Eat More Kale

Broth Diary 2015

Well, I’ve put up some posts about Broth in the past, and after several years now of doing this almost weekly, I have come to some conclusions:

1.    Start with cold water.

2.   A pressure cooker (Instant Pot) works the best for carefree, quick and tasty broth.

3.   Raise chickens, or if not, buy whole organic chickens. The carcasses are what you will use.  Chicken feet and necks make amazing additions to broth.  Keep them if you are butchering or find them in your organic co op.

4.   Add spices and herbs to finish (after straining and while reducing--about 1-2 hours), not during the cooking.  My favorite additions for poultry broth are star anise, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, fennel seeds, allspice berries, cloves, thyme stems, red pepper flakes, and if needed some 5 spice powder.  If I’m feeling saucy, I might add a half lemon and a knob of ginger.  Favorite additions for lamb broth are bay leaves, cardamom, rosemary, lemon, cloves, cinnamon, more garlic, and cumin seeds.  Favorite additions for beef broth are bay leaves, garlic, red pepper flakes, cloves, oregano, thyme, coriander berries, basil, oregano, thyme, parsley, and dried tomato skins or powder.

5.   Onion skins (red and yellow) make the broth deeper colored and flavored.  For really deep color, add mushrooms.  Don't  use potatoes to make broth.

6.   It’s OK to add a tablespoon or two of fish sauce to your broth to bring up the umami.  No one will know. 

7.   Before simmering, beef and lamb bones benefit from a hot trip in the oven on a tray. . .about an hour at 300.  Shmear with tomato paste if you are into super rich red meat broth.

8.   Using bones your family already gnawed on is perfectly OK.  I know, I know. . . but there is no way any bacteria could survive a pressure cooker.

9.   Salt after reducing.

10.  You do not need to buy expensive cheesecloth.  Get a loose weave kitchen towel and use that.  Just rinse it in the sink, ring it out and toss it in the washer when done.

11. Storing:  freezing in straight sided jars is best.  Use pint or 3/4 quart jars or other straight sided jars.  Regular quart jars have a shoulder/neck that is smaller.  When you want to thaw the broth, that neck will be a problem . . . a bottleneck to your scrumptious broth going into your recipe.  You can also pressure can this.  Follow directions, but keep in mind some folks think pressure canned broth is less nutritious.  I think it’s pretty tasty anyway, and I do some of mine this way. The point is that you CANNOT water bath broth.  That could lead to tragedy.  Don’t do it. DON’T DO IT.   If you don’t yet know the difference between pressure and water bath canning, then please just FREEZE it.   (Ok well, now that we finished that liability section, we can move on.)

12. Taste it!  It had better taste good before you store it.   If it is bad tasting—and this happens occasionally if you are experimenting—simply give it to your dogs.  They’ll love it.

13.  LABEL the jars with something descriptive:  Super Chicken and Turkey Broth, Asian Chicken Broth, Goose and Stupid Guinea Hen Broth, Sort of OK Basic Chicken Stock, or Mild Beef and Onion Broth.  Date it by month and year (if you remember).

14.   Good luck and may the broth be with you.

Beet It with a (Carrot) Stick Soup (Borscht)

(or roasted beet soup with carrots and onions)

Everyone was making borscht this week, and it made me envious.  I have a whole bunch of roasted beets that were frozen from the 2014  harvest, and I had hardly made a dent into this treasure trove.  So, armed with my 1 lb of frozen and roasted red bull's blood beets, I embarked on this odyssey.  Carrots are the surprise partner in this satisfying soup that I expect will be just as good cold the next day.

1 lb roasted beets (peeled and rough chopped)
1 gigantic carrot, peeled and rough chopped (about 1 C)
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 T butter
2 T olive oil
1 T rough chopped garlic (Hmm this is a pretty rough dish!)
4 C chicken broth
1/2 C water (if needed)
2 T lemon juice
1 t fresh chopped thyme (plus more to garnish)
salt and pepper
1/4 C creamy blue cheese dressing


Beets roast in their skins in oven for 40 minutes at 375 or so.  Test to see if tender by poking with a fork.  If done, cool.  Then slip off skins and chop into quarters or so.  Set aside.

Put carrot, onion and garlic into saucepan with butter and olive oil.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Saute for 5-10 minutes until onions begin to cook.  Add chicken broth and simmer until carrots are completely done (about 10 minutes).  Add beets and simmer until all veggies are fork tender and warmed through.

Put in blender or use immersion blender to blend all ingredients together.  If the mixture is too thick, add a bit of water.  Add lemon juice and thyme.  Taste and re-season with S&P if needed.

Serve in a bowl with a teaspoon of blue cheese dressing on top (stir it with a chopstick or toothpick or knife to make a cool, swirly design).

Serves 4

(I know, I know:  the picture doesn't have the cool, swirly blue cheese dressing.  I originally took the picture to enter into a vegan contest--using vegetable broth in place of chicken broth, and using miso instead of butter.. . . and, of course, dairy is not vegan, so I left out that great swirly stuff.  But trust me, you want that swirly blue cheese dressing.  It makes the soup  burst with flavor.)

A ha-ha postscript.  Mr. Artifact thought this little pear deserved some attention, so he offered him some soup.  In case you did not know, pears do not eat beet soup--failed experiment.