Start with roasted bones. These are the hardest thing to get any more as they are taking the bones out of darn near every piece of beef they can. Sometimes you can talk the butcher into selling them to you. Other times you have to buy the "short ribs" cut is best you want the marrow.
Brown the bones and meat uncovered in the oven.(About an hour at 350 will do it)
De-glaze the roasting pan with vinegar water (I use 1/4 cup unpasteurized apple cider and about two cups of water) Scrape up all the brown bits and pour into a stock pot.
If you want to pick the meat off for something else then let them cool and pick. Throw the bones and anything that is not meat into the stock pot.
Now here is where some planing ahead is needed.
Every time I fix vegetables I keep the scraps. The bottoms of asparagus spears, corn cobs, carrot tops, beet stalks, celery bottoms, leek tops, they have all been put in a bag in the freezer. Also all the liquid that I have drained off canned vegetables has been saved in a gallon jar in the fridge. And all of it goes in the pot.
Now we cook, fill the pot to the top with water and leave it at a simmer. I have a large pot and can turn the stove way down so I leave it on at night.
You cook it for 72 hours minimum, 96 is better.
Keep adding water as the water cooks off. This, by the way will keep the air inside your house moist which is why this is a winter project for me.
In the last you can add in bay leaf, a couple of onions, carrots, celery or whatever suits your fancy.
Now let it cook for 12 hours more.
Now it is time to strain.
The bones should look very strange and may even be a bit crumbly. Toss all of this, it has given it's all. DO NOT give the bones to dogs.
Pour the strained liquid back into the pot to cool and then put in fridge. A disk of fat will form on the top. You can take this off and discard it, use it to make Yorkshire pudding, make candles, what ever floats your boat.
Pour the bone broth into quart sized plastic containers and freeze.
Yes, we noticed that some of the bones turned almost to powder when we were tonging them out :-)
No, we wouldn’t give the bones to pets; but we’re thinking of giving some of the broth to our finicky cats. Can’t do it this time, because we put onions in the broth (onions are bad for cats) but in the future, we’ll do some without onions, for the kitties. One of our cats seems to occasionally have digestive issues, and this might be helpful.
-JT
“Also all the liquid that I have drained off canned vegetables has been saved in a gallon jar in the fridge. “
Great idea!
I think I need a 2nd frig ;)
I save the peelings and bits of veggies in the freezer too. We need pure vegetable broth sometimes because we keep kosher so for a dairy dish that calls for stock, we use veg. So when I have enough veggie stuff, I will make a broth only with them. It’s so much better than the water like vegetable broth you can buy.
Not making homemade stock is throwing hard earned dollars down the drain. Draining canned veggies into a large freezer container is no effort at all and saves having to buy veg stock at the store for $2.50/32 oz.
Normally, my veg peels go to the compost but your idea of freezing them is a wiser option. Whatever is left over after draining can still go to the compost.
Another option is trying to grow the fresh roots.
I was just now shelling some peanuts and was throwing the shells in the compost bucket. Then I had a thought that the skins (not the shells, of course) and the trash at the bottom of the sack and the salty bits at the bottom of already shelled containers could be saved for broths that will be strained. Sure, only a spoonful is left in the bottom of containers but if your family ate a lot of peanuts then it’d add up if kept separated in the freezer. It might add a change of pace.