Recipe: Slow Cooker, Nutrient-Rich Beef Bone Broth

Beef Bone Broth, right at the beginning of cooking.

Over the last couple of years, bone broths have become a brilliant part of this Tender Foodie's diet. I started making chicken bone broth because I couldn't find a broth or stock that was free of gluten, sugar and addititives, and free of other ingredients to which I'd become allergic or sensitive.  Sound familiar? I started making chicken bone broth in a big pot, but since I'm notorious for the hapless forgetting of one's pots upon one's stove, the long boiling hours for bone broth was counter-productive.  No one wants a burned down kitchen.

I then found an ingenious idea from The Nourished Kitchen, a wonderful food blog that includes many gluten- and dairy- free recipes.  Make your bone broths in the slow cooker, and after 6 hours, scoop and strain individuals servings as needed.  Replace what you take with fresh filtered water. You can keep this going for several days (about 5), depending upon your cooker, how much you use, and how well you replace the water.

Bone broths may not sound very appetizing, but they are surprisingly tasty, and are packed with trace minerals, gelatin, and amino acids that the human body needs, but rarely gets from modern food.  Benefits of bone broths:

1.  Healthy hair, nails and skin

2.  Helps heal your gut (esp. leaky gut)

3.  Helps your liver detoxify

4.  Helps 'beef up' your immune system

You can freeze bone broths and use like any stock in soups or sauces.  Or stew.  Or boeuf bourguinon.  Or Chili.

Traditional Foods 101: Bone Broth, Broth & Stocks

Copyright 2013, Nourished Kitchen, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this content may be republished without express, written consent.

RECIPE:  BEEF BONE BROTH

Bones roasting at 375

Here's a recipe for beef bone broth that I like best.

6-8 organic, grass-fed beef bones, roasted (see how & why to roast them here)

1 spring of fresh rosemary

4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 cloves garlic, smashed

a few onion ends (you can freeze them, rather than throw them away, and use them in your broths) -- or about 1/4 of a large onion.  You don't want onion soup.

4-6 stalks of celery

2 TBS of Apple Cider Vinegar (helps extract the minerals from the bones)

2-3 bay leaves

2 tsp salt (you can add to taste later, so start short)

Put all of the ingredients in a crock pot / slow cooker.  Start on high for the first 2 hours, then reduce to low. After the first 6 hours of cooking you can begin drinking.  Just scoop out what you need and strain through a fine mesh strainer, to keep any bone fragments from getting in your cup.  To get the clearest broth, use a coffee filter in your strainer.  Coffee filters annoy me, so I stick with the fine mesh filter.  Replace taken or evaporated broth with water. You can keep the pot going for about 5 days if you do this. 

Drink several times a day.  Many people, especially those on the GAPS diet, drink it in the morning, when your intestines are clearest and most receptive to the gelatin and minerals in the broth.

COOK TIPS: 

1. NO ROOTS:  You can make the bone broths to suit your tastes.  I have tried them with and without carrots or root vegetables, and generally, roots make the broths too sweet, which is why I leave them out.  Some people do like the taste of carrots or parsnips.

2. Roast your beef bones before you make the broth.  If you don't, your broth will be sour.

3.  Make sure to add filtered water at night before you go to bed, to keep the broth from evaporating and overcooking.

4.  Use filtered water.  Nothing creates a nasty taste in your soup like chlorine!  Plus, chlorine is a chemical, and not so good for you.

5.  Grass fed beef is thought by many doctors to metabolize in our systems better, organic grass fed helps reduce the chances of GMO (genetically modified organisms) of getting in our system.

OTHER RESOURCES

Here are two articles that go into brilliant depth about the benefits of bone broths:

Traditional Foods 101:  Bone Broths, Broths, and Stock from the Nourished Kitchen

Top 5 Reasons Bone Broths Are the Bomb from Underground Wellness

OTHER RECIPES

Try Brooke Kaufman's Chicken Bone Broth.

VEGAN?  Try Lisa Rose Starner's Nourishing Burdock Stew.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Writer, owner of Blue Pearl Strategies, and lover of all culinary delights, Elisabeth is the Tender Foodie. She started this blog and The Tender Palate, a website for foodies with food allergies where she consults with experts from every area of the Tender Foodie life. She believes that everyone should live deliciously and have a healthy seat at the table.

Recipe: Nourishing Bone Broth

Here is my own personal recipe for a deeply nourishing bone broth, which can be used as a rich base for any soup or for any recipe that calls for broth or stock.  It is a perfect start to the GAPS Diet (see an introduction to GAPS).  Make sure to use the highest quality ingredients available. 

If you are new to making bone broths, I recommend trying it at least once from the perspective that you are making medicine for you and your family. This is much more than a food, this truly is powerful medicine!

Ingredients

2 lbs. organic chicken or grass fed beef bones
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
Filtered water, to cover
5 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 large carrots, roughly chopped
1 large onion, roughly chopped
Sea salt, to taste

IF NOT ON THE GAPS DIET ADD:

2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped

PRESSURE COOKER Directions

1. Add the bones to the pressure cooker and add the vinegar or lemon juice and enough water to cover the bones completely.
2. Add the remaining ingredients, and put on lid and lock in place. Turn heat to high and wait for it to pressurize.
3. When pot pressurizes, turn heat down to medium and cook for 1-1 ½ hours.
4. Depressurize cooker, and remove all bones and bay leaf from pot, making sure that all marrow and soft tissues are off the bones before you discard them.
5. Blend broth with an immersion blender, then strain through a fine-mesh strainer to remove any bits of bone.
6. Season to taste with salt and pepper. The broth is now ready to be made into a soup/stew, or to be used as is. Store in freezer in an airtight container for up to one month.

SLOW COOKER Directions

Place everything in a large slow cooker / crock pot and cover with filtered water. Cook for 4-6 hours before using, starting on high for 1 hour, then reducing the heat to low. You can keep this going for 3-5 days if you continually scoop out the broth and replace what you take with filtered water. This method allows the bones to really cook down.

TIPS

• This recipe can also be made without a pressure cooker, in a regular stock pot. Cook several hours, until marrow and soft tissues release from bones.
• Can also use lamb bones or fish bones.
• Use high collagen joints like knuckles, necks, and feet.
• Use as a soup base, cooking liquid for grains or beans, or to make sauces like gravies (thicken with a roux).
• Season the bone broth and serve as a first course to enhance digestion.
• Other herbs, spices, or vegetables can be added to the broth depending on the desired flavor.
• Season with salt and sip throughout the day if you need a boost in energy or are not feeling well. The broth is both energizing and calming.

About Brooke

Brooke Kaufman is a Certified Holistic Nutrition Consultant who creates customized meal plans for her clients with multiple food allergies and intolerances, and for those who are on the GAPS diet. She enjoys helping people eat nourishing food that is easy to prepare and tastes delicious. She believes that having food allergies and intolerances can be a positive challenge that inspires creativity, and brings a higher level of awareness when it comes to what you put in your body. Brooke believes that when we deeply nourish ourselves inside and out, we can attain optimal health…which includes healing our damaged and inflamed digestive systems.

Brooke received her nutrition education at Bauman College, and has learned through her own personal experience with food intolerances, she also works as a cleanse coach for Cleanse Organic, a 28-day, guided whole food based cleansing program.

Find her at:  Balance Within Nutrition