I already wrote somewhere that we changed our diet a few years ago. This was because a friend of ours showed us the studies of dentist Weston Price, who around 1930 did extensive research among indigenous peoples. This research focused on the health of their teeth and the possible relationship of that with their diet.
We got interested, bought his book with the research results and were stunned. We had never thought about how quickly our health would degenerate by eating the 'western food', as we call the diet we followed until then… with everything that is available in the supermarket.
We became convinced that one of the most basic healthy things you can make for yourself and your kids is your own bone broth. I am not a kitchen princess, I also regularly find cooking a challenge (way too many stimuli at the end of the day), but that is precisely why I have tried over the years to make things very simple for myself. And now I have been making our own chicken broth for years, which I then use to make soup once every week.
Once every few months, we buy a whole bunch of chickens through a friend. These are held by a man who is or was a greengrocer, who has the chickens in his yard (no antibiotics and other unnecessary extras are given) and for a number of people slaughters them once in a while and divides them into bite-sized pieces.
From the pieces of meat that cannot be baked, I make broth. Yesterday was such a day. Next week the new batch of chickenmeet will arrive, so I wanted to use up the old one. I have never made such a large load before, it turns out to be enough for almost 3 months! But now the 'old' meat has been processed again and will not get confused with the new batch later.
For those who like it, I will tell you how I make this. I make it the simplest way I can imagine… there are a hundred variations and more… but I can't think of it any simpler than this one. And that is what I like about it ;)
First of all, I put as much chicken bones (with meat) as possible in a large pan. I use frozen meat, right from the freezer. Carcasses and necks. Then I fill the pan with water to just below the top. If the meat sticks out, like mine on the picture, you have to leave enough space so that it does not overflow when the meat 'sinks in'.
Right now you could first leave it overnight with a good dash of apple cider vinegar. That would release the good substances from the bones better. I used to do that, and stopped with it. It makes the process much longer and I don't have enough evidence that this is really better.
Then you wait until it boils. When it does, a layer forms on top which I scoop off. Then I let it simmer on a low heat for at least 3 hours. In my case, on the wood stove. This can also be a whole morning or afternoon.. no problem.
After this you let it cool down and you will see that the fat has come out of the bones and you have now made your own broth. Yeah! You can add (Celtic sea) salt ... you could also have added vegetables to make a vegetable / meat broth. I don't do any of that. I like to have a starter as simple and neutral as possible as a basis for my soup, so that I can still do whatever I like with that.
When it has cooled a bit, I scoop out all the bones in a large bowl. I then divide the broth into containers. Then comes the dirty job ... separating usable meat from the bones. I remove the somewhat larger pieces of meat from the bones and put them in the containers with the broth, so that you have some nice chicken meat in your soup later on.
This is quite a bit of a trick, so I don't do it very precisely these days. Only the larger pieces of meat are taken, the rest goes into the green container.
And so it happened that I had no less than 12 bowls of broth this time. These go into the freezer... and every Saturday morning I take one out to make a soup with the vegetables we have at home at that moment. I'll probably tell you more about that later!
Actually very simple right? And of course you don't have to make as much at once as I did this time. You can also try this with a small portion .. I can at least tell you that we really think the soup is deliciously rich and filling when it is made from our own bone broth!
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