Recipe
Beef Bone Broth That Gels in the Fridge
The difference between supermarket "broth" and the real thing is time — twenty-four hours of slow simmer pulls every gram of collagen out of the bones into liquid that wobbles when chilled. That's the test. If your broth doesn't gel, it isn't done.
Cook time
24 hours
Yields
3 quarts
Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients
- •5 lb Spring Lake Cattle soup bones — mix of knuckle, neck, and a couple of marrow bones for richness
- •1 large onion, halved (skin on for color)
- •2 carrots, halved lengthwise
- •2 celery ribs, halved
- •1 head of garlic, halved horizontally
- •2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (helps pull minerals from the bones)
- •2 bay leaves
- •1 tbsp whole black peppercorns
- •Cold water to cover (about 4 quarts)
- •Salt to taste — added at serving, not during the cook
About the cut
Soup bones are a mix of knuckle, neck, and shin pieces with marrow and connective tissue intact — the right ratio of cartilage to bone for a broth that sets up. Roasting first concentrates the flavor and pulls the broth from "tea" to "stock". See specialty cuts for sourcing notes.
Method
- Roast the bones. Preheat to 425°F. Spread the bones on a heavy sheet pan and roast 35 minutes until deeply browned. In the last 15 minutes, add the onion, carrot, and celery cut-side down to the pan.
- Build the pot. Move the bones and vegetables to a tall stockpot. Pour a splash of water into the empty roasting pan, scrape up every brown bit, and add that to the stockpot too.
- Add aromatics and water. Add garlic, vinegar, bay, peppercorns. Cover with cold water by 1 inch. Cold water is the rule — it pulls more flavor than hot.
- Heat slowly, skim hard. Bring to a bare simmer over medium heat. As it heats, foam will rise to the top. Skim it for the first 30 minutes — that's the gray scum, not the gold.
- Lowest possible heat. Once skimmed, drop to the lowest setting that maintains a faint shimmer. Cover partially. A boiling broth turns cloudy and bitter.
- Long, low, patient. 24 hours is the target. Top up water if the bones get exposed. Skim once or twice along the way. Sleep on it.
- Strain twice. Pour through a coarse strainer to remove the bones, then through a fine-mesh sieve to clean the broth. Cool to room temp before refrigerating.
- Chill, lift, taste. Refrigerate uncovered overnight. The broth should gel — like firm jello — and the fat cap should peel off in a sheet. Save the fat as tallow. Reheat broth in cups, salt to taste.
Chef's notes
- •Don't add salt during the cook. As the broth reduces, salt concentrates and you'll oversalt by hour 18.
- •Don't boil. A hard boil emulsifies the fat into the broth and makes it cloudy and greasy.
- •If you're nervous about leaving the stove on overnight, run it in a slow cooker on low for 24 hours. Same result.
- •Freeze in 1-cup deli containers. Drop frozen cubes into pasta water, beans, rice — anything that tastes better with broth tastes better with this broth.
- •Add a chicken foot or two if you can find them. They're 90% gelatin and gel even tighter.
Reserve a bag of soup bones
Mixed knuckle, neck, and marrow — the ratio that gels.