Drink it as is…
The first thing I want to Blog about is chicken broth or stock. I love this stuff. Its FULL of minerals that the human body is able to absorb. And lets face it, we are not getting a lot of them these days. Chicken broth is great on its own or you can use it for soups or stews or anything else that calls for it. We consume most of it as it is, straight from the pot.
I first came across homemade stock about 9 years ago when I read a great book, “Changing Habits, Changing Lives”. This book changed my life in a lot of ways regarding the food I was consuming and feeding my children. I never actually made my own broth back then. It wasn’t until I came across Sean Croxton on YouTube and started listening to his Real Food Summit that I wanted to try it. From there I got acquainted with Diane Sanfilippo and her book Practical Paleo. I use her recipe to make my bone broth. You can find the recipe here.
So what do I do???
When we eat chicken, whether it be a whole chook from the charcoal chicken place, KFC, or we have bought some drumsticks or whatever from the supermarket, I keep the bones, gristle, and any skin or fat the kids don’t want to eat. I put them in a ziplock bag and place them in the freezer. I keep adding until I get 2kg of bones. (a medium 22x25cm bag will hold about 2kg) Once I get the 2kg of bones I follow Diane’s recipe and double the quantity.
Here are the ingredients in Australian measurements:
- 8ltr filtered water (I just fill my 10ltr pot)
- 2kg chicken bones
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1-2 tbsp salt
- cloves from 2 heads of garlic peeled
I place all the ingredients into a 10ltr pot. (if you only have a 5ltr pot just halve the recipe) I put it on low for 24hrs. When the bones are frozen they can make the pot too cool so I will add only enough water to heat them up and defrost and then add the rest of the water. You could also put it in a slow cooker if you wanted.
And thats it. After I’ve let it cook for 24hrs I strain the broth into large Pyrex bowls and then put it into containers to freeze. Sometimes I’ll strain it twice once through the sieve the second time through muslin cloth. Then, once the bones are cooled, I take out the larger ones that haven’t started to disintegrate too much, and bag them into a ziplock bag. These I’ll use next time as there are still plenty of minerals left in the bones. Sometimes I have 1kg of used bones then I only need 1kg of new bones to make it nice and tasty.
You can use other bones from other cuts of meat but it tastes a bit different to just using chicken. All are good for you. The more different types you use the more of the different minerals you will get.
If you need some feel free to stop on by. I made it 3 days in a row last week. We have plenty for a while. 🙂
For a printer friendly version click here: Chicken Broth (Stock)
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