Butternut Place: Broth Pageant #1

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Broth Pageant #1

This weekend I made another batch of broth, something I do every 2-3 weeks. I was out of leftover chicken/turkey carcasses and only had a ham bone from a relic of a spiral sliced ham we had around Christmas. So, I was faced with buying some bones. My local market regularly has these. Imagine my surprise to find that they are no longer cheap or free! After paying $1.90/lb for 4 lbs of bones (most of which appeared to be upper femurs and pelvises from young cows) I trundled home along with the rest of my groceries.

To get the best flavor, you need to roast the bones. I wacked mine with some olive oil and salt and stuck them in the oven at 350 for about an hour. They did smell delicious and rendered off a nice bit of fat (that I gave to the chickens).

Then, they and my old ham bone went into the stock pot with the usual suspects: onion, garlic (fresh and some leftover roasted garlic), celery, carrots, fennel, star anise, allspice, cinnamon, cloves, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, tarragon, rosemary, bay leaves, a quarter of a lemon, sea salt and pepper corns. After 4 hours simmering, it was ready to be strained and filtered. Then I gave it another hour to reduce. It was a pretty brown, but I wanted it darker and sweeter, so I added a tablespoon of Kitchen Bouquet (shhh. . . don’t tell anyone!) and a tablespoon of sugar. Owing to the all the marrow, the broth was/is really rich.

It yielded 20 cups of shimmery and gelatinous, mahogany broth. But I forgot to take a picture!

But, have no fear; I have pictures of many other broth adventures. You know, some people take pictures of sunsets or cats, but I take pictures of broth . . . well, at least some of the time.

So, here is my first installment of the Broth Pageant!

p.s. I gave the leftover meat/cartilage bits, carrots, celery and garlic to the dogs. No wonder they hang around the kitchen! (Sorry, no cooked bones or onions for dogs!—a different post.)