How To Create Roux

How to Make Roux, light roux, brown roux, dark roux, red roux

Chili, Soup, Soups, Stews, Uncategorized

by Sulae @ beerandiron.com

November 6, 2022

“What does ‘salt to taste’ mean anyway? Just give me a measurement that works, right? After all, I am reading your recipe and need to know what works!” – My Past Self Salt. Alone it’s overwhelming to the senses, leaves you thirsty, and lingers on…

Stories, Uncategorized

by Sulae @ beerandiron.com

November 5, 2022

Beer and Chicken Bone Broth

Does making your own broth take time? Sure, it does! So does eating a meal. But, I can “Guar-Ron-Tee” dat eating a bad meal takes longer than eating a good meal. Do you want them plates and bowls to end up at the sink with soup still in them or already licked squeaky clean?

This broth recipe is one of the base recipes that will be referred to over and over in recipe after recipe here on beerandiron.com.

The backbone of any soup, stew, and chili is the broth you use. If the broth is flavorful, the soup, stew, or chili will be flavorful. Let’s make this!

NOTE: You may have noticed the stainless steel pot used in the image above. Using stainless steel for this is A-OK. In the video, I used my 9-quart cast iron Dutch oven to make the broth. Use what you want.

I’m gonna tell you it’s the broth that will “make” that meal, and the only way to make a good broth is to make it yourself.

There is one reason I make my own broth: Flavor. And the flavor comes from two sources: The Beer and from the parts and pieces that are generated during meal preparation that are normally thrown away.

Will we end up throwing these parts and pieces away? Sure, but not until we’ve rendered their flavor. It’s almost like tea; we simmer the tea in the water until we have changed the water into tea. Then, we toss the tea.

A good broth jells (like Jell-O / Gelatin) when cooled. This is due to the structural protein found in the connective tissue: collagen. Collagen breaks down with prolonged simmering and cooking and dissolves in the liquid (the beer). A true bone broth…a good broth in general has some bouncy, wiggly, gelatin-like consistency when cool. Shelf-stable bone broths usually do not gel because the collagen has been removed or never was there in the first place. Not only are you missing the nutritional benefits of the broth, the way the final recipe will “feel” is not as pleasing…a different mouth-feel, if you will.

Think about it for a bit. Why does boneless chicken cost more per pound than whole chicken? There’s weight to the “trash” that the whole chicken has that boneless chicken does not. When preparing bell peppers or tomatoes, do you use the whole vegetable/fruit or do you throw away some parts as you prepare them? Potato peel, carrot tops, bell pepper placenta, and meat bone/fat/joints…this is usually tossed during the cooking process. Even that large base of celery; it usually hits the garbage can with a heavy “thud.” There’s flavor in that root end. Every bit of that has flavor…some of it has more flavor than the actual “good” parts themselves; it’s just trapped in an area of the food that is either not editable as is (bones and ligaments) or has a terrible mouth feel like chunks of fat, potato peels, and pepper placenta.

I am not making it to reduce the salt/sodium or any other reason that is found on every single make-your-own broth blog. My reasons are dual and simple: Flavor and FLAVOR!

This recipe is easy. It’s so very easy. We create our broths from four sources:

Using the bones, skin, and edible innards parts of chickens we’ve roasted or baked. We debone the chicken and gather the bones and parts into a container for future broth-making or we make it right away.
Using the scraps from meal preparation. When you cut the core from a tomato, the bell pepper placenta, potato peel, onion skin and ends, and a whole array of other parts and pieces.
When cooking a roast or chicken in a Dutch oven and the “juices” remaining in the pot. This is ALWAYS saved.
We obtain some bones and scraps that are, more or less, edible but would never be considered something to sit and create a meal from. Bones, ligaments, and other parts from butchering.

Ever heard of Corona or Modelo? Sure, you have. Start with this easy-drinking beer. If you are a craft beer purist, no worries. Find one of your craft beers that are easy to drink like a lager or an ale. Here at first, avoid IPAs, seasonals, porters, and the others that may add a level of flavor you will experiment with later. Right now, let’s just create something amazing. Experiment later.

