Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Bone broth newbie am I...

I had a pastured chicken which cost quite a bit so after roasting for dinner last Sunday I used the carcass to make bone broth. After drinking some during the week, I used the rest of it today to braise a pastured uncured ham in the crock pot. Can I use this broth again now that I have cooked a ham in it? If so, how long will it keep now that it is 7 days old?

flag	asked May 23 2011 at 0:16 texasleah 4,809●1●14●34

tartare · Answer 1 · 2011-05-23 00:38:04Z UTC

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if you strain the broth now it will be fine. For example, to make consomme you cook a stock (bone broth) you've already made again with more meat, more vegetables and egg whites to clarify it and intensify the flavor, then you strain again. Stock kept in the fridge should have been strained and it should be brought to a boil every 3-4 days if you want to keep it in the fridge for extended periods of time. If boiled every few days this way, it should keep almost indefinitely as far as being safe to eat, but the flavor and nutritional value will likely dwindle. Stock freezes really well though, so that's always an option for storage.

answered May 23 2011 at 0:38

tartare
5,102●9●23

thanks for the info, do you know how much egg white to use with about 32 ounces of stock? I may try this... – texasleah May 23 2011 at 1:07

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I wouldn't do it with your "porked up" stock. The beauty of consomme is not only its crystal clarity (from the egg whites) but also it's rich flavor. usually you'd want to pretty much stick to one animal, like a beef consomme or a chicken consomme, because you're trying to intensify that particular flavor. 32 ounces isn't a lot of stock, I'd say 1 or 2 eggs. A good trick for extra clarity is to never turn your pot over (either for basic stock or consomme) when straining it. If you turn it over and dump it out through a strainer all the veg and meat matter gets shaken up and clouds the stock. – tartare May 23 2011 at 1:32

@tartare - do you strain your stocks in a wire mesh strainer or use cheesecloth (or something else)? I'm wondering how fine you need to go to be able to get the fine particles out for clarification. – permiechickie May 23 2011 at 1:34

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the best way to avoid this is to ladle the soup out (avoiding the veg/meat) and then put that through the strainer into another pot/container. When you get to the part where you can press no more but there's still some liquid in there, then turn your pot over and just pour those last bits out through a strainer into a different container. It's still good stock after all, just without that better clarity. – tartare May 23 2011 at 1:34

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uh i just use a wire mesh. I feel like it's a waste of cheesecloth :). If you wanna go crazy straining something (like say you tried to open an old Bordeaux but the cork disintegrated and you have no wine funnel) you can use a coffee filter to strain non-viscous liquids. – tartare May 23 2011 at 1:36

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Andrea S. · Answer 2 · 2011-05-23 01:45:37Z UTC

After I make broth, I pour it into ice trays and freeze it. I keep the cubes in a freezer bag. It makes it really easy to just pull out the amount you need for cooking or whatever. When my little boy is sick I can just melt a few down on the stove and pour into a mug.

Can bone broth be used more than once?

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