Techniques for making two of the most essential ingredients in a prudent carnivore’s kitchen.  Scroll down to see a video demo!

If asked to select the single most important ingredients in my kitchen, they would have to be the gallons of broth and the  little glass tub of demi-glace that jiggles in the back corner of my refrigerator.  Admittedly, I use the term demi-glace casually. A French chef would likely have me strung up by my toes for awarding this wondrous gelatinous blob such a name.  By definition, a true demi-glace is a brown sauce made by first concocting an espagnole sauce, then blending it with an estouffade, or clear soup, then making a reduction.  My version of a demi-glace (if you will allow me the privilege of the term), is simply done by making a huge vat of bone broth from any mixture of bones (yes, I mix species), odd vegetables, leftover wine or splashes of vinegar, simmering it on the stove for a few days, straining it, then reducing it down from 8 quarts of liquid to just a few cups.

While a jury of French chefs may convict me of gastronomic heresy, I have every faith that an army of French housewives would scurry to my defense, brandishing their stock pots and wooden spoons with intimidating valor.  Most French chefs aren’t trying to keep one child safe around their  kitchen knives, while coaxing another one to learn her math, and at the same time fix lunch, schedule meat processing and turn out a serviceable bone broth and  demi-glace all at the same time. Faced with those daily challenges, most French chefs would probably choose the Shannon Hayes “semi-demi-glace” and bone broth technique as well.

Demi-glace and bone broth, made in my slovenly way, are  amazing ingredients. Bone broth has an infinite number of uses my kitchen (morning drinks, cold and flu and digestive remedies, supper soups, a base for braising meats, making rich gravies and sauces, or  simmering rice). Demi-glace takes all those benefits and concentrates them  down to a small, easy-to-store volume that can then be re-constituted to add flavor and nutrients to nearly all my dishes.  I often take demi-glace on the road when I travel, so that I can easily maintain my sustenance when faced with the grim prospects of “road food.”  I add a spoonful to some hot tea water when staying in hotels, and use it to whip up quick soups when staying in rental kitchens to keep my body going.

While the authenticity of the ingredients certainly contributes to the magic of bone broth and  demi-glace, perhaps one of the best flavors to come through is satisfaction, which arises from knowing that we made thorough use of the gifts our grassfed and pastured animals have offered. The world’s greatest cuisines are not founded on prime cuts of filet mignon or porterhouse steaks, but on the prudent use of the 20% of the animal that is frequently discarded in this country – the bones.  Incorporating bones into our diet through meat broth and demi-glace immeasurably improves the flavor of our soups, stews and braised dishes, and better still, offers countless health benefits.

According to Sally Fallon and Mary Enig,authors of the book Nourishing Traditions, broth ( and its concentrated cousin demi-glace) contains the minerals of bone, cartilage, marrow and vegetables in the form of electrolytes, ionic solutions that are easy to assimilate into the body.  They also contain proteinacious gelatin, which supplies hydrophilic colloids to the diet, a property that attracts your stomach’s digestive juices to the surface of cooked food particles; this is especially beneficial for folks suffering from intestinal disorders such as hyperacidity, colitis and Crohn’s disease.  Moreover, in hard times, when meat seems too expensive to serve daily, the gelatin in bone broth and demi-glace helps the body fully utilize other proteins that are ingested.  And, of course, there are the time-tested remedies of good broth for relieving the symptoms of colds, flu, myriad forms of gastroenteritis, and even bone injuries.

The Italians have an expression, “Tutto fa brodo” –  “Everything is broth.”  Nearly anything you can find in your kitchen can be added to a broth to enrich its flavor and nutritional value.  Once the broth is made, a simplified demi-glace is merely a matter of reducing it down. The five basic elements are bones, vegetables, herbs, acid and water.

Bones:
Naturally, this is the most essential ingredient.  Many mistakenly believe that only the marrow bones make good stock; while marrow does add lots of flavor and minerals, in fact, a variety of different bones is ideal.  Knuckle bones and oxtails are a great source of gelatin;  neck, rib and other meaty bones add color and flavor, as does that left over bone from Friday night’s rib eye steak, or the remains from Sunday’s leg of lamb, or your Thanksgiving turkey carcass.  All the meat, bones and vegetables that have simmered in the pot for hours will be strained and discarded from the complete broth; virtually all of their nutritive value is in the liquid.

Be creative with your broth.  A pure beef or chicken stock is lovely, but some of the most exciting dishes result from mixing varieties of bones, using anything that is on hand – a few lamb bones, perhaps a chicken carcass, mixed in with some pork chop leftovers, all create a dynamic broth flavor.  Long ago in France, cooks had la bouilloire éternelle – the “eternal kettle,” a large pot that never left the fire.  If a piece of chicken was taken out, then new chicken was added; the same with a piece of beef or a slab of pork.  Whenever broth was removed from the kettle, water was added, yielding  a steady supply of delicious stock, and a ready simmering medium for cooking meats for feasts. While the idea of a non-stop simmering pot crowding the stovetop is unlikely in a modern kitchen, the notion of incorporating all different kinds of meats when making stock reduces waste and creates dynamic flavor.

