How about using your oven?

I think a 6-quart is a nice size. I have this Hamilton Beach and love it.

Or you could use a pressure cooker to make it in a fraction of the time.

http://www.foodrenegade.com/pressure-cooker-bone-broth/

I love my Instant Pot for broth.

The size depends entirely on how much broth you want to make--so long as the bones fit. Knuckles are easier to fit into a smaller pot if you don't want to use a saw (or get the butcher to do it).

I think a Nesco roaster would be great because you can use a higher temperature (350° or more) for caramelizing the bones and a lower one for simmering the broth. With a slow cooker your options are low (under 240° F="high") and lower (they were originally designed to cook beans overnight). This kind of roaster works sort of like an oven, but can also slow cook.

I also agree that a combination unit, like the Instant Pot, that does pressure and slow cooking could be a great option.

I put stuff like that in my oven...in dutch oven or even in an enamel covered roasting pan, but that's hard to pour the broth from when done.
You really don't need another "thing" to make a good stock.

Not sure how much you're making, but I don't make my stock/bone broth in one go. I simmer over 2 or 3 days, putting the pot in the fridge between simmerings. I usually simmer for several hours, then let cool a bit & refrigerate until the next day. I cook until the cartilage is almost dissolved.

I use no vegetables, tho - just a few fresh bay leaves.

Thanks to all of you for your replies. As lindac92 said I really don't want another "thing" to make beef broth. But I didn't think I had a choice because leaving the stove on so long was not an option going forward.

However, after reading annie1992 (thanks for your recipe) reply, I looked around my kitchen and figured I could use my huge cast iron dutch oven and as suggested, make it in the oven. My goal is to make enough bone broth to freeze and not have to be making it every week or so.

My next question is, after roasting the bones, what temperature do I use. I know it's low, but how low. 250F?

Being your broth to a boil....then turn your oven down to 225...or a hair bit lower. The goal is to keep it at or just below a slow simmer.

I've been doing some Spring cleaning and that included the freezer. I have a stock shelf that is nicely 'stocked'. Half full. I like a good rotation and nothing more than 6 months old. The older ones are used in full flavor meals. Ones with lots of other ingredients. Fresher stocks for brothy soups and chowders.

I have noticed a difference over the years in older stocks so i just make it more often. I use so much of it a good turn-over is pretty easy. I just call it back-burner stock.

fish stock, 1 hour, veg stock 1-2 hours, chicken stock 2-3 hours, beef stock 4-6

I'm out of beef/bone broth.

My method is not that different than Annie's.

Also depends on the bones the butcher has. Cut in smaller slices the better.

I roast the bones, duck neck, duck paw (or chicken paw) in the oven in my turkey roaster with a big onion quartered for 1/2 hour at 375-400. I like to toss in a beef rib bone with some meat on it. 1/4 cup of water or wine in the pan. Roasting add so much flavor and cuts way down on the final cooking time. Bones are already nice and hot going into the stock pot.

Turn off oven and prep veg and aromatics. Roasted bones in stockpot and add water to just barely cover, top with roasted onions (some water in the roasting pan to get any good roasted bits), any veg available, like leek tops, herb stems, parsley cilantro, green onions, garlic, celery stalk root end. Ok if above the water line a bit as they will melt down. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer on a back burner. 4-6 hours.

Cool an hour. Take out bones with tongs. Strain stock. Chill as quick as possible. I use ice in a bowl and stock bowl resting on top. Fridge overnight, sleep well.

Portion in containers in the morning for the freezer.

No need to simmer forever. Roasting gets so much time done ahead.

If you put in two meaty rib bones they can come out of your broth after an hour or two and into the oven for a quick second roasting for a nice meal with a green salad and or a potato dish or roasted potatoes.

Never sure what the difference is between stock and broth, but I just can't toss bones without getting last bit of goodness out of them. A week or so ago, oven roasted 2-3 bone-in chicken breasts. After meat was gone, into pot and covered with water...usually add carrots/celery/onions and required bay leaf. Space is often at a premium in freezer, so I've started reducing whatever stock I make by at least half before freezing. I don't add salt so reduced won't be too salty if I want to use it "straight" without diluting.

