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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.
Cover design by Laura Klynstra
Cover photo credit Allan Penn
Print ISBN: 978-1-63450-702-8
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-63450-703-5
Printed in the United States of America
Table of Contents
Introduction
What Is Bone Broth?
The Global History of Broth
Part 1: Health Benefits
Sources of Bone Broth Matter
Collagen and Gelatin: The Foundation for Strong Cartilage, Joints, and Bones
Amino Acids
Vitamins and Minerals in Bone Broth
Bone Broth Healing
Beauty-Boosting Benefits
Bone Broth Health and How Other “Trends” Stack Up
Adding Bone Broth to Your Daily Routine
Part 2: Preparation
Choosing Your Bones
Choosing Bones for Flavor and Nutrition
Saving Bones
Vinegar and Citrus
Cooking Methods
Why Your Bone Broth Will Not Gel
Storage
Part 3: Recipes
Introduction
Bone Broths: Why It’s OK to Be Basic
-Basic Beef Bone Broth
-Basic Chicken Bone Broth
-Basic Lamb Bone Broth
-Basic Fish Bone Broth
-Basic Mixed Poultry Broth
Functional Broths: When Being Basic Isn’t Enough
-Beautifier
-Inflammation Reducer
-Immunizer
-Digestive Broth
-Mood Booster
Veggie Blendies: The Natural Next Step
-Roasted Butternut Blendie Soup
-Roasted Bell Pepper Blendie Soup
-Parsnip & Pear Blendie Puree
-Sweet Potato & Apple Blendie Mash
-Thousand Cloves of Garlic Blendie Soup
-Super Greens Blendie Soup
-Sunchoke Vichyssoise
-Chilled Avocado Blendie Soup
-Cauliflower Blendie Puree
-Chili Verde Blendie Sauce
Playing the Standards: My Takes on Old Favorites
-Chicken Soup with Quinoa Dumplings
-Minestrone Soup
-Beef Pho
-Chicken Pho Ga
-Apricot Lentil Stew
-Mixed Bean Chili
-Shrimp Risotto
-Tortilla Soup
-French Onion Soup
-Tomato Soup
-A Little Bit Cheesy Spaghetti Squash
Let’s Talk Tonics: Do You Have a Fear of Commitment?
-Ginger Love Tonic
-Mushroom Immunity Tonic
-Warming Curry Tonic
-Probiotic Tonic
-Anti-inflammatory Tonic
-Beauty Tonic
-Weight Loss Tonic
-Cough Remedy Tonic
-Allergy Tonic
-Energy Tonic
Brocktail Recipes
-After Dinner Sipper
-Winter Heating Pad
-Mary Had a Little Lamb
-Bullshot
-Smoked Meat Supper
-It’s About Thyme For Kale
-New Fashioned
-Meatini
-Puesta Del Sol
-Dr. Cucumber Pepper
Acknowledgments
References
Introduction
Food is my favorite topic of conversation. I’ll happily spend hours discussing anything from seafood to seaweed, but the food subject closest to my heart is healing foods. I witness them change the lives of my private chef and nutrition clientele on a daily basis, and I changed the course of my own life with them more than once. When I was told by multiple doctors that my chronic illnesses were likely not fully recoverable and that they would require immense quantities of pharmaceuticals that may or may not be effective, I felt I had no choice but to forge my own path to wellness. My modalities were varied, but the role that food played was pivotal during both health crises. I made complete recoveries from them holistically without much professional guidance, and my food choices enabled my return to wellness. Thankfully, my former illnesses have been in my past for multiple years now, but eating for well-being will always remain a strong aspect of my present. I was fortunate to grow up in a home that focused on the consumption of only whole, organic foods, and I believe that they are our best keys to health. The more we are able to return to eating as nature intended, rather than as chemical companies and factories intend for us, the better our chances of being healthy and happy.
Of all the foods I utilize for wellness, bone broth is easily the one that I would call the closest thing humanity has discovered to a panacea. I have used it to aid my clients’ recoveries from leaky gut, SIBO, celiac disease damage, Lyme disease, IBS, sports injuries, and much more. Comprised of little beyond bones and water, the amazing results of bone broth belie its inexpensive ingredients and straightforward preparation. When people are sick with even just a cold, soup is what we innately crave; it is easy on the digestion, it’s soothing, and when we are too tired to chew, we can still sip on broth. It is no surprise, then, to learn that the health benefits of bone broth are manyfold. It is commonly believed that for as long as humans have been hunting animals for their meat, we have been boiling their bones too. Physicians as far back as Hippocrates espoused its benefits, and nearly every early civilization had its own versions of bone broth.
