Why do we call it bone broth instead of stock?

#1

I have made chicken, turkey and beef stock forever and use it in cooking…big ziplocs full of it in the freezer.

Each recipe I see for “bone broth” looks exactly like how I make stock.

Is it just a drink it vs cook with it deal?

(Carl Keller) #2

The way I learned it is that if you use meat as the primary flavor source, it’s stock. If you use bones as the primary flavor source, it’s bone broth. The result is pretty much the same but I feel like a good stock has more flavor than bone broth. But maybe others might disagree. I’ve made a lot of stock in my life but I’ve only tasted bone broth made by others.

I’ve used stock as a base for soup and some sauces. On a cold winter day, I will heat up a mug of salted stock and drink it like hot cocoa.

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #3

What @CarlKeller says about meat. Also, bone broth is cooked typically much longer than stock to extract nutrient minerals out of the bones.

I used to make stock, but don’t much anymore. I make beef bone broth about once a month and will start making chicken bone broth soon. I have the bones and chicken feet frozen waiting for an opportune time.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #4

This is the exact difference. Often there’s a bit of vinegar added to help release calcium from the bones.

You can make a great in between version with a whole chicken. Cooking it long enough with a tiny amount of vinegar helps release calcium from the bones and break down tendons, connective tissue, cartilage and marrow, their nutrients extracted as well as the protein from the meat. Use an organic chicken if you can.

:cowboy_hat_face:

#5

Any chef will tell you it’s the other way around. The main difference is that broth is made with mostly meat, and stock is made with mostly bones. Hence Fracmeister’s confusion. It basically comes down to Sally Fallon being sloppy with the terminology when she wrote Nourishing Traditions.

(Bunny) #6

I seen a chef on television boiling the shells of lobster or crab once and he called it stock (shell broth?), so I can see where the confusion and choice of terminology comes in?

(Bunny) #7

I add a pinch of vinegar and lemon juice to my bone broth to help leach all the minerals from the bones also…lol

…I also add a garlic glove, a pinch of oregano, rosemary and a couple of jalapeño peppers.

Add sea salt and pepper when ready to eat on an empty stomach (nothing to eat {solid foods} 4 hours before or after)!

#8

From what limited cooking education I have I certainly think the “mainly bones” and maybe some bits of leftover meat and skin simmered a long time is stock. Bouillon (the real stuff not the horrid little cubes) tends to be more of a stock with more meat…but mainly just the French word for stock.

the definition of broth I grew up with was

soup consisting of meat or vegetable chunks, and often rice, cooked in stock.

so you can see (as per @SporkyDonkey ) the source of my confusion. I think you are all drinking stock.

well, words mean what we agree they mean…

(Carl Keller) #9

I’ve been a chef or a sous chef for 25 years and have seen varying opinions on this subject. In my experience, what I stated is pretty consistent in the places I have worked.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #10

I agree with @CarlKeller after over 30 years of professional cooking, stock has meat as a major ingredient often with vegetables included. Broth is made from bones.

Could be cooked in broth or stock and it doesn’t need to have chunks to be soup. Creamed soups have no chunks. French onion soup is cooked with roasted beef bone broth. :man_cook:t3:

(Wendy) #11

Oh I wish I had thought of rosemary. I have some out in the garden. I did add garlic, pink salt, pepper and a stick of celery. Sometimes I add onion for flavor a well. I suppose I can add a sprig of rosemary tomorrow.

(Carl Keller) #12

In many cases, I made stock with whatever scraps were available and that always included more meat than bones and often no bones at all. But if there were bones available, no sense wasting something with flavor… so into the pot it goes.

#13

How I learned from Gran:
Broth…cooked for a short time- like 45 to 60 min. Chicken parts- innards, scraps, and some of the smaller bones from the broken up torso. Veggies- like carrots, tons of onion and celery, plus fresh herbs. She always strained it, so it was nearly clear. It would go in canning jars, into the fridge until she was ready to use it for making gravy or chicken noodle soup.

Stock…almost the same as broth, except its cooked for a few hours more than broth. Stronger flavor. She wouldn’t strain it quite as well, and would make a chicken stew, chicken and gravy or use it in cassaroles.

Bone broth. No veggies. Just all the bones- and cook over night in her electric roaster. I know it had salt, maybe onion and garlic salt, and would get very gelatinous upon cooling. Not sure what she used all that gelatin for- as I have little recollection of watching her use it. My best guess is this: She’d make a thing with chopped meat and veggies that all stuck together shaped like a brick. The only thing I can think of that it resembled might be a terrine. (?). I don’t know for sure. She was French, and taught chemistry and physics. I don’t think she ever when to cooking school, but I don’t know. She was brilliant, and goodness, I miss her. She’d be 120 now. Oh,the questions I would ask her if I could… Surely the bone broth question would be one.

(Bunny) #14

Oh yes I forgot about celery and onion which I usually add also, I have my own recipe in my head, I really should write it down!

(Wendy) #15

How many wonderful memories! Grandmas are special and I know I miss mine. Both of my grandmother’s were wonderful cooks. I wish I had learned more from them. Though my maternal grandma taught me how to make homemade pie and crust with lard. Alas, she had diabetes too. :disappointed_relieved:

#16

Here’s my secret ingredient: I deglaze my cast iron pan with a splash of water after I cook steaks, save the juices in a jar in the freezer, then add them into the mix when I make broth, errrr stock, whatever.

(Carl Keller) #17

Let no deliciousness go to waste! Lately I’ve been dry cooking my steaks in the oven on a racked roasted pan. When the steak is about 20 minutes from being done, I place frozen green beans, brussels sprouts or asparagus directly in the drippings beneath the steaks. It’s better than butter, IMHO.

(Jane- Old Inky Crone) #18

What a good idea! I’m going to leave this discussion now as I’m fasting and y’all are making me hungry :yum:

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #19

Well, well, well! Live and learn. I always thought “broth” and “stock” were equivalent terms.

Just to muddy the waters, here is what my dictionary has to say:

“broth: n. 1. a thin soup of concentrated meat or fish stock. 2. water that has been boiled with meat, fish, vegetables, or grains; stock. 3. a liquid medium containing nutrients suitable for culturing microorganisms.”

"stock: n. . . . 21. the broth from boiled meat, fish, or poultry, used in soups and sauces. . . . "

(Eric - The patient needs to be patient!) #20

Sounds circular to me.