Image Credit: Random Rant Archives
Bone broth, or stock (as it is interchangeably called), is the liquid derived from boiling animal bones and/or connective tissues for long hours. Bones, tendons and ligaments are rich in collagen and it is part of the connective tissues that helps skin with its firmness and elasticity. Besides that, bone broth has many other health benefits. BBC health has a list of benefits in detail.
Bone broth can be made out of cow, chicken and fish bones and also from the shells of crabs. You can take your pick but I prefer beef bones.
Ingredients
- Bone (beef)
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Onions, carrots and celery
Instructions
1. I grill the bones in the oven to get a slightly burned flavour (You can skip this step if you are not keen with that). I do it at 200ºC for 30 minutes, flipping the bones in between.
2. After the bones are baked/grilled in the oven, I put the bones in the pressure cooker. After that, add water and 2-3 Tbs of Apple Cider Vinegar, and soak it for at least 30 minutes. This helps to extract the nutrients from the bones.
3. I cook the bones in the pressure cooker for 30 – 40 minutes (this helps to shorten the cooking time). Once the meat from the bones gets easily detached, I transfer the bones to a pot.
4. Add chopped carrot and onion. Add more water, if required, and bring it to boil.
5. Lower the flame and let it boil gently. Remove the scum as it rises to the top over time.
6. Heat Black Pepper on a pan till it becomes crispy and releases its flavour. Ground them and add to the pot.
7. I slow cooked for 18 hours in low flame over two days – adding water when required. To clarify, it was not cooked continuously over two days but cooked for 10 hours of the first day and the next 8 hours the following day.
I came across articles about cooking for 48 hours (for beef bones) or till the bones are soft, but I am satisfied with the 18 hours of slow cooking.
Storing the Bone Broth
Wash the glass container, sieve and all required items with warm-to-hot water. Strain the vegetable and meat, which would be pulpy by now from that long hours of cooking. The broth will have two distinct layers. The top layer is the rendered fat or Tallow and has a gelatin texture. The lower layer is the broth and the dark colour is derived from the vegetables (during my cooking, the vegetables got slightly caramelized). Below is a picture of the tallow and broth. Store the broth in the fridge and one jar of it lasts me for a week.
The Tallow can be separated out from the broth and further use for frying food or add it to your boiled vegetables. This adds a nice flavour to the food. I consume both tallow and broth as a soup. Tallow can also be used for making soap.
Garnishing
I consume the broth in the afternoons to break from my Intermittent Fasting. To make it more favourable, I add crushed garlic, coriander, fried onions. salt and black pepper. Feel free to play around with the ingredients based on your taste.
Where to buy Beef Bones in Singapre
Fresh bones is available in FairPrice supermarkets and Wet Markets, but they are often ‘Hit and Miss’. issue I buy the (frozen) beef bones from Meatmen, because they have well-stocked bones. They also sell bone broth, so if you don’t want to go through all the trouble of cooking long hours, you can buy from them.