The Supplies

Stainless Steel Pot for the Parts and Pieces like THIS ONE.
Bowl or other receptacle to hold the “good” parts that you will keep for another recipe.
Stirring Spoon or Spatula (to both stir the broth during the creation process and to “press” out the broth from the scraps in the strainer). This one is what I suggest: HERE.
Metal Strainer
Bowl to catch the final broth
Jars to store the broth (if you are planning to store for later). I suggest wide-mouth Mason or Ball-type jars. There will be a bit of fat that will solidify at the top of your refrigerated broth that will be easier to remove and use (yes…we do use that) from a wide-mouth jar.
Jar funnel – Trust me on this.
Affiliate Links Above

Ingredients

Bones, parts, and pieces from one whole deboned chicken – More if you have them.
2-8 12oz Beers (Room Temperature)…or more.

Ready to Cook

All you need for this recipe are the bones from one chicken. If you have more, add more. If you have some vegetable scraps, add them too.

Step 1: Start with a cast iron Dutch oven or another pot that will hold all of your ingredients.

It’s okay if the ingredients are piled out and above the top of that Dutch oven. They will break down and render their flavor into that broth. The broth will simmer down a bit and become more concentrated. Just pile it in!

Step 2: The Beer. Add a lager or light, not-too-bitter ale to the pot. You’re going to need to add as many as it takes or supplement with water or broth-from-a-box.

The amount of beer to add is up to you.

First and foremost…NO! You will not get drunk on this broth. Alcohol has a much lower gas point that water does. If you are adding a 6% ABV (alcohol by volume) beer to this pot, then long before that broth starts to steam, that alcohol will gas off.

You’ve heard the statement regarding alcohol in food, “It’ll cook out.” And it does. There is no “away” in the world; the alcohol does leave the meal just like water does: as a gas. A 6% ABV beer will lose about 6% of the volume pretty quickly.

Note: Alcohol “cooks out” at about 173.1°F (78.37°C). The liquid will not even be bubbling yet by the time the Ethanol (https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/alcohol/types/) starts to steam out. When your liquid reaches 212°F (100°C), you’ll notice a nice boil start (the boiling point of water).

What I am looking for in my broth is some body. I want the broth to have a heavier and fuller flavor and mouthfeel than broth-in-a-box or water has. That beer will add that body and those real ingredients will add that flavor.

The broth will NOT taste like beer. But, use caution with a beer that has a distinctive flavor ingredient. You can bet your witches and warlocks that the fall pumpkin ale you add to this broth will give you a pumpkin-ey broth. And, you can bet Santa’s beer belly that if you use a winter spruce tip lager in that broth, you’ll have a bit of a spruce-ey broth. That may be okay. Maybe you are going to use the pumpkin broth for a pumpkin chili base. And spruce tip flavor sure does complement chicken, just like rosemary does.

For the most part, use an easy-drinking lager for this recipe. And, if you find that you have a lot of ingredient scraps and not quite enough beer to bring the liquid volume up to the point you need, you can add a bit of water or even one of those boxes of store-bought “broth.”

Add the beer to the pot and just up to where the ingredients move freely in the liquid. You do not need to cover the ingredients with the liquid. The ingredients will cook down and will be under that liquid soon.

Step 3: Heat the pot on medium heat until the liquid starts to simmer.

Then turn everything about in that pot to get the ingredients to settle a bit.

Step 4: Once the simmering starts, turn the heat down to low or medium low. Cover the pot with the lid.

Let things settle for a while and stir the pot about once every 20-30 minutes for the first hour. Put the lid on the pot but leave an edge open to allow the steam to escape. We want the pot to simmer and not become a rolling boil. The lid over the pot will help hold the heat to allow for simmering. The opened edge at the top will keep the pot from boiling too hard.

Step 5: Keep stirring the broth about every 20-30 minutes until things start to break down.

You’ve heard of bone broth, right? We are making a mini pot of bone broth right here. Most bone broths take hours and hours to create and are made in some considerable volumes.

I have a recipe for beef bone broth that takes an entire day. Here’s the link: https://beerandiron.com/beer-beef-bone-broth-recipe-in-a-cast-iron-dutch-oven

This is not really a recipe. It’s a process. We will often spend the week cutting and chopping and roasting and skillet-ing. And, as we create our dinners, there are things that are often tossed. We’ll hang onto those trimmings, peelings, parts, bones, and pieces until we are ready to make a broth.