The current rise in Paleo eating has brought with it the resurgence of bone broth into popular culture, and eaters of nearly every type of diet are taking notice. Diet trends come and go, and the popularity of a Paleolithic-based diet has been repeatedly passed off as a fad. It differs, however, from ideological plans such as veganism or the low-fat movement in one major way: it is based upon our eating history as a species. By returning to our ancestral roots as much as possible, we return to the healing aids that we never should have left behind. Bone broth is not so much a “food trend” as it is a nod to a very simple, curative tool that nearly everyone can benefit from. In this book I will delve into the many ailments that bone broth can aid, and you may find yourself in awe of how varied they are. We understand that kale is good for everything from helping your brain to preventing cancer, yet people have a harder time acknowledging how many different ailments bone broth can work for. It helps alleviate joint pain, tightens sagging skin, strengthens the immune system, restores intestinal integrity, and provides essential nutrients ranging from amino acids to vitamins and minerals. It may not be green, but it is powerfully strong.
The number one question I am asked about in relation to bone broth is, “Are all bones created equal?” so that topic gets plenty of air time in this text. While the bones of any animal species have their benefits, they each have unique traits. Beyond that, the bones of the animal you use for broth are as important as its meat when you eat a steak or a chop. The industry of factory farming yields inflammatory hormone- and antibiotic-filled animal products that should not be a part of any person’s general diet, let alone the foods one chooses for wellness. Using GMO-fed factory-farmed animal bones for broth and expecting it to heal you makes about as much sense as juicing pesticide-laden vegetables and expecting the juice to detoxify you. You are what you eat, as the saying goes, and because of that you are also what your food ate. I will discuss the importance of grass-fed, organic, and wild options. The reasons for choosing those range from ethics to essential fatty acid properties and will make it clear to you that sustainable, humanely raised, organically fed animals are by far the best selection.
The process of making bone broth is so simple that one hardly even needs a recipe, but the cooking times generally considered the norm can be daunting; if you aren’t used to spending an hour in the kitchen, you probably aren’t looking to spend twenty-four there. Thankfully, modern conveniences such as pressure cookers and slow cookers take the onus off of you from watching the proverbial pot boil. To help you realize how easy it is to create your own bone broth, I will review the assorted methods as well as the benefits of each. Rest assured that it isn’t nearly as big a deal as you may fear, and it is pretty foolproof. If you can boil water, you can make bone broth. If you can’t boil water, you might as well learn how to with some bones in there!
Of course, I am not going to stop at just teaching you how to make broth, because I understand that most people don’t want to sip on it and call it a day. Chances are, you will be most likely to use bone broth as a tool for wellness if you can incorporate it into your culinary lexicon. I’ll be sharing recipes for assorted soups and stews, from simple blended vegetable and broth combos to healthier versions of the classics. I’m also going to introduce you to a bevy of herbal tonic recipes that will supercharge your wellness at warp speed. Lastly, did I hear someone say brocktail? Yes, you really can retox your detox with broth! Brocktails were staples at restaurants in the days of yore, and plenty of iconoclast restaurants are bringing them back now. Bone broth turns a cocktail into an adventure, so I have some mixology secrets to share that will not only enliven your entertaining, they’ll lessen the blow of alcohol on your system by countering it with some nutrition.
By the time you have reached the end of The Bone Broth Miracle, I am confident that you will be a believer in what I have long known to be true: simple, whole food recipes are nature’s best medicine, can be delightfully easy to make, and can taste incredibly good. I am thrilled to begin my public culinary discussion with the topic of bone broth, and I know that when you close this book, it will be to make a pot of your own.
What Is Bone Broth?
An age-old culinary staple made new again, bone broth is no longer just an ingredient used to make soups and stews, but also an invigorating health drink. The revitalizing health benefits are numerous, but the first step in becoming acquainted with bone broth is knowing the difference between broth and stock. While the two words have colloquially become interchangeable, the original distinction was in the meat to bone ratio. Initially, broth was considered more palatable on its own because it relied on a greater portion of meat in the cooking process, while stock was made from considerably more bones and was mild in flavor. Commercially available stock is generally cooked for much less time than homemade broth is, and has added flavoring and chemicals that make the nutrient value negligible.
The language of broth has many forms, from the French bouillon and consommé to Italian brodo. Bouillon and brodo are synonymous with one another, representative of the simmered bones, the mirepoix medley of vegetables, and water that makes traditional broth. Consommé is distinct in that it is broth that is clarified using egg whites to amass the solids in the broth so that they can be sifted and filtered out.
The broth-stock debate continues across kitchens and amongst chefs globally, but what we recognize as bone broth today begins from a combination of marrow-filled and cartilage-packed bones, mixed vegetables, water, and a splash of vinegar or citrus. These ingredients are often cooked over the course of several days, which infuses minerals, vitamins, and amino acids from gelatin in the bones into the resulting broth. The combination of nourishing elements and the flavor released in the long cooking process makes bone broth not only good for you, but also richly appetizing.
The Global History of Broth
Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.
—Hippocrates
Soup may very well be the first example of human cuisine. Heatproof containers perfect for boiling water were invented somewhere between five thousand and nine thousand years ago, but it is possible that cooking broth may go back even further. The recent discovery of heatproof pottery in Xianrendong Cave in China suggests that bowls for cooking and eating were used as early as twenty thousand years ago. Conversely, many archaeologists have speculated that pottery was not even needed for preparing meals, as long as a ditch lined with animal skins and fire-heated rocks were available. While what historians know of the gastronomic evolution of modern humans may never lead to a detailed cookbook, it is widely agreed that the leftover broth from boiling meat and bones was a large part of early diets.