Vegetables:
Leftover cooked vegetables can go into the pot, along with fresh veggies, and even those errant odds and ends that might be on the cusp of spoiling – open your produce drawer and be generous to your stock:  broccoli about to flower, carrots gone floppy; peppers, tomatoes and onions growing soft on the kitchen counter.  Don’t be fussy, as they will all be discarded (hopefully composted) once their flavors and minerals have been captured by the broth.

Herbs:
If you have fresh herbs, make a bouquet garni by tying the sprigs together with a piece of kitchen string before adding them to the stock pot.  If using dried herbs, make a little sachet of cheese cloth so they are easily removed.  Herbs add nutritional and medicinal fortification to your broth.  But if you don’t happen to have any on hand, don’t let that stand in your way.  Move ahead with the preparing the broth without them.

Acid and Water:
Once the vegetables, herbs and bones have been added to the stock pot, fill it with water, then pour in an acid, such as vinegar or wine.  Use as little as a tablespoon of vinegar, or as much as a few cups of wine, depending on your taste.  Allow the stock to rest for 30 minutes to an hour prior to cooking, so the acid can draw minerals out of the bones and into the broth.  It will also enhance the flavor.

Bring the stock  to a simmer.  The longer you can simmer it, the better. Twelve hours will be sufficient, but 72 hours will be even better.  Keep it covered.  If the pot gets too low on liquid, add more water.  Once it is complete, you have a wonderful base for cooking soups, for cooking rice, grains and legumes, for a hot drink when someone is under the weather, or for braising those other luscious (and inexpensive) bone-in cuts of meat so often overlooked: shanks, necks, oxtails, bone-in shoulders, or ribs.  If you wish to magnify the intensity of the flavors and save storage space,take the broth to the next level by reducing it down to the demi-glace (directions follow).

Basic Meat Broth

Makes 8 quarts

4 -6 pounds bones (beef, lamb, pork or poultry bones will all work.  Ideally, they will be pre-roasted.  Some may even be leftover from previous meals, such as your leftover turkey bones from Thanksgiving.  These leftover bones will add a rich color and flavor dimension. I always save up the bones  and egg shells from every meal in a bag in my freezer.  Once the bag is full, I make a new kettle of broth.)
2-3 large carrots, cut into large chunks*
3 ribs celery, cut into large chunks*
2 onions, halved (if onions are clean, feel free to leave the skins on)*
8 quarts water
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
3-4 sprigs oregano
3 cloves garlic, unpeeled and crushed (optional)*
1 tomato, coarsely chopped (optional)*
Any other leftover vegetables you might have lying around (except maybe for lettuce)
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons vinegar, or 1-2 cups wine

 

*These are all ideal ingredients for constructing a basic bone broth.  That said, I’m often too frugal to toss all that stuff in, when I can save up a week of vegetable scraps and use them, instead.  I save the skins and roots and tops of my onions, the blossom end of the tomatoes, the ribs from my kale, the tops and tips of my carrots, the broccoli leftovers.  They all add just as much nutritional value to the broth without requiring my investment in fresh ingredients.

Add all the above ingredients to a very large stockpot.  If herbs are fresh, tie them into a bouquet garni before adding them to the pot.  If they are dried, make a small sachet out of a piece of cheese cloth to contain them.  Allow all the ingredients to rest for 30 minutes to one hour before turning the flame on your stovetop to bring it to a simmer.  This step will enable the acids in the vinegar or wine to draw the minerals from the bones.

Bring the mixture to a simmer slowly, skimming off any scum that rises to the surface.  Slowly simmer the broth for a minimum of 12 hours.  The longer you cook it, the richer it will be.  If your cook top will allow a slow, steady simmer and you will be nearby, consider allowing the mixture to slowly bubble, with the lid in place, for about three days straight, replacing water as necessary.  If you don’t feel secure leaving the pot untended overnight, simmer the stock all day, or while you are home, turn it off before going to bed or leaving, then resume simmering it when you are around once more.  Be vigilant about adding additional water if the fluid level gets too low.  (Personally, if the cooking is interrupted, I leave the stock unrefrigerated on the stove for up to 12 hours, as I know it will be returned to a high enough temperature to kill food-borne pathogens.  If this practice makes you uncomfortable, simply refrigerate your stock between simmer sessions.)  When the final simmering is complete, pour the broth through a sieve to strain out all the bones, vegetables and herbs. Chill.  Remove the fat from the surface, if you will be using it immediately.  Or, allow the fat to form a seal, preserving your broth for a longer period of time (at least a month or more).  Ideally, once it is cold, the bone broth should be mildly gelatinous. Store it in pint or quart containers in the fridge or freezer.

For the “demi-glace,” when you return the strained broth to the stove, you will be cooking it down much further.   If you started with about 8 quarts of broth, reduce it until you have approximately 5 cups.  Once it has chilled, all the fat that forms on the surface to form a seal that will preserve your refrigerated demi-glace for months. You should have a rich demi-glace that will be firm when cool.

 

For more details and a demo, you can watch our video here:

 

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