The Lovely Bones

The bones came in! Who would have ever thought I'd be excited about bones?

I ordered what I thought were bones for broth. The man discussed quality and price so I was fairly confident I would get what I ordered. I had no idea there are different kinds of bones!

My bones came priced $1 per pound more than the quoted price. Hmmm... I think most people would have been so excited to finally get them, they'd just keep their mouths shut but that's a huge jump in price. So I asked. It seems there are neck bones used for soup or joint bones used for broth. This is something I've never heard about in all the books and websites I've read. The soup bones have more meat and the soup made from them is said to taste better. Joint bones are pretty much all bone with a higher mineral content needed for these AIP or GAPS gut-healing diets. The guy did remember me, apologized profusely, told me the soup bones are in high demand which is why it took so long for them to come in. He gave me a slight discount. I will order REAL bones next time. They ARE still bone so I figured it won't hurt. Here is the bone broth recipe I used:

Take two bones and sear all surfaces on medium heat in olive oil in a frying pan.

Place in a gallon of water in a boiling pan or enough to cover the bones depending on the size of your pot. Add about 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (optional) as this helps leach the minerals out of the bones. It does boil off, but the smell for the first hour was questionable. Heat to boil.

Check out my new incredibly large pot!
I just bought it this morning at a yard sale.
Only $3.00 with lid!!
 

When it reaches boiling point, turn the heat down and simmer for a minimum of four hours but up to 48 hours. The longer the better as the bones will start to soften releasing more nutrients and gelatin. For any length of time, a slow cooker or pressure cooker would work better. I simmered mine for 12 hours and it was a pain to get up in the middle of the night to make sure the water still covered the bones.

As it's simmering, check every hour or two and ciphon off the scum on the top. About one hour before finished, add handfuls of carrots, celery, onions, parsley, a clove of garlic and salt and pepper.

When finished, strain into a bowl several times.

The taste of the broth is tolerable. Not great. I'm only doing this because it's supposed to be good for me.

I know, I know, this is the kind of thinking that gets me in trouble with problematic foods. I should listen to my body, but I'll give this a chance for a short time and see what happens.

In the meantime, I'll still be looking for the other kind of bones!

UPDATE: I boiled another pot of soup bones but this time only for four hours. Tasted much better, however, it didn't gel which means I didn't cook it long enough to extract the gelatin and probably the minerals. Also, I read any kind of bones will do. Does this mean I can use the cow bones labeled "dog bones" at the butcher? Hmmm...