A long simmering time will allow all these parts and pieces to break down…ESPECIALLY the chicken bones and connective tissues. Eventually you will notice as you are turning and rotating the pot of “stuff” that the bone ends are bare and without any cartilage. The joints that were connected even after roasting the chicken are now broken apart and separated.

This is EXACTLY what we are looking for. And, we’ll let it simmer even longer.

Most of the ingredients are below the liquid level now. They are soft and fragile and some are almost liquified. We’ll call it broth-ified. The collagen from the chicken bones and the broken-down parts and pieces of meat and vegetables are creating a nice and heavy broth full of nutrients.

As you cook, and if you notice the liquid level is getting too low, add more beer, water, or boxed broth.

Step 6: Once the broth is “done,” take the pot off the heat and let things cool a bit.

I set things aside and let them cool down but don’t let things cool down to room temperature. I let the liquid cool to about the temperature of a cup of coffee.

Step 7: Have your jars ready to be filled with the broth.

We are going to put the broth in the canning jars for refrigerator storage. THIS IS NOT A CANNING RECIPE. The broth created by following this recipe will have to be refrigerated. It will spoil at room temperature. With that being said, you can pressure can this broth following a canning recipe.

You will see in the video that I make a huge freakin’ mess while I pour the broth over to the jars. Even with the canning funnel. It is what it is. It’s likely because I am a male and prone to making messes (my wife has me convinced that I am handicapped because of a genetic issue: my Y-Chromosome).

My suggestion is to use wide-mouth jars. This broth will jell-up and it’s easier to get out of the jars with the wide mouth.

Step 8: Set a bowl with a metal strainer near the pot of broth and parts and pieces.

Place a metal strainer in the bowl to catch the solids. Using a ladle, we scoop up the solids and pour them over to the strainer. Then we stir the mash around and try to get as much of the liquid from that mushy stuff as we can.

Like in my beef bone broth recipe, you can “wash” the used material by placing it back in the pot and adding some fresh beer over the mushy stuff and spent bones. There will be enough of the broth and collagen left to actually jellify the beer when cooled. Message me if you need more explanation.

You can then use the drained solids for compost (except the bones), feed them to a worm bin, or throw them away.

Step 9: Ladle the broth into the metal strainer and separate the broth from the liquid.

Scoop up the liquid and solids and ladle them over into the strainer over the bowl. We are actually focused on the solids here. We want to get as much of the solids out as we can, so we are able to pour the pot over the strainer and get all the broth out and free of the solids.

Step 10: Pour the broth into a storage container like Mason or Ball jars.

If you don’t have any quart-size canning jars, you should get a set. They are so very helpful and handy. They can handle the extreme temperature changes like Pyrex glass can. And they are not too spendy. If they break or crack, we just recycle them (they take our glass here!).

Place a canning funnel over the mouth of the canning jar and pour the broth into the jars. The sad thing is: you’ll get far less broth than you think you’ll be getting. It is what it is.

Step 11: Put a lid over the jars of broth and store them in the refrigerator until you are ready to use.

The jars of broth will not last indefinitely. My suggestion is to use the broth in a soup, stew, chili, or something else before you start wondering, “is this okay to eat?” How long will that take? I don’t know the answer to that question. But, when I have broth like this available, I plan on a meal that will allow me to use the broth within a week.

And there you go! You did it! How did it turn out?

Chef Tip #1: Don’t Burn Yourself

When pouring in Step #10, you’ll note the chicken parts are “sunken” to the bottom of the pot and will remain at the bottom of the pot until the angle of the pot during the pouring has reached a certain point. THEN the parts and pieces will “fall” to the side of the pot you are pouring toward.

It’s hard to pour this “away” from you and you will likely be inclined to pour “towards” you. When these ingredients “fall,” that liquid will splash. There are hot oils in that broth and the hot broth itself that will burn you or, in the least, make a mess on your counter or floor.

When about half of the liquid has poured into the colander, stop and “help” the chicken parts to gather on the side of the pot that you are pouring from. Then slowly continue pouring and let the parts and pieces slide into the colander to continue draining.

