Recipes
Roasted Chicken Bone Broth
Yield: Approximately 5 quarts
Ingredients
5-6 lb raw chicken carcasses (chicken backs)
1 lb chicken feet
1 lb onions, peeled and quartered
3/4 lb carrots, washed and roughly chopped
3/4 lb stalks celery, washed and roughly chopped
6 garlic cloves
1 oz tomato paste
Water
4 bay leaves
5 stems parsley
5 stems thyme
1 T black peppercorns
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place your chicken carcasses on a sheet pan and roast in the oven for about an hour, until browned, checking and rotating halfway through. Once they are evenly browned, use tongs to transfer the carcasses to a large stock pot and set the sheet tray with chicken fat aside.
Add the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic to a large bowl, pour the chicken fat from the sheet tray over the vegetables and toss so they are coated evenly with fat. Transfer the vegetable to the sheet pan and spread in an even layer. Roast vegetables in the oven for 30-45 minutes until sweated and browned, checking and rotating every 15 minutes. Once the vegetables are evenly browned, stir your tomato paste into the vegetables and return to the oven for 5 more minutes. Transfer the roasted vegetables to the stock pot and use spatula to scrape all of the browned bits (fond) into the stock pot as well. Add the chicken feet to the stock pot.
Add enough water to cover the chicken and vegetables (approximately 6 quarts). Bring the water to a boil then immediately turn down the heat to barely a simmer and cook, uncovered for about 6 hours. Skim any foam from the top as you see it. Monitor evaporation and add more water as need to keep bones covered.
After 6 hours, add bay leaves, parsley, thyme, and black peppercorns and simmer for 30 minutes longer.
Strain through a fine mesh strainer.
Notes
Cooking stock low and slow yields a clear, clean stock with maximum gelatin and nutrient extraction
The acid in tomato paste helps promote nutrient extraction and can be substituted for a small amount of vinegar
Switch it up! Add more or a variety of vegetables if you want more vegetal flavor (try parsnips or celeriac) / Add more chicken feet if you want more gelatinous stock / forego roasting your bones and vegetables for a cleaner flavor / add different aromatics (try fennel seeds, star anise, cinnamon)
Classic Beef Stew
This beef stew recipe is a little more work than a one pot beef stew recipe but yields a far more interesting final product. In many beef stew recipes, potatoes and carrots are cooked alongside the beef which results in very mushy vegetables that have completely lost their individual flavor. To avoid the stew tasting entirely homogeneous, here you’ll first braise the beef with mirepoix to impart flavor into the meat then strain the sauce and finally combine the braised meat with separately steamed vegetables and silky smooth sauce…worth a little extra effort!
Yield: 4-6 serving
Ingredients
3 lb chuck roast or stew beef, cut into 2 inch cubes
Kosher salt
Black pepper
Canola oil
1 large yellow onion, peeled and cut into 6 wedges
6 medium carrots (for braise), peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
6 stalk celery, cut into 1 inch chunks
15 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed with back of knife
5 stems thyme
4 bay leaves
2 qt beef stock
4 medium gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch dice
6 medium carrots (for stew), peeled and cut into 1 inch dice
1 red onions, peeled and cut into 1 inch dice
6 stems parsley, leaves finely chopped
Instructions
Step 1: Braise Beef
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Salt and pepper beef.
Heat medium dutch oven on medium high heat. Once hot, add enough canola oil to lightly coat the surface of the dutch oven. Add enough beef to form a single layer and brown each side. Remove beef and repeat as needed.
Reduce heat to medium, add another drizzle of canola oil, yellow onions, braising carrots, celery, and garlic cloves, and sweat vegetables until slightly browned and translucent. Add thyme, bay leaves, and beef stock and bring to boil. Add back beef, cover, and cook for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours, until meat is tender. Begin checking around 2 hours using a fork to attempt to pull apart meat (the meat will be done at an internal temperature of 180-200 degrees F so checking with a thermometer is an easy way to gauge doneness but always be sure to use your senses and intuition as well).
Remove from oven, uncover, and let cool while steaming vegetables.
Step 2: Steam Vegetables
Increase oven temperature to 350.
Toss carrots and potatoes in olive oil and salt and arrange in a single layer in a baking dish. Cover with foil and cook for about 30 minutes or until soft but not mushy.
Meanwhile, sweat red onions over medium low heat with salt in medium saucepan until translucent and sweet.
Step 3: Assemble Stew
Once beef stew has cooled slightly, remove beef. Strain the sauce through a fine mesh strainer into small pot and discard solids. Reduce sauce as needed based on preference*. Re-season after reducing to avoid adding too much salt.
Arrange beef, potatoes, carrots, and red onions in bowl and pour sauce over. Top with parsley.
Notes
Bone-in beef shanks can also be used here but require a little extra braising time. Be sure to increase the weight used by about 50% to account for the bone.
And don’t worry about throwing away the strained mushy vegetables. They’ve served their purpose!
*If you prefer, here is when you could add a thickening agent (e.g. flour) if you’d like to keep the volume of sauce rather than reduce it for thickness.