Bone Broths

[ZGT Mummy]

I hope this isn't too embarrassing for me.....

How exactly do you make bone broth soups? The ones that turn to jelly in the fridge? For my chicken one I use fresh chicken frames, some carrot, loads of ginger and some celery. Boil then simmer for several hours.

I made a watercress soup last night with pork soft bones. When my mother makes this hers sets in the fridge, mine didn't :( I don't think I did anything different?

And is the jelly important anyway? What exactly does it mean? Gelatin?

[RandomName]

I'm wondering this too. Some have suggested simmering the broth 12-24 hours. I actually had one simmering 48+ hrs in the slow cooker, and it still didn't gel!

[Seaweed]

I think it helps if you have the connective tissues or cartilage maybe. Pork bones always gel for me. Beef not as much but it still generally does. Chicken does too & I use cooked chicken bones usually. I've never got fish broth to gel. Did you use any vinegar when you boiled them? the acid helps draw the nutrients out of the bones.

[ZGT Mummy]

No, literally just chicken frames, carrot, ginger and celery. What kind of vinegar (if that's important) and how much for a large stockpot sized batch?

I vaguely remember one of my batches turning to jelly in the fridge. I've just had a wee epiphany that I think it was the time I got frames from Pak n Save. Normally I buy them from the butcher, which is my step-brother and he is a good butcher so there's very little of anything left on the frames. Pak n Save honestly still had half the chicken attached to the frames! Maybe worthwhile to get them from there though!

[Serephina]

I usually put a good slosh (sorry I don't do accurate measurements!) of apple cider vinegar in my 5L stockpot. I sometimes roast the bones first to get a fuller flavoured stock too.

I think it sometimes depends on the quality of the bones. I only buy free range chicken frames now and they make lovely golden jellied stock.

[Wonder-Full]

My most gelanous broths are those when I've actually added bones with meat still attached. I did a soup the other day in the crockpot using a left over roast chicken carcass as well as a couple of raw chicken pieces (of course, had to sift out all the bones at the end since it was actually for a soup...). The portion left over turned into a very firm gel in the fridge.

[Seaweed]

I am useless with measurements as well. I just throw a sloosh in. There are probably recipes on the net that are more exact? I always use ACV as we are GF so I don't do malt vinegar. I guess any of the other vinegars like wine vinegar would do. The main aim is to get the acidity up. Lemon juice even would work.

That said, when I do boil ups I don't generally put vinegar in & they gel when cold.

My New World btw has all the stock bones & offal along from the raw pet food section. Usually 1x every couple of months, I find free range chciken frames there. My organic vege store also sells frozen free range organic chicken necks for something like $5 per pack.

[buenosveces]

The bones themselves don't make the 'gel', it's the connective tissue and all the generally unpalatable stuff left over that isn't bone. The gel is the good blood building stuff.

[gilima]

I use chicken necks and wings or turkey necks and bones with "joints" and also just cover with water. You need to have enough bones in there relative to the water, a big pot with just a few bones is not going to gel. Also, cook it on really low heat, just a simmer for hours and even reducing it a bit at the end.
ACV is really good, add it before you start the heating.

[RandomName]

Perhaps I'm not adding enough vinegar???

I use a chicken carcass for each batch, so pretty much all of one bird's connective tissue and bone is in, and I don't clean off all the meat either. That's in a 6-qt crockpot, with veggies and seasonings too, so maybe 4 qts water per chicken? Does that part seem ok?

[Serephina]

RandomName how many chicken frames are you using per pot? I use as many bones as will fit in my 5 litre stockpot which is usually 4-6 frames, then tuck the vegies and herbs in between the bones and fill up with water.

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

I do the same, Serephina...