Anybody make wild game bone broth?

[albravo2]

1. Roast bones (knuckles, joints, marrow bones) at 400 for 1/2 hour then flip them and roast another 1/2 hour.
2. Coat bones in tomato paste, throw some onions and carrots and celery onto the roasting pan and roast for 1/2 hour more. (this stage smells delicious, btw)
3. Pour everything into a big crock pot, add bay leaf, peppercorns, 1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar (to leech all the good stuff from the bones), top with water and cook on low for 24-48 hours
4. Let cool then SKIM the FAT. Some people use tallow for cooking, up to you.

I was truly surprised by how delicious this was.

[tripleseven]

1. Roast bones (knuckles, joints, marrow bones) at 400 for 1/2 hour then flip them and roast another 1/2 hour.
2. Coat bones in tomato paste, throw some onions and carrots and celery onto the roasting pan and roast for 1/2 hour more. (this stage smells delicious, btw)
3. Pour everything into a big crock pot, add bay leaf, peppercorns, 1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar (to leech all the good stuff from the bones), top with water and cook on low for 24-48 hours
4. Let cool then SKIM the FAT. Some people use tallow for cooking, up to you.

I was truly surprised by how delicious this was.

Whoah. This sounds amazing. How strong is the game flavor from bones? What water/bone ratio do you use?

[deer nut]

Thanks all. Will definitely be trying it with anything shot close enough to carry bones too.

Bit of a funny turn of events on the old bone broth issue yesterday. After reading about all the health benefits and carefully roasting and then simmering the bones for 24 hours my wife (who, I should say, is an excellent cook) skimmed off a cup and handed it to me for lunch yesterday. Apparently she missed the part of the recipe that mentions letting the broth cool, then scooping off the copious fat that floats to the top. The first sip I thought 'wow, that's a bit unusual'. Second sip I thought 'hmmm, not my favourite'. Third sip I was wondering where I could pour it out and on the fourth sip I realized I was drinking pure, warm, rendered tallow. It was like trying to drink a cup of olive oil with a bit of salt on top.

Those four sips sat in my gut all night and I was belching beef fat until I went to bed. This morning brought an impressive evacuation of pretty much everything from my tonsils to my large intestine. Hell of a laxative, that beef tallow.

Not to be put off by my obvious suffering my dear wife made me broth for lunch today. It is delicious.

That is hilarious! Sorry to laugh at your discomfort but HAHAHA!!!!

[albravo2]

Whoah. This sounds amazing. How strong is the game flavor from bones? What water/bone ratio do you use?

I was using beef bones, so no game flavour at all. My wife just added water until the crock pot was almost full, I don' think there is a proper ratio to worry about.

[rbest]

You can easily search on the internet how to make a "stock" There are a few different methods, depending what you are looking for. Using bones, is a stock, and a broth is using meat and extracting the flavor from it. The process is the same, but the flavors will be different. Albravo2 outlined the making of a brown stock above!

[weiss]

I only used deer bones and I must say that broth is not as rich as with beef, or you simply need more bones or less water. But perhaps I have different definition of broth. To me it is something closer to "hush", which is sort of a "head cheese served hot". I do not roast bones neither I use any vegetables, just bones and cartilage and tendons. Served with nothing but minced garlic and a shot of vodka. Maybe a few shots of vodka. Georgians would know what I mean.

[bogdonkey]

Would these methods be safe with the use of bear bones?

Thanks

[35rem]

Yes, since the bones are roasted and cooked very well there is no risk.

Would these methods be safe with the use of bear bones?

Thanks

[Hanrahan]

Just made some venison broth. There are some key things that will help.

1. Break open the bones. Use an axe or something to crack them in half. I don't get too carried away with getting every last bit of meat off the bone specifically because I like to make broth with them

2. Cook them at 400 degrees. Length of time is up to you. I only do them for about half an hour. I don't put any salt or seasoning on them. You can use whatever trimmings you want from your animal too.

3. Prepare your vegetables and spices. I use a couple onions, carrots, celery, a few crushed garlic cloves and some peppercorns. I cut the vegetables in rather large pieces. I also don't roast them. No particular reason, just never have. I don't put salt in yet, because you run the risk of making it too salty as it reduces.

4. Put it all in a pot. I put bones and vegetables in at the same time. Add enough COLD water to cover everything by an inch or two.

5. Cover and heat slowly. This is important, and also why you use cold water. It brings the flavour out of the bones better.

6. Once your pot is just near boiling, reduce the heat to a low simmer. You don't really want much bubbling. Just enough heat so you can see the liquid moving a bit. Hard boiling or too much heat will give you a cloudy broth.

7. I simmered mine for about 8 hrs. It depends how big a batch you're doing. Taste a piece of the meat and a carrot or something. If it's lost all it's flavour, you've got all the goodness out of it and you're done.

8. Use tongs to get the big bits out.

9. Using cheesecloth and a seive, strain the rest of the liquid.

10. At this point you can salt and reduce the rest of the liquid to taste.

11. Once you have the flavour you want, put the pot outside or in the fridge to cool overnight. Don't put it outside if it will freeze or animals will get to it obviously.

12. In the morning you'll notice a hard layer of white rendered fat on top. Scoop it out. Your stock will (probably) have turned to a jelly like consistancy. This is good. It means you've got what you wanted out of the bones.

13. Heat the stock again and it will turn back to liquid. I then strain it through cheesecloth twice more.

14. From here, I heat the stock again and preseure can it. Looking online I got 11 psi for 30 min and used that. You can freeze it too.

If I could figure out how to post pictures I could show you the finished product. It's the colour of real maple syrup and tastes like buttery liquid gold. It's really easy. Sounds like a lot, but it's not much actual work. Mostly waiting. Once I started doing it I realized that there was no excuse not to. One more way to use the whole animal.

[Hanrahan]