Beef Bone Broth

Oh, broth-y goodness!  My first venture into broth making was a few weeks ago when I made my first chicken broth.  Then I stumbled upon the whole foodie kick of making "bone broth".  Bone broth is regular broth that's long simmered to release minerals and nutrients from the bones.

If I could make chicken bone broth then by golly, I could make beef bone broth too.  I went to my butcher and asked for beef bones and the butcher asks, "for a dog?" and I reply no, I mean soup bones.  She hands me a frozen bag of bones, and less than $10 later I'm back at home ready to make broth.

Ingredients:

Beef bones (soup bones or bones of your choice)
Whole carrots, onions, celery and garlic
2 qt water

Apple cider vinegar

Herbs of choice

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 F.  Arrange bones on your pan of choice and roast until browned (I'd say 20-30 minutes, but watch so they don't burn!)  Allow to cool and arrange in crock pot.

Add about 2 qts water and 2 tbs-1/4 c apple cider vinegar.  Let soak for at least an hour.  The acid is supposed to help draw minerals out of the bones, either way, you don't really taste it in the end!

Add roughly chopped onion, 2-3 carrots and 2-3 celery stalks, leaves, ends and peels included.  Also add about 5 smashed garlic cloves.  Add in your favorite herbs; I like bay leaves, black pepper and a little Italian seasoning and parsley.  You can add salt too, or you can wait to salt it as needed.

Add additional water if needed to cover, and simmer 24-48 hours on LOW.

Cool the unfiltered broth overnight in the fridge and scoop out solidified fat, discard.

Reheat until warm, remove the bones, and filter.  I poured the broth first through a strainer to remove the vegetables and herbs, and then filtered a second time through a reusable coffee filter fitted inside a wide-mouth jar funnel.

Voila!  Homemade beef broth :)