Chef Tip #2: It’s Okay to Use Stainless…or Cast Iron

We use a copper-bottomed stainless 6-quart pot for making broth from one or two chickens. We use stainless because the simmer time is so long. Beer and anything that contains alcohol is going to be acidic. And, truth be known, I’ll cook up a tomato dish in any of my non-enamled, well-seasoned cast iron pots and will not lose a wink of sleep over it…and…I create broth in my cast iron too…just like in the video.

Though the likelihood of metal molecules leaching into my food likely happens every single meal, we’re not cooking in lead or aluminum; we’re cooking in cast iron. Iron is both a material and a mineral. We need iron to have good health (https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iron-Consumer/). I don’t worry about my cast iron dissolving or becoming damaged by the acid foods and liquids I cook in them. I worry about the possibility of a metallic taste that may form with foods that need to simmer for longer periods of time like broths.

Some of my broths will cook for 24 hours (not this recipe). And, from what I understand, 2-8mg of iron will leach per cup of acid food/liquid per 30 minutes of cooking time. My 12-inch skillet is about 3,628,736mg of iron; 2-8mg is not a big deal even every 30 minutes for 24 hours…that broth would need to cook for something like 25 YEARS to melt my pan (LOL)! But, if off-flavors are a concern, then use a stainless pot…we have that one and only and use it for broth-making and noodle cooking.

With that being said, I use my 9-quart cast iron pot to create a beef broth (https://beerandiron.com/beer-beef-bone-broth-recipe-in-a-cast-iron-dutch-oven) that has a 24-hour cook time. It’s always been a great recipe and I have never had a metallic taste to my meals. So, if you are a purist cast-iron person, rock on with a cast iron Dutch oven to create your broth.

Chef Tip #3: Note on Storage

Storing in canning jars is not “canning” per se’. We are using the jars because of their convenience. Don’t store this broth in plastic. You can use something like Pyrex if you like. You will NEED to refrigerate this broth after you “jar” it and after it’s cooled a bit. You can “can” the broth but this canning process is beyond the scope of this recipe.

Note: canning jars are commonly made of annealed glass. Pyrex glass is made of borosilicate glass, which is more resistant to thermal shock than annealed glass. We let the broth cool a bit before pouring over into the container we are planning to store the broth in.

And, it’s okay if that “skin” forms on the broth’s surface before storing; it’ll “dissolve” into the broth once the broth is in the jar.

Chef Tip #4: Do You Have Dogs?

When you are done with your broth creation, you’ll have your broth and your meat parts separated. Depending on how long you simmered your broth will affect the present “durability” of the connective tissue. Many times I am surprised as to how much “meat” is left after I de-bone the chicken and create my broth.

We have pups in our home; two hair and poop factories on four legs. I will take some time and remove all the big, little, and even TINY bones from the “trash” that’s left in the colander and pull out some meat to use as “treats” for the dogs. My suggestion is to only give them a little at a time. You will likely get anywhere from ½ to a full cup (or more) of meat parts that are not bone.

I have a recipe on how to create dog cookies using scraps of meat. Check it out here:

Throw the bones away; don’t feed them to your dogs. Also, consider the other ingredients in your broth creation. Did you use any garlic, onions, or other ingredients that are not OK for dogs? Use your good judgment when feeding your dogs from this recipe.

Chef Tip #5: Time Saver

Broth-making is more passive than active. Once you put those ingredients into that pot for simmering, you’re pretty well free to create another meal or prep for the meal you are going to use that broth with.

Sometimes I will save the parts and pieces from many different cooks. They may be frozen or refrigerated. A nice rainy or snowy day makes a good day to create broth for the future. Once you put it on the heat, there’s little to do but wait and stir things once in a while.

You better have something planned for dinner later that will taste as good as that simmering broth will smell. Once that aroma permeates the home, your family will definitely ask, “what’s for dinner?” That anticipation doesn’t need to be disappointed by, “What’s this? What was that you were cooking earlier?”

Chef Tip #6: My Broth Didn’t Gel!