Skipping much further down the culinary timeline come the first written examples of broth. The modern-day word for “soup” comes from the Latin root for “soak,” or suppare. The transition of this word eventually led to the French word sope or soupe, and was based on the idea of soaking bread in broth. (This is also the root of the English word for supper.) It is fitting then that France may be responsible for the very first modern restaurant, which had its origins in broth-based cuisine. Prior the late eighteenth century, the closest concept to what we know today as restaurants were in fact inns that provided board for their guests. In 1765 in Paris, a man by the name of Boulanger is said to have opened a shop to sell a broth made of sheep’s feet simmered in white wine. Story has it that the sign over his shop said Boulanger débite des restaurants divins, or “Boulanger provides divine sustenance,” due to the restorative quality of the broth. Thus the word “restaurant” then evolved from the motto of the shop selling revitalizing broth to the concept it is today.
Broth itself has continued to be a trusted healing remedy across cultures and amongst grandmothers all over the world. In much the same way of some old medicinal remedies—like moldy bread made into a wound healer prior to penicillin, oats used in bathtubs to soothe chickenpox and skin rashes, and peppermint tea to settle the stomach—broth and chicken soup have been the faithful home treatments for cold, flu, and other maladies for generations. In the twelfth century, the Jewish physician Moses Maimonides wrote extensively on the therapeutic qualities of chicken soup. In his work Medical Responsa, Maimonides recommended chicken broth to “neutralize body constitution” and also cure asthma and leprosy. While the leprosy claim did not pan out, the key ingredients in chicken broth were ultimately shown to be anti-inflammatory and assist with cold-related respiratory problems in a 2000 study done by the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.
Broth has continued to be a valued tradition and comforting cure across time and culture. In various forms, healing soup has been ladled into bowls the world over, from the Greek avgolemono and Japanese tonkotsu, to Jamaican cow foot soup, Korean seolleongtang, Danish hønsekødssuppe, and matzoh ball soup, or what many people affectionately refer to as “Jewish penicillin.” Traditional chicken noodle soup is one of the most recognizable recipes in the world, and the benefits of its broth continue to have an impact. Today, long-cooked broth in many forms, from poultry and beef to pork and fish, are used in nourishing recipes. The next phase of this age-old meal’s evolution is as a hearty and revitalizing health drink.
PART 1: HEALTH BENEFITS
Sources of Bone Broth Matter
Before we can discuss the health benefits of bone broth, there is an important contributing factor as to why the broth is so healthful and from which all of this information is based: it is organic. Grass-fed beef, pasture-raised pork, organic poultry, and wild-caught fish are the only acceptable choices for cooking bone broth. There are dozens of environmental reasons for choosing organic farming over industrialized farming, but for the purposes of nutrition, the saying no longer goes you are what you eat, but rather, you are what you eat eats. The long-boil process in cooking bone broth exacerbates pesticides and toxins that end up in your meat from conventional farming. This is an important idea to keep in mind when making healthy choices with all food products, whether in terms of what the cattle in your steak ate over the course of its life or the pesticides that are sprayed on the vegetables that end up in your salad.
Grass-Fed
Animals that have spent their lives eating grains like corn instead of grass are at a severe disadvantage. By being given the wrong kind of food for their digestive systems, cattle end up malnourished and lacking important vitamins and minerals. In the cattle industry, allowing cows to graze and eat the healthy grass that their bodies evolved to consume is very expensive. Farmers must own acres upon acres of pasture to make up for how quickly cattle can eat through grassy fields. For the farming industry, the switch to corn feed was an economic decision, not a health one. While this may work for the cattle industry and lower prices of meat for consumers, it creates unhealthy animals, and in turn, unhealthy humans. Corn is a starchy, rich food that fattens cows up quickly, putting meat on American tables significantly faster to meet our high demand. However, cows are not naturally able to digest corn, which builds up sludge-like material in their stomachs, causes them to bloat, and can put life-threatening strain on their vital organs. In just the same way that juicing non-organic fruits and vegetables filters pesticides directly into your cup, brewing bone broth with the bones of unhealthy and malnourished animals only concentrates the negative aspects of their diet and brings it directly to yours.
Grass-fed beef has 80 percent less total fat, 30 percent less cholesterol, four times more vitamin E, and ten times more vitamin A than grain-fed cattle do. It contains Omega-3 fatty acids, beta-carotene, and vitamin B6. Not only is grass-fed healthier, but it tastes better, too. The meat is leaner and juicier than the greasy and fatty meats of grain-fed beef. By using grass-fed beef bones in your broth, many of the nutrients and positive benefits of a healthy animal will be passed on to your own diet.
Free-Range & Cage-Free vs. Organic & Pasture-Raised