Author Topic: Making Bone Broth  (Read 1400 times)

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Offline Catgirl64

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Making Bone Broth
« on: January 25, 2018, 03:51:33 AM »
Post split and new thread started, at OP's request.  Lola


I've been reading this thread with great interest.  I tried to make bone broth when I first started with raw.  It did finally gel, but then other things started happening - flu, holidays, flu, flu, flu - and it sat in the refrigerator for longer than I felt was safe, and I ended up throwing it out. 

Now I have another batch I have just made.  I started with bones I had left in the freezer from a pork roast, and simmered those for 12 hours.  Put the broth in the fridge, and then, when I made food early Tuesday morning, I took the stock pot back out, added more water and all the bones (quite a bit of meat still on them) from 10 lbs. of chicken leg quarters.  This simmered for nearly 24 hours and was put in the refrigerator as soon as it was not too hot to do so.  It still has not gelled.  I am not terribly worried about that, because I think I know the reason - too much water.

My question is this.  I am over using those leg quarters from Walmart as a source of meat.  They are cheap, and free of additives, but they are VERY labor-intensive, and by the time I debone them, I might as well just be buying thighs only, which are much easier to work with.  I don't mind extra skin and bones, because I know they are useful, but I don't care to have 4 lbs. or more from each 10 lbs. of chicken.  I don't need THAT much broth!  I have one bag of them left, and am considering putting them, along with this broth and a package of chicken feet nobody wants, in my biggest stock pot and making the mother of all broths.  Now for the question:  Is it safe to simmer the broth I have made for another 12+ hours after adding these leg quarters, or should I treat them as a separate batch?  I would think it is okay, as I have heard of chefs using "master sauces," essentially stocks, that have been kept for years, as long as they are brought to a boil every couple of days, and new items constantly added. 

Thoughts? 
« Last Edit: January 27, 2018, 01:00:12 PM by Lola »

Offline Lola

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Re: Making Bone Broth
« Reply #1 on: January 27, 2018, 01:01:41 PM »
Bump
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Offline Catgirl64

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Re: Making Bone Broth
« Reply #2 on: January 27, 2018, 01:34:48 PM »
Bump

Thanks, Lola!  I'm sorry, I don't really know if this warranted a new thread, but my question has sort of morphed from purely about how to make bone broth to what to do with the meat I have left when I do it.

Okay, so I went ahead and made the broth.  I have TONS of it!  I'm not sure if it will gel completely, but I am not terribly worried, as I mainly want it to use in place of some of the water when I make the Alnutrin slurry for the food.

My main question at this point is, how best to use all that chicken?  My cats really liked those Fancy Feast broths when I bought them in the past, and I am thinking of mixing the shredded meat with some of the broth and making my own version.  I did this once before, on a much smaller scale, and they seemed to like it.  Since I am wanting to use this as a bribe food, I was wondering if it would be okay to add a very small amount of tuna or other strong-tasting fish.  I know fish is not ideal, but this would be a tiny fraction of the final amount, and I would probably be using about a teaspoon of this mixture with each meal.  I had been using BFF pouches as a "seasoning," but I am almost out of them, and I feel that this is probably safer, anyway, after finding a thread here that reported some problems with BFF.

I am wondering if maybe I cooked the bone broth too long, and that's why it hasn't gelled.  It's thickening up some, but does not have that pudding-y consistency that the first batch did.  Then again, maybe it hasn't been in the fridge long enough... 
« Last Edit: January 27, 2018, 02:38:31 PM by Catgirl64 »

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