Beef bone broth is trending for health and home cooking enthusiasts, and for good reasons. Bone broth recipes provide deeper, full-bodied flavors, and the broth itself is as versatile an ingredient as you’ll find. It can be the difference between good and great home cooking.
How Do You Make Beef Bone Broth?
It’s always possible to buy beef bone broth from a store, but why spend the money when you can make a better version of it (for cheaper!) from the comfort of your kitchen? Many store-bought options are watered down and lack enough collagen to give it that delicious full body.
Bone broth is an exceedingly simple thing to make—the most crucial requirement is time. The broth is made by simmering down animal bones and connective tissues in a large pot or slow cooker. There are plenty of recipes out there for reference, like this slow-cooker recipe or this instant-pot pressure cooker recipe, but the best approach involves a good source of the right kind of bones and a simple plan.
You usually want the pot to be 50% water and 50% bones, but that ratio can be tweaked if you want a stronger or lighter broth. The two recipes mentioned above involve either a slow cooker or an electric pressure cooker, both of which can conveniently be tucked away in your garage until completion. But a more classic approach, a large pot simmering away on the stove for a minimum of 24 hours, is also a great way to go.
Are There Health Benefits to Using Beef Bone Broth?
While there’s not any scientific research on the health benefits of beef bone broth (yet), it’s widely considered to be a highly nutritious addition to your diet.
Like Healthline says, animal bones are rich in nutrients like calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, and other minerals that can help build and strengthen your bones. Connective tissue, meanwhile, can provide your body with glucosamine and chondroitin, two natural compounds found in animal cartilage that can support joint health.
The tissue and bones you’ll be turning into broth also contain high traces of collagen, which, when cooked, will turn into gelatin, a compound that provides your body with amino acids. Even bone marrow has plenty of health benefits to offer (iron, vitamins A and K, fatty acids, zinc, selenium, and more).
How to Use Beef Bone Broth in Recipes
There are so many ways you can implement beef bone broth into your diet. You can drink it warm (usually after diluting it with some water and microwaving), which is one of the more popular ways to get the nutrients it offers. Adding some lemon or lime juice and fresh herbs is a great way to diversify the broth’s flavor, too!
When using it for recipes, beef bone broth works best in sauces or for braised dishes. The best beef bone broth sauces involve cooking it with wine and stirring in butter. The broth can also be turned into a soup by adding in some vegetables, meat (we love adding bacon to our bone broth!), and other seasonings. You really can’t go wrong with it.
If you want to learn more about how to use beef bone broth in your diet, get in touch with us today!