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?