A good broth jells (like Jell-O / Gelatin) when cooled. But, if yours does not, it’s likely one of two reasons: 1) You didn’t simmer it long enough for the connective tissues to dissolve into the broth (this is a molecule-by-molecule process and takes time). 2) There just wasn’t enough connective tissues in the scraps themselves to dissolve (common with small broth batches).

If your broth does not gel; then no worries! Just cook with it; it’ll be A-OK!

If you’ve got minutes, then cook for minutes. But, if you have hours…simmer it for hours and add more beer as it reduces to keep the liquid level up.

WAIT! You forgot the Salt!

Actually, I did not. Salting a dish is a tricky deal to say the least. I don’t know what your “salty” tastes like. So, I wrote an article on how to salt a soup, stew, chili, or bisque. It’s a how-to-salt-just-about-anything-perfectly article. READ IT HERE.

So, no. I don’t add salt to this broth recipe. I add salt to the recipe I am going to cook with this broth but not during the broth creating process.

One of the reasons I don’t add salt is that I am usually using a brined chicken…and the amount of saltiness depends on so many factors that occurred from when you first put that raw chicken in that beer brine. Read my article on “Salt” to learn how I perfectly salt a recipe.

You’ve had those thin, watery soups before. You’ve struggled to bring body to your stews. We’ve added this and that and still feel, “it’s missing something.” What your soup, stew, or chili is missing is body and the core flavor. It’s the broth that will make or break a pot of soup, stew, or chili.

Take the time and save the week’s trimmings, bones, and scraps. Keep them refrigerated until you have enough to make your broth. Give this a try and let me know what you think.

ENJOY!

Beer and Chicken Bone Broth

Using left over parts and pieces of chicken and even vegetable parts to create a truly awesome broth for amazing soups, stews, chili, and bisque.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 2

Course Soup

Servings

Equipment

Stainless Steel Pot Use Cast Iron if You Prefer
Bowl For placing the "good" meat as you debone.
Stirring Spoon or Spatula
Metal Strainer
Bowl To catch the final broth
Jars To store the broth
Jar Funnel

Ingredients

1 Chicken Bones Bones and parts from one or more de-boned chicken
4 12 Ounce Beer 4 or More Mild Lagers or Ales – More ingredients means more beer.

Instructions

Roast the Chicken to 165°F / 75°C
Let the Chicken Cool
Debone the Chicken
Place all the bones and scraps from the chicken in a cooking pot.
Pour over 4 or More Beers to cover by 1-2 inches of liquid
Place the pot with the lid on over a medium low heat and bring to a simmering boil. Then, reduce the heat to low.
Stir the pot every once in a while. The time to cook should be at least 30 minutes. But, we usually go over an hour or two (or longer)
As the liquid reduces, add more room-temperature beer to the broth-in-the-making.
After 30 minutes to many hours, place the metal strainer / colander over the bowl you are planning to drain the broth into. Pour the liquid over into the colander with all the meat scraps left in the colander.
Use the broth immediately or save in the refrigerator until you are ready to use.

Notes

A good broth gels (like Jell-O / Gelatin) when cooled. But, if yours does not, it’s likely one of two reasons: 1) You didn’t simmer it long enough for the connective tissues to dissolve into the broth (this is a molecule by molecule process and takes time). 2) There just wasn’t enough connective tissues in the scraps themselves to dissolve (common with small broth batches).

If your broth does not gel; then no worries! Just cook with it; it’ll be A-OK!

If you’ve got minutes, then cook for minutes. But, if you have hours…simmer it for hours and add more beer as it reduces to keep the liquid level up.

Keyword bisque, bone, bone broth, broth, chicken, chili, soup base, stew

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Beer, Chicken, Chili, Dinner, Iron, Meal, Meats, Soup, Soups, Stews, Supper, Uncategorized

by Sulae @ beerandiron.com

November 4, 2022

Meal Prepping and Planning

This article will not teach you how to divvy up meal-sized portions and stow them away for lunches all week. We’re planning to eat and eat well! And planning for meal to be cooked is how we better ensure that our after-the-day-is-done time is spent…

Stories

by Sulae @ beerandiron.com

May 30, 2022

Beef Cookie Treats for Dogs

Easy-to-Create treats for the pups in your life. This is a beef and whole wheat treat you can make as easy as cookies.

