Comments on: America Needs More "Brothals"

By: Ariane

Ariane — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 23:53:14 +0000

my grandmother always made the best soup from a few cowbones when I was younger, in the netherlands you used to just be able to get those at any butcher.
Unfortunately we then had the mad cow disease scare, and a disease that went after porks, then one for chickens and the last two were mouth and hooves sore disease and a disease that humans could get from goats.

after all of these livestock diseases bones are no longer sold at butchers. of course, we had all these livestock diseases because we fed dead and ground up animals to our livestock (now forbidden), the animals were so close together they could barely move.

on the bright side grassfed and organic meat and milk and butter are available nowadays at most of our supermarkets, even the regular ones. Hopefully someday soon they will reintroduce the bones again.

By: theYakRanch

theYakRanch — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:27:43 +0000

What a great post. Spending a few years in Reno, I whole heartily support more brothals, as long as proper taxes are collected. More topically, we raise grassfed yaks. When we process them, we keep a good deal of soup bones and such but we cannot use all of the available product ourselves. We haven’t found any places that wan to inventory such products as most folks have no idea what to do with it. Does anyone have any ideas about how to make soup bones, hooves, and the like available to folks who are interested? Even charities that may find use. I am sorry to ask for marketing advice but we hate to see these products go to waste.

thanks,

Grunniens Yak Ranch

By: Walter Jeffries

Walter Jeffries — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 23:28:01 +0000

I was raised on bone broths – as you say, “cheap meat” which is especially important with a big family where full use of the resources was important. We sell our family farm’s pastured pork to a lot of local stores and restaurants. Many of the cooks use the hocks, feet, bones and heads for soup and stew stocks.

Unfortunately we don’t sell all the bones every week, there isn’t the demand, yet. I continue to work on educating people about the value of these low on the pig cuts. Just the other day I posted about eating “High on the Hog“. So some adventurous restaurants are doing it truly from scratch, a.k.a. “Homemade”.

If you are looking for a source of bones, ask your store meat department manager. They can then special order from the farmers. The order cycle may take a few weeks from when you ask to when you get something special so advanced planning and patience is important.

Cheers,

Walter Jeffries
Sugar Mountain Farm
in Vermont

By: Anna

Anna — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 07:40:40 +0000

Beware restaurants that claim “homemade” soups, especially chain restaurants. The veggies and other ingredients might be fresh, but the soup base more than likely isn’t.

Last year my son and I were quite a distance away from home at dinner time and needed to find a place for a relatively quick meal. I wanted to avoid fast-food, though, so we settled on a nearby Souplantation as a good compromise (buffet-style one-price chain that offers a lot of “fresh” salad and soup varieties, as well as other self-serve foods).

I noted the “homemade” and “fresh” decor signs all over the restaurant that promoted “healthy” eating while we ate our “build your own” salads with grilled chicken strips. I saw the manager and asked about the “homemade” soup – was it really completely made from fresh ingredients, including the broth? He assured me the soup was indeed prepared fresh every day with fresh veggie ingredients, but he really wasn’t sure about the broth and would check. A few minutes later he came out with the 3-ring binder of the stores food “recipes” that listed ingredients, preparation instructions, and other information that the kitchen personnel would need. Sure enough, the soup sections read much like regular recipes and did use fresh produce, but relied on a prepared soup base concentrate for the broth. In fact, the manager had no idea that soup broth should or could be made from bones!

So don’t assume that “homemade” restaurant soup is truly 100% “homemade” without asking. These days it’s rare for restaurants at any level to avoid all use of cheaper and less laborious broth concentrates.

By: Zeke

Zeke — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:16:38 +0000

That was supposed to read “Alot of people DON’T realize…”
.-= Zeke´s last blog post …Barley, Turnip, and Greens Soup =-.

By: Pook

Pook — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:58:12 +0000

Definately! Theres nothing more delicious or warming than a steaming much of good ole bone-broth! .-= Pook´s last blog post ...A Tale of Cinnamon Buns and Spooge =-.

By: BrooklyneChaos

BrooklyneChaos — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 05:15:37 +0000

Reading @foodrenegade America Needs More %E2%80%9CBrothals%E2%80%9D http://tinyurl.com/yjbhh3h

This comment was originally posted on Twitter

By: KristenM

KristenM — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 04:26:18 +0000

Try to keep it submerged, yes. Break the bones if you have to get it to fit into the pot. Also, add something acidic like lemon or vinegar (just a couple of tablespoons worth) as this will help draw the nutrients out of the bones. As to whether or not I keep the fat in or out of the broth, I do both. If I’m saving the broth, I cool it and skim it. I save the schmaltz to cook with later. If I’m using the broth in a soup that day or the next day, then I just keep the fat in there.

By: Michelle (Health Food Lover)

Michelle (Health Food Lover) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 04:11:48 +0000

By the way not sure if you’ve seen this: http://editor.nourishedmagazine.com.au/articles/beautiful-broth (not sure if you alow links) but this is a link to something Sally Fallon wrote on Nourished Magazine (an online Aussie mag) about broths.

By: Michelle (Health Food Lover)

Michelle (Health Food Lover) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 04:09:32 +0000

Coolness. I saved two chicken carcasses (organic) and now ive started a chicken broth: two chicken carcasses, a strip of kombu broken up, avc & water and I’ll add some herbs later on. Do you know do I need to keep it submerged under the water?
Looking forward to future broth posts!

Do you leave the fat globules on?