08-19 So I had some rib bones in the freezer from a nice two bone roast I treated myself to. I also had a nice one bone roast I was saving. Mainly to make Chef John’s “Prime Rib Gravy”. But in order to do that, you need some bone broth. I was eager to do this recipe, because making a good bone broth/stock where you roast everything is something I hadn’t tried, and I was looking for an excuse. I know the secrets to stock/bone broth making are well known in this group, but I had such spectacular success my first time trying that I HAD to share. So to begin: I knew I was going to make much more than Chef John did. Mainly because I had more bones. So I gathered ingredients accordingly: On this foil lined baking sheet I had two large onions, two or three thick carrots, and about 12 oz of celery. Because mom always added some kind of green pepper to her beef broth, I added two nice sized halved jalapenos including seeds and ribs. Side note. I hate white people embracing jalapenos because growers are breeding the heat out of them to sell more poppers. On top of the veg are three rib bones I cut from roasts, and something called “soup bones” that seemed to be from the shank or neck. Into the oven at 450 F for an hour they went. I think they probably could have gone in longer, cause while the onions and peppers got some color, the carrots not so much, and the celery was basically melting. Anyway, I used a spatula to load everything into a pot and saved that leftover fat. I added a box of beef stock (4 cups) and like 6 more cups of water. Then I put in some whole peppercorns, some smashed garlic cloves with the paper still on, and a couple of bay leaves. Then a miracle happened. I hit the perfect simmer. As you all know, the simmer is what makes a stock/bone broth. Too heavy and the fat emulsifies and turns it cloudy, as I will subsequently relate. Too little, and it doesn’t really cook at all, just sits there kinda hot. But I hit it, and let it go for like 6+ hours. The simmer was so perfect, I could have done it overnight. Anyway, after that long simmer, the result was what you see in the cover picture. The look. The smell. So I strained it out, and I was scared for a moment. Because I knew I had a colonoscopy coming up, and I didn’t want particles in this broth. What I did that made me scared was kind of mash and squeeze all the juice out of the veggies, and they’re really soft at that stage and can pass through the strainer. I wanted it to be clear. My plan was to have the rest as part of my clear liquid diet. But anyway. I put the pot that had the strained broth into the fridge. Thinking was that I’d let it fully chill and then I can easily remove the hard layer of fat that would float up. Little did I know that for the first time, I did my job so well, I had full on beef jello. And not the “wet” kind. The extra firm kind. Usually, the broth is still mostly liquid. Thick, but liquid, and removing fat is easy. I had to take each piece, and kind of finger scrape the jello stuck to the hard fat back into the pot. Then I had to reheat it in order for me to separate what I needed for the prime rib gravy and something I could use for something else—like colonoscopy diet meals. In this picture you can still see the beef jelly as it wasn’t fully melted. Out of originally 10 cups of liquid, I got like 7 cups of an astounding stock. Now that I have this in my arsenal, I’ll be using more and more of it to create meals I can use instead of my usual heavy high caloric fare. I have another tool I can pull out to help bring weight down. So next it was poultry. I was on a cooking streak that week, preparing three different things. First, this beef stock. Next, the rib roast I made the stock for (Prime Rib Gravy). Finally, it was time to get rid of more bones and stuff I had in my freezer. This time, poultry edition. I had a big ol’ chicken back, and a couple of wings. Raw, as I broke down the chicken before cooking. I also had a couple of roast duck carcasses with a couple roasted wings as well as a raw duck neck. Same process, but here’s where it got messy. I couldn’t find a perfect simmer, and I think my simmer for this was too strong. Also, on my raw chicken, there looked to be a bit of freezer burn. I tossed the chicken neck, for example, because it was so so freezer burnt. Side note: I had a bone from a roast leg of lamb I forgot I had. If I had known, I would have added it to the beef bones. What a flavor that would have been. I’m already collecting bones for my next batch. Cause this stuff is GOOD. Anyway, back to the poultry version. After cooling and fridge time, there wasn’t a lot of fat. It seems it got emulsified. Too hard of a simmer. Plus the duck was giving interesting smells and flavors. In this preparation you can really smell the odor that puts duck off to many people. I had to try some. I microwaved a bit, and when it was hot, threw a bit of flaky salt in to season. Nothing wrong with that taste. Here’s the finished stock before straining You can see, upper left center, one of the duck carcasses. That’s the deep brown. Anyway, this is definitely going into my regular rotation, only I’ll have to purchase bones for the beef stock, and for the chicken? The best thing to use for stock or bone broth for chicken is of course the feet. Can’t wait till the next time I want a week of nothing but filling and nutritious bone broth. Not to mention I can store some in the freezer for other applications. So, what kinds of tips and trick do YOU use when making your brodo/stock/bone broth for whatever use? WFD today is ballpark food because the theater group I belong to is doing the National Anthem at a minor league ball game and I get to be social. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/19/2186921/-What-s-For-Dinner-v18-07-Stocking-Up Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/