I can't believe I'm finally getting around to blogging a bone broth recipe!

I have made it for years and years and never took photos but now so many people are jumping on the broth bandwagon (YAY! this makes me very happy!).

So others are asking "What's the go with bone broth?" or "What's this broth frenzy all about?" and finally, "Alisha, we have searched your site and can't find your broth recipe!" Ooops.

So here it is in it's very simple, but now easily accessible form (ie. not just typed out on my facebook page)

Oh, but before we jump into all things brothy, to answer quickly why broth has a frenzy and indeed deserves a frenzy.

People are excited about getting their gut health back! The information out there about our health is overwhelming but if you stick by this simple rule "happy, healthy gut = happy, healthy you!" you almost can't go wrong ok? Got it? For more information why gut health is the pinnacle of our health please read my gut health series HERE.

One of the blogs in that series talks about the benefits of broth for gut health. In a nutshell, what we are doing when we are making broth is pulling the bone components, marrow and cartilage, into the liquid. They contain a protein molecule called collagen. 

Collagen contains two amino acids: proline and glycine. These amino acids work on healing the digestive tract (from mouth to bum!). It's almost like using putty to help fill and repair any holes we may have in this mucosal lining.  

So if you have food intolerances, IBS, leaky gut, bowel disease of any sort - you WILL have these holes and that means you have holes in your immune system as well.

So let's get brothy!

Beef bones 

Firstly, get yourself 2 kg of organic beef bones. If you are lucky enough to buy your organic beef in bulk (I need a big freezer!), save your bones and freeze until you have enough or else do as I do and go to your organic butcher and ask for it!

It currently costs me $6.45 to buy 2 kg of organic beef bones. I keep specifying organic because it is quite important. This method of cooking involves pulling everything out of those bones into the water which you will be drinking and eating.

Toxins, chemicals, heavy metals and more are found in high and concentrated levels in the animals bones so choosing organic means you will not be ingesting all that!

You will need a baking tray, a large pot (6 Litre capacity is ideal), a stove top and an oven.

Ingredients 

2 kg of organic beef bones
3 litres of filtered water
2 carrots roughly chopped
2 celery stalks with leaves roughly chopped
1 brown onion roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
1 tspn of dried oregano
1 tspn of dried thyme
1/2 bunch of fresh parsley
1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar (very important! this is helping with the breaking down of the cartilage and extracting any meat on the bone).

 Method

Roast your bones in the oven for 45 minutes at 180 degrees (I think roasting first is best for all beef bones especially if any meat is still clinging to the sides).

Once this is done, put the bones in your big pot on the stove top and add all other ingredients, make sure bones are all covered in water.

Bring to the boil and then quickly turn down to simmer, pop on a lid and keep it there for 24-48 hours. Yes! You heard right, this is how long it takes to get the gelatin formed in the water and that is the part we are really going to the trouble to do this for. Less time will still result in a lovely broth to add to stews, soups etc. but we are wanting GUT HEALTH properties yes?

So leave it that long. I ALWAYS do for the full 48 hours. Plus it's more exciting to strain and jar it up once you have waited this long. 😉

Yes, you can do this in a slow cooker but you will need a very large 6 Litre slow cooker or you can halve the recipe which obviously won't yield as much. 

So once the magical hour arrives, strain the all liquid off and pop in jars with a good inch of space at the top so they can be frozen safely.

I sometimes do a second batch with everything still left in the pot, I add 2 litres of water this time and another 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar and leave it for another 24 hours. It won't be as gelatinous as your first batch but it will still have a lot of goodness. 🙂

Store your jars in the freezer for 6-8 months and keep 1-2 jars in the fridge (depending how often you will be using it) which will keep 2-3 weeks.

Once cold, a disc of fat will rise to the top of the jar. This is magic for using as a cooking fat, so have a glass container or another jar to keep your little fat 'discs' in once you have finished with your jar of broth. Use it for frying or baking veggies or meat etc.

Keep the fat on top as a temporary second lid in your broth jar if you are not using a whole jar at once. It stores better that way.

There is so much you can do with this gut health liquid! Add to all dishes requiring liquid or a stock, add it to your casseroles, your bolognaise, soups, stews. Warm some up on the stove for a mug to sip on and add a pinch of himalayan salt to it for extra flavour. I also use some to make my gravy!

 

Bone Broth Gravy

So we know that packet gravies are icky and they are just starchy and floury and contain additives, anti-caking agents and numbers that we just don't want or need. So from now on you have all the means to make the simplest, tastiest gravy on the block.

So after you have roasted your meat (whatever type!) you remove it from the baking tray and pop it somewhere to rest for a wee while. Pop the baking tray onto a couple of stove top burners on low.

Pour in about 3/4 cup of bone broth into the tray and scrape all the lovely bits off the bottom with a wooden spoon or wooden flat edged scraper thingy. Just mix it all together.

Then add 1 tblspn of arrowroot flour (or thickener of choice) and whisk away until you start seeing it thicken. Keep whisking, you may need to add more of your bone broth depending on how thick you like your gravy.

Add himalayan or sea salt to taste and voila. 5 minutes. So delish!  

The very broth passionate Alexx Stuart wrote up an incredible blog to cover many, many broth and stock questions so I will leave that link HERE because it's an excellent resource if diving into all things brothy and stocky.  

And if you don't have the time or inclination to make your own bone broth but still love the idea of having it on hand, you can buy bone broth concentrate and just add your own liquid to it!

My fave is Meadow and Marrow Bone Broth so look out for that at your healthfood stores or co-ops.