Beef, Meats, Uncategorized

by Sulae @ beerandiron.com

May 14, 2022

Beer Beef Bone Broth Recipe in a Cast Iron Dutch Oven

One word before we dive in: this may seem like a lengthy recipe and has many steps. This is only for detail to make sure you are able to get this recipe right. Beer and Iron’s Beer Beef Bone Broth is one of the base recipes that many other recipes will refer to. Once you create this recipe the first time, you’ll be able to make it again without any trouble or even having to look at this recipe.

One more word: We store our broth in jars like the ones people use to “can” or “pressure can” to preserve food in. We do not pressure can or water bath nor do we cover the “canning” process in this recipe. Though you will use a canning-like jar (optional), the broth produced will need to be refrigerated until you use it. This broth CAN be CANNED, but that how-to is beyond this recipe.

Beer Beef Bone Broth a rich and nutritious broth made from what most call soup bones and butcher scraps. And it makes the most amazing soup, chili, and stew base you’ve ever wanted to taste.

Broth from a box will get you “this is good stew” complements but, this broth will make stew so good they’ll start trying to speak “this stew is amazing” before they even swallow (so keep a napkin ready).

This is not a typical bone broth recipe and is not for drinking like a “normal” bone broth recipe. We will not add any salt, apple cider vinegar, or vegetables.

Terms:

Meat-ish Stuff: The material that cooks apart made of ligaments, marrow, tendons, and even meat particles.

Pure Broth: The first strain from the simmered bones and meat-ish stuff (think of this as the first press, virgin olive oil).

Washed Broth: Optional but suggested. The broth-like liquid we create when we have pressed the meat-ish stuff out and have all the pure broth we can get. We pour another beer over the meat-ish stuff and “wash” off the remaining flavor/broth from the meat-ish stuff.

Fat Cap: The liquid fat that rises from the broth to the top of the jar. I will “harden” in the refrigerator and is used to sauté and sear (and add flavor) for the meal you will prepare with the broth.

We’ll reference these terms as we go along.

And, there’s bonus tip at the end of this recipe as to how to use meat-ish stuff; so stick around.

In the video we used our 9-Quart Cast Iron Dutch Oven. A 7-Quart will work with a little less “margin” to work in. But, it’ll do A-OK. You could cut this recipe in half and use a 5-Quart Dutch oven…or leave it as is and use TWO 5-Quart Dutch ovens.

We also used:

15.5 x 10.5 Inch Seasoned Cast Iron Baking Pan

9 x 13 Inch Seasoned Cast Iron Casserole Pan

Wooden spatula or spoon to rotate / turn / stir the simmering bones.
Tongs to remove the larger, hot bones from the broth mixture.
Two Large Bowls large enough to hold the ingredients and to handle the hot liquid.
Metal colander. “Metal” because we’ll be running some hot liquids through this.
Three Quart-Sized canning jars with lids
Canning Funnel – Optional yet recommended
Bowl that will fit inside your colander to press the broth out of the meat-ish stuff.
Large ladle or large spoon to ladle the fat off the top of the broth mixture.

2-5 Pounds of Butcher Bones or Soup Bones. This depends on what will fit in your pot (5, 7, or 9-Quart Dutch Oven). Many, smaller cut bones will fit in a pot whereas larger, longer soup bones (those dog bones types of bones) may be less.
6 Beers ranging from dark ale to lighter lagers. Stick with a lower IBU (International Bitters Units). You may need to use less than 6 beers or may need to add more (or a bit of water), depending on the size of your Dutch oven.
And, that’s pretty much it. We add no salt, vinegar, vegetables, or anything.

This is not a final meal recipe; it’s a recipe for creating a major, flavorful ingredient for your soups, stews, chilis, gumbos, risottos, and the like. A recipe is only as good as the ingredients we add. Stock-in-a-box is not the way to add that level of flavor you expect from your recipes. Great if in a pinch, but not a way to create a memorable meal that they’ll be asking later, “when are you going to make that again?”

The steps are seemingly many. But, once you create this recipe once, you’ll be able to do it without having to print this recipe out again.

