The Brothal Today = My Kitchen

I have always been a chicken soup junkie.  Just ask my college roommate, who associated me with the smell of Campbell's soup for many years.  Several years ago, I realized that Campbell's soup contains MSG, a ridiculous amount of sodium, and low quality meat, so I started making chicken soup at home instead of buying it in cans.

Recently I learned that broth - from beef, chicken, lamb, pork, or seafood - contains many easily digested minerals that your body needs to function well at every level.  Easily digested  here being a key phrase, as many multivitamins/mineral supplements do NOT come in an easily digested form.  Did you know that your body only absorbs a small percentage of that multivitamin/mineral supplement you are popping daily? 

Raise your hand if you feel comforted when you eat a big, steamy bowl of homemade chicken soup.  Or beef stew.  Baked potato soup.  Or ham and beans.  Any chance you would feel even better about it if you knew you were gulping down calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and trace minerals?  You're also getting the benefits of expensive supplements, like chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine, which are often taken for arthritis and joint pain.  Broth also contains gelatin, which supposedly aids in digestion. 

I'd go ahead and bet most of you haven't made broth in a while.  Those little cubes/granules/paste you can buy on the soup aisle are just too darn convenient.  Or you're completely disgusted by bones, which is not an uncommon thing in modern American society.  That is the way many of us were raised - on the SAD (Standard American Diet).

Here's a link to a blog post by one of my current food heroes that describes the ingredients to one of the better quality processed condensed broth products on the market today: http://www.foodrenegade.com/decoding-labels-better-than-bouillon/
P.S.  Sign up to receive her blog updates while you're there - you won't regret it!

However, it's quite painless to make your own broth at home, and I'd love it if you would try it just once and see what you think!  I'm going to explain below how to make both chicken and beef broth.  Once you have the broth prepared,  you can store it in the fridge for up to a week, or you can divide it into containers for the freezer. 

Sure, your kids might not be into drinking a cup of plain broth (but they might!).  So instead, use the broth to cook your rice, pasta, gravy, gumbo, pot pie, etc.  Beef and pork broths are great for stews, bean soups, etc.  My ultimate favorite right now is rice cooked in half chicken broth and half coconut milk. 

So the next time you're at the grocery store and feeling a craving for a warm bowl of soup/stew, please consider taking the slightly longer but more nourishing route of making your own broth first.  I promise you will be pleased with the results!

CHICKEN BROTH:

1 whole chicken, preferrably local, organic and/or pastured raised*
Filtered water
Stockpot
Quality salt
Aromatics (optional): onion, celery, carrot, garlic, parsley

Cover the chicken with water in a large stockpot.  The more water, the better.  Add salt  liberally - think the amount you might use in your pasta water.  Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer for 2-3 hours.  Skim off any foamy stuff that floats to the top in the first 30 minutes or so.  Add the aromatics the last 30 minutes to an hour. 
Remove large chicken pieces and aromatics to a platter; strain broth through to a large clean bowl.  Now you're at the point where you could use this broth immediately for virtually any recipe containing chicken broth.  If you'd like to store it for future use, you can put it back in the pot and condense it so it is easier to store (ice cubes a great solution for this).  Let it cool, and the fat will rise to the top.  Skim off the fat so only the clear liquid remains, and store as you wish.
You can remove the chicken from the bones, shred it, and use it for soup, casserole, chicken salad, etc.  Really, you can use all of the chicken and stock for many meals, so it really is worth your time!


BEEF BROTH:

Beef bones (either leftover bones from a roast, or buy beef stock bones from a trusted vendor*)
Filtered water
Stockpot
Quality salt
Aromatics (optional): onion, celery, carrot, garlic, herbs of your choice

One main difference between making beef broth and chicken broth is that you want the bones to be "browned" in the oven first.  Lay your beef stock bones in a single layer in a casserole dish and bake them on 350 for approximatly 30 minutes.  From there, you just put the browned bones into your stockpot, cover with water, add the vinegar, and slow simmer for 24 hours or so (to extract the most minerals).  Just like with chicken broth, you want to skim off any foamy stuff that floats to the top in the first 30 minutes or so.  Remove the bones and strain the broth into a large bowl.  Just like the chicken broth, the fat will rise to the top after cooling, and you can skim it off before storing the broth for future use.  Again, you can use this broth immediately for stews, soups, casseroles, gravies, sauces, you name it! 


You will notice if you refrigerate any of the broth that it congeals into basically broth Jello.  That is a good sign that you did it right and that it contains the nutrients your body needs!  Congratulations.  Your fall and winter will be so cozy with all the broths you have to cook with!


*Most non-organic meat that is raised in a factory-type setting is fed a diet of GMO corn and soy, which is not what the animals would eat in a natural setting.  You are what you eat, and so are those animals.