Yours in Health,

 Alisha

I can't believe I'm finally getting around to blogging a bone broth recipe!

I have made it for years and years and never took photos but now so many people are jumping on the broth bandwagon (YAY! this makes me very happy!).

So others are asking "What's the go with bone broth?" or "What's this broth frenzy all about?" and finally, "Alisha, we have searched your site and can't find your broth recipe!" Ooops.

So here it is in it's very simple, but now easily accessible form (ie. not just typed out on my facebook page)

Oh, but before we jump into all things brothy, to answer quickly why broth has a frenzy and indeed deserves a frenzy.

People are excited about getting their gut health back! The information out there about our health is overwhelming but if you stick by this simple rule "happy, healthy gut = happy, healthy you!" you almost can't go wrong ok? Got it? For more information why gut health is the pinnacle of our health please read my gut health series HERE.

One of the blogs in that series talks about the benefits of broth for gut health. In a nutshell, what we are doing when we are making broth is pulling the bone components, marrow and cartilage, into the liquid. They contain a protein molecule called collagen. 

Collagen contains two amino acids: proline and glycine. These amino acids work on healing the digestive tract (from mouth to bum!). It's almost like using putty to help fill and repair any holes we may have in this mucosal lining.  

So if you have food intolerances, IBS, leaky gut, bowel disease of any sort - you WILL have these holes and that means you have holes in your immune system as well.

So let's get brothy!

Beef bones 

Firstly, get yourself 2 kg of organic beef bones. If you are lucky enough to buy your organic beef in bulk (I need a big freezer!), save your bones and freeze until you have enough or else do as I do and go to your organic butcher and ask for it!

It currently costs me $6.45 to buy 2 kg of organic beef bones. I keep specifying organic because it is quite important. This method of cooking involves pulling everything out of those bones into the water which you will be drinking and eating.

Toxins, chemicals, heavy metals and more are found in high and concentrated levels in the animals bones so choosing organic means you will not be ingesting all that!

You will need a baking tray, a large pot (6 Litre capacity is ideal), a stove top and an oven.

Ingredients 

2 kg of organic beef bones
3 litres of filtered water
2 carrots roughly chopped
2 celery stalks with leaves roughly chopped
1 brown onion roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
1 tspn of dried oregano
1 tspn of dried thyme
1/2 bunch of fresh parsley
1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar (very important! this is helping with the breaking down of the cartilage and extracting any meat on the bone).

 Method

Roast your bones in the oven for 45 minutes at 180 degrees (I think roasting first is best for all beef bones especially if any meat is still clinging to the sides).

Once this is done, put the bones in your big pot on the stove top and add all other ingredients, make sure bones are all covered in water.

Bring to the boil and then quickly turn down to simmer, pop on a lid and keep it there for 24-48 hours. Yes! You heard right, this is how long it takes to get the gelatin formed in the water and that is the part we are really going to the trouble to do this for. Less time will still result in a lovely broth to add to stews, soups etc. but we are wanting GUT HEALTH properties yes?

So leave it that long. I ALWAYS do for the full 48 hours. Plus it's more exciting to strain and jar it up once you have waited this long. 😉

Yes, you can do this in a slow cooker but you will need a very large 6 Litre slow cooker or you can halve the recipe which obviously won't yield as much. 

So once the magical hour arrives, strain the all liquid off and pop in jars with a good inch of space at the top so they can be frozen safely.

I sometimes do a second batch with everything still left in the pot, I add 2 litres of water this time and another 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar and leave it for another 24 hours. It won't be as gelatinous as your first batch but it will still have a lot of goodness. 🙂

Store your jars in the freezer for 6-8 months and keep 1-2 jars in the fridge (depending how often you will be using it) which will keep 2-3 weeks.

Once cold, a disc of fat will rise to the top of the jar. This is magic for using as a cooking fat, so have a glass container or another jar to keep your little fat 'discs' in once you have finished with your jar of broth. Use it for frying or baking veggies or meat etc.

Keep the fat on top as a temporary second lid in your broth jar if you are not using a whole jar at once. It stores better that way.

There is so much you can do with this gut health liquid! Add to all dishes requiring liquid or a stock, add it to your casseroles, your bolognaise, soups, stews. Warm some up on the stove for a mug to sip on and add a pinch of himalayan salt to it for extra flavour. I also use some to make my gravy!

 

Bone Broth Gravy

So we know that packet gravies are icky and they are just starchy and floury and contain additives, anti-caking agents and numbers that we just don't want or need. So from now on you have all the means to make the simplest, tastiest gravy on the block.

So after you have roasted your meat (whatever type!) you remove it from the baking tray and pop it somewhere to rest for a wee while. Pop the baking tray onto a couple of stove top burners on low.

Pour in about 3/4 cup of bone broth into the tray and scrape all the lovely bits off the bottom with a wooden spoon or wooden flat edged scraper thingy. Just mix it all together.

Then add 1 tblspn of arrowroot flour (or thickener of choice) and whisk away until you start seeing it thicken. Keep whisking, you may need to add more of your bone broth depending on how thick you like your gravy.

Add himalayan or sea salt to taste and voila. 5 minutes. So delish!  

The very broth passionate Alexx Stuart wrote up an incredible blog to cover many, many broth and stock questions so I will leave that link HERE because it's an excellent resource if diving into all things brothy and stocky.  

And if you don't have the time or inclination to make your own bone broth but still love the idea of having it on hand, you can buy bone broth concentrate and just add your own liquid to it!

My fave is Meadow and Marrow Bone Broth so look out for that at your healthfood stores or co-ops.

Yours in Health,

 Alisha