help a newbie

[Therese's Mommy]

Ok, we are new to meat We have been ovo-lacto veg forever but because of the food allergies of one of the kiddos we have had to broaden our horizons.

Right now we are eating chicken and we hope to add pork. We also eat salmon, although it is not a favorite around here. Anyway, on to the question. I want to make bone broth. I hear such wonderful things about this stuff. The past 2 weeks I have cooked a whole chicken in the crock pot. I have saved the broth from the crock pot. I used some of it to make rice last week The rest I froze. I also saved all the bones that weren't tiny and extra skin and froze that in hopes of using it in bone broth. So, do I just throw these bones in water with some vinegar? Do the bones need some meat on them? Am I better off starting with an entire chicken (meat and all)? How long should I simmer it? How do I know when it is done?

Thanks. And if there are any other important points let please let me know. Also, no instructions are too basic

Beth

[Magelet]

So what I generally do is I roast a whole chicken in the oven. I'm sure your crockpotted chicken would work just the same. Then over several meals, we eat off all the edible meat on it (there will still be a little, but not much.) Usually at this point, I throw the chicken carcass in the freezer until I'm ready to make stock, though there is no reason you couldn't make it right away.

When I'm ready to make stock (usually at about 6 pm), I take 1-2 fresh or frozen carcasses, a tbs or so of apple cider vinegar, a small handful of onion skins, carrot trimmings, and sometimes celery trimmings (I keep these in a bag in the freezer) and put them in my 12 qt stock pot (though I'm thinking about using a... 6 qt? dutch oven next time for just one carcass. 12 qts is too big for one really), and cover with water by several inches. (I usually add... 6 extra inches water? in a wider pot, less would be fine. you want enough water to make sure it doesn't boil dry overnight, with the lid on.). Not too many veggies particularly onions or it tastes a little weird. I bring it to a boil. When it's boiling (or an hour later when I remember it), I pop a lid on it, turn it down to a simmer (which on my stove is as low as the burner gets without blowing out, test it to make sure a draft won't blow the burner out and leave the gas filling the apartment,), and go to sleep. soemtime the next day (more often around 4 than around 8 am), I will strain the stock, and chill it, in a bowl, or mason jars or whatever, in the fridge. Usually I turn the stove off and let it cool on the stove for 45 min in the pot so it doesn't heat up my fridge, sometimes I let it cool longer in the bowl and jars.

Sometimes, I skim the fat when it's cold, which is easier than when it's hot. Then I freeze it. I've tried freezing half full mason jars, and freezing it flat on a cookie sheet, 1.5-2 c. in plastic baggies. baggies is easier to deal with later, because you don't have to thaw it in advance, you can pull it out, and cut the bag off and pop it in the pot, but then you have plastic, and you are throwing away baggies...

HTH

[serenbat]

we don't do much roasted birds so we makes our differently - I saw you were in NEPA, we do a trip to Kutztown two times a year to stock up on "stewing" hens (old layers) and I get feet and backs (by the bag- at least a dozen feet and 2 to 3 backs)- all frozen. When I go to make stock, I defrost for a few days in the frig, add all to stock pot and add a large dash of apple cider vinegar- let set about 30 minutes add water to cover - 1 hen to 12 feet and 2 to 3 backs, warm broth, never a boil at any point. I cook until the meat falls off the chicken (depends on it's size for the time)- must be tender and all FALL OFF, no need to go at too much. I remove all the meat and at this point the "bird" is in pieces. I take off all the meat, throw back in all the bones and skin and at this point I add my veggies scraps and herbs. I simmer all this for hours and hours. I use the chicken meat for mostly chicken salad and soups (hen/stewing meat is a bit more stringy). after all is cooked, I remove the veggies and herbs. I divide the broth from the bones, straining and put the liquid in the frig, next day I skim the fat. The next day I add MORE veggies and herbs, no more ACV to the bones and skin and redo it all over. This batch is not as great as the first but still good. I simmer it about 18 to 20+ hours. Do the same when done and I freeze most of the stock. One thing that I do add to both is root of turmeric, that is something we like and lots of pepper corns and some sea salt.