As January unfolds and winter wraps its claws around us, there’s something uniquely comforting about the warmth from our kitchens. Grab a cup of something warm, settle into your favorite little nook, and let’s talk about one of the simple joys of a cozy winter in the Midwest: homemade chicken broth.
Beyond its comforting qualities, homemade bone broth is a rich concentration of nutrients. As the bones simmer, collagen and gelatin leach into the broth, providing amino acids beneficial for joint health and skin elasticity. The slow-cooking process extracts minerals like calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus, enhancing bone strength. Additionally, it contains glycine, an amino acid known for its anti-inflammatory properties. Bone broth supports our immune system and aids in maintaining a healthy gut.
Choosing and Preparing a Whole Chicken
I say this is almost free because I make my bone broth from whole chickens. I’m cooking chicken for the meat to make family meals this week anyway, so taking what’s left from that to make hearty bone broth makes me feel like I’m getting it for free. #foodiegirlmath
Begin by rinsing your chicken. We hatch and raise our own and these two chickens I’m cooking are on the small side and combined weigh around 6 lbs. I cook them in a pressure cooker filled with water, cooking on high pressure for 45 minutes. The goal is to achieve well-cooked, tender meat without overdoing it.
I let the chicken hang out in the pressure cooker while it naturally releases the pressure, although if I needed to speed up the process, I would manually release it. I pull all the meat off the bones and return the bones to the cooking liquid.
I add carrots, onions, dry celery, thyme, salt, and pepper and run the pressure cooker on high for an additional hour to extract the nutrients from the bones.
Simmering to Reduce
Strain the broth and transfer to the stove, maintaining a low simmer to reduce the broth by at least a quarter. This slow cooking process allows reduction without compromising the quality of the broth.
- Loss of Nutrients: Cooking at very high temperatures for an extended period may lead to the loss of some nutrients, vitamins, and minerals and can impact the nutritional value of the broth.
- Bitter Taste: Boiling bone broth at excessively high temperatures may result in a bitter taste. This can be caused by the breakdown of certain compounds in the broth.
- Cloudy Appearance: Rapid boiling or cooking at too high of a temperature might make the broth cloudy. This can be due to the emulsification of fats and proteins, resulting in a less visually appealing broth.
Monitor the reduction process, using measurements on the stock pot for precision. Once reduced, transfer the broth to a large bowl for rapid cooling before storing. Once cooled, pour it in jars to store in the fridge. Once the broth is cold, the fat will have solidified at the top and you can scoop it out and store it in a separate jar in the fridge to use as a cooking fat.
Building a Foundation of Cooking Skills
Making homemade bone broth is a great way to stretch your grocery budget by using every part of the chicken. Knowing how to make bone broth is a foundational cooking skill and it’s one of the many tricks to pulling together a meal from almost nothing. From learning this one skill, you can make homemade soups, stews, and sauces. Thanks for joining me in my kitchen, and let’s keep the conversation going! Leave a comment below if you have some bone broth making tips to share. Happy cooking!
