Bone Broth a Cooks Best Friend!
Touted as a Healthy Tonic, a Super Food, full of nutrients, high in vital minerals like calcium, magnesium, phosphorous and potassium. Slow cooking draws out the collagen, marrow, including amino acids, minerals, glycine and gelatin. Bone Broth helps heal the gut & reduce inflammation.
Imagine our Grandmothers saying,
"I told You So!"
Our grandmothers used soups & bone broths when anyone was ill! Remember, chicken soup, a cup of broth, they said it was good for you, though I'm not sure if they understood the nutrients/science behind broth.
For myself I remember the times when fast food was an occasional fish and chips, or a tram trip to the city or Fortitude Valley, where we may have had a treat or a milkshake at a café.
Milk was full cream, meat had fat on it, sugar was something we added to our cereal in the morning. We did have lollies as a treat, homemade biscuits or cake and ice-cream occasionally, but not sugar added muesli bars and snacks. Fruit was a daily treat. Bread was mainly for school lunches or lunch in general, even then it was 1 round, as living in a large family, our daily bread delivery was 1 loaf of sliced bread. Food wasn't available in between mealtimes and I don't remember being hungry, if we were we had to wait for dinner. This was normal family life in the '60's. Roast meals and vegetables for Sunday lunch. Meat, mashed potato and vegetables. (either peas or beans in our case) Cereal for us was Wheatbix, corn flakes, and in winter dad made us semolina porridge. I loved it, it would gel & the milk wouldn't soak into it with some sugar sprinkled on top.
The first time I had cooked rolled oats was when we stayed at the Sandgate Home for a short stint when mum was in hospital. It wasn't too bad there, a bit scary because everything was so large and tall. The nuns were okay, washing our hair over very high kitchen sinks, we had to stand on a chair. I loved Sister Kenny, who was always nice to me. I hated the line up to have a bath in the tub. Any way I hated the porridge. I never got up like Oliver in Oliver Twist and asked for "More, Sir"! even though they were females (smiley face here).
Amino acids Praline, tightens & builds cell structure, strengthening them. The other benefits besides a strong collagen structure to heal leaky gut syndrome are reducing cellulite & improving the strength of skin & vein walls. Glycine supports detoxing & helps our body to synthesize collagen, aiding in wound healing & supports the release of growth hormones.
1. I've used the Marrow bone, & placed it in a baking dish, added 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar.
2. I added Vegetables, kale, carrots, celery, leeks, any veggies that are in season or the fridge and Celtic Salt.
3. Covering the bones with water, then cover the dish to retain moisture. I put it in the oven at 160c & brought the water to a simmer.
4. Turning the oven down to 140c I cooked the broth for approx. 9 hours. The longer you simmer the bones the more nutrients you'll leach from the bones.
5. Remove bones and vegetables. I was going to use the vegetables , but after cooking for that long they were inedible, so the chooks had a feed.
6. Strain the broth and store it in small jars or freeze in ice cube trays. Bone broth is very rich, so if you are drinking it as a tonic, 1 cube is more than enough. To make a jus or gravy, you could use several cubes.
I have cooked the bones in a slow cooker or what we called a crockpot in the good old days. That works well and I even plug it in outside to keep the kitchen smelling fresh. Cover the bones with water, BUT the slow cooking doesn't need much water so it will steam and leak over the side. to counteract this mess, I'd cook a smaller amount of bones. I guess you'd have to work out which is the most economical method.
A little more reminiscing, the first time I got paid for my Saturday morning job at Woolworths at Moorooka, I bought fish and chips for my family on the way home from work. (the shops shut at 12 on Saturdays back in the day). The next time I bought grapes to take home and share, so most of the time it was to treat my family. Shopping for clothes wasn't a big priority, but best of all I had some money to buy 20cents of lollies on the way to school and some tuckshop, something we rarely had.
Fast food, manufactured in laboratories and factories, propaganda on manufactured products like margarine, telling us margarine is better/healthier than butter, has changed the way we eat today. But there are many people making a huge effort to source healthy produce, prepare and cook it for the family.
As with everything in life, it is possible with PLANNING.
I hope you enjoyed my journey into the past.
With careful planning, everyone can afford to eat healthy and if you don't think so, think about the next time you buy a coffee and cake or ice-creams or can of soft drink, magazines and I won't mention alcohol etc. (another big smiley face here)
So many easy healthy options for meals.
Check out our amazing butcher shop in Graceville, Brisbane, Qld