Get as many butcher and soup bones as will fit into the cast iron pot you have available.
Roast the bones for about 1 hour at 350°F / 175°
Pull the bones out and put them in the pot you will let them simmer in.
Use a low-IBU beer and preferably a dark ale or non-sweet porter.
Pour in enough beer(s) to almost top-off the pot of roasted bones.
Turn the heat to medium until you’ve reached a rolling boil.
Rotate things a bit (stir it all up) and turn the heat down to low for the long-haul.
Rotate the bones / Stir up the bones and meat-ish stuff every few hours as they simmer (meat-ish is the fat, marrow, ligaments, and actual meat remnants).
After about 24-hours, let the pot rest for a few minutes to allow the fat (clear-ish liquid) to float to the top of the broth mixture.
Skim off as much of the fat as you can and keep for future sauteing and searing. There will be some fat remaining and that’s A-OK; we want that fat to remain.
Remove as many bones as you can find from the mixture.
Using a strainer, strain out the broth mixture to a bowl in order to separate the meat-ish stuff from the pure broth.
Once the liquid starts to rise to the bottom of the colander / strainer, fill the first jar with the pure broth.
If you have a manageable amount of weight (pot and broth mixture remaining), pour the mixture over the colander / strainer, and catch the pure broth in the bowl.
Pour the pure broth into hot-liquid-tolerant jars for storage. More of the fat will rise to the top and create that “fat-cap.”
Press out the remaining meat-ish stuff to get as much of the pure bone broth out as you can. Add this to your pure broth jars.
You are Essentially Done here, and the following steps are optional. I like to “Wash” the meat-ish stuff with a couple of beers to get more of the broth and flavor out of the mixture. Take a bowl large enough to hold about 2 beers and the remaining meat-ish stuff.
Pour two beers into the bowl then dump the meat-ish stuff in the bowl and “wash” the material to “capture” all that remining broth and flavor.
Strain the meat-ish stuff and beer mixture into a bowl and pour the liquid into a separate jar for storage (don’t mix the two broth-types together). This broth-wahs will jell-up like the pure broth yet not as firm. And still, it’ll be much more flavorful than any stock-in-a-box.
We’re done!
Now, you have all that meat-ish stuff left. What do you do with it? We make dog biscuits. Remove all the small bones from the meat-ish stuff. We’ll be using a food processor later (another recipe; see here).

Finally, Store the meat-ish stuff in a container in the refrigerator for up to a “few days” until ready to make the dog biscuits.

Basically, you roast the bones, simmer the bones in beer for 24 hours (give or take), skim and save the fat, separate the broth out from the solids, store the broth in a jar in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.

Here’s the link to the Dog Biscuit Recipe: https://beerandiron.com/2022/05/beef-cookie-recipe-dog-treat

Later I will add some recipe links to meals we will create with this broth.

Another broth creation that we make as a product of creating a roast is here: XXX

I suggest not adding salt to this. This bone broth recipe is to be used as an ingredient to other recipes and adding salt to this recipe will be a “Salt-Factor” to deal with when adding salt to the final recipe you’ll be using this broth in.

This is not a true canning process. You are using the Mason / Ball canning jars (or equivalent) for storage in the refrigerator. You can “can” (jar) this broth but you’ll need to follow the USDA’s recommendations regarding canning and preserving broths.

The fat-cap that forms on the top of this broth is part of what we are looking to achieve. When I am making…let’s say hamburger stew. I will spoon / scrap off a bit of that white, lard-like fat on the top of that jar and use that in my cast iron Dutch oven to sauté by onions and garlic in and even my ground beef. You’ll not use all of that fat and likely will toss some out. Fat is a beautiful river of flavor though the valley of bland…though olive oil and grapeseed oil may be okay to use…true beef fat from these bones is the way to go for both health and flavor.

And…though I am a Registered Nurse, I make no official health claims regarding the health benefits of this recipe. I do have the “power” of observation and remember Great Grand Parents living ripe and well into their 80s having consumed their weight in lard and butter many times over their lives. ENJOY

Beer Beef Bone Broth in a Cast Iron Dutch Oven

Beer Beef Bone Broth a rich and nutritious broth made from what most call soup bones and butcher scraps. And it makes the most amazing soup, chili, and stew base you've ever wanted to taste.

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Prep Time 30

Cook Time 1 1

Servings