Just have to tell a story after hearing you mention BISON bones. Years ago, had 2 Rotties. Decided one day to treat them to real bones. Had a real butcher shop in area that pretty much gave bones away. I went in and asked the "kid" behind the counter, "Do you have any BIG bare bones in the back?"; I didn't need any meat on them. She kinda tilted her head to one side in confusion and said, "BEAR bones??" Let's just say customers got a chuckle out of that!

lindac92 & sleevendog, thanks for your suggestions. Next time I will do it differenly.

My "first-time" bone broth was simmered for 30 hours. Cooled quickly and refrigerated. This morning I skimmed off the fat but the broth did not gel. I used bison shanks and knuckles. Don't know why it didn't gel. I had a perfect simmer since I did not have to add extra water. It taste good though.

sleevendog, I didn't know to take out meat after an hour or two. Thanks for that tip, meat was simmering in broth for 30 hours. I am learning! Thanks to everybody for your help.

It didn't gel because there was not enough protein in the broth to make it gel. Try adding something acedic...a cut up lemon or a couple of tablespoons of vinegar....leeches the "stuff" out of the bones and brightens the flavor.

You need more collagen-heavy bones or feet to gel.

Does the oven use a lot more energy than just heating a pot?

The instapot sounds great and can be used for a lot of other things too.

I think it depends on the size of the oven and whether you use gas or electric. The Instant Pot is great at extracting collagen. I get very gelatinous results.

I make lamb shanks in the IP and the broth is solid jello ;)

I agree on the need for collagen rich bones for more gelatinous broth. I often use chicken feet, after pedicuring them, when I can find the feet. Last time I ordered chicken backs, which are okay but the feet are better.

mimipadv, since the IP is so multi-function, which function do you use for bone broth and what is it about that process that allows the unit to maximize the collagen? Thanks.

I haven't made bone broth per se. Just broth and braises. When I use bone, the liquid is very collagenous. I think it's from cooking under pressure.

The process takes about an hour using the soup/stew setting.

Thanks all. I didn't realize all this just to make bone broth.

lindac92, I did add 2 tablespoons of vinegar. I'm thinking its the bones I used. So because it didn't gel, I'm not getting all the nutrients???

mimipadv, what would be more collagen-heavy bones. I used knuckles and shanks. I don't remember ever seeing "feet" in the supermarket. I would want free-range or natural or organic chicken parts. This might be hard to find in my neck of the woods.

I never heard of the Instapot. Will need to do research.

klseiverd, love your "Bear Bones" story :)

I found this primer on bone broth for anyone who wants to know the do's and don't's.

I think shanks and hoofs are good for gelatin. I think you're using the right bones, but you could add veal bones and ox tails, perhaps a blade steak, in there and maybe just more bones?

Also, are you reducing your stock at all?

cactuscatie, check out Azure Standard, they sell organic products, it's where I buy my bones, and feet when I can find them, wings and backs are also good. Azure Standard

mimipadv, the link you provided is the one I read before making bone broth. It has a lot of useful information which helped me get started. I put enough water just to cover the bones and I don't think it reduced much. The broth simmered very low, bubbling very gently.

MaryMcP, thanks for the suggestion. I checked out their website. They have so many products and good prices too. I spent $75 on 6 lbs of organic bison bones. I can't be doing that every time I make broth.

Yeah but how long will the broth last? And how delicious will it be, bringing you reverence from all your diners?? ;-) I've never tried bison, what is it about bison that makes you want to make broth with it?

Edited to add that I Googled and found lots of info. It appears to be very nutritious and lean, more likely to be grass-fed than beef. My objection to beef has been that it's slow to digest, bison appears to be in the same category as chicken and turkey for digestibility. But after abstaining from beef for nearly 40 years, I'm not sure I'll like the flavor of bison. A friend served us french onion soup the other night and I was not fond of the beef broth flavor, although the soup was very good otherwise.

I got 4 quarts from my first batch. A cup everyday for my husband and I, it won't last long. I decided to use bison exactly for the reasons you stated. It is an acquired taste, although we did acquire that taste fairly quickly :) I use bison 90% of the time in place of beef. Just started doing that about a year ago and it's working for us. Try it, you might like it :) maybe start by making a meat sauce or stew. There are great recipes online.

ps my bone broth is delicious :) much reverence from diners....

I'm glad your broth came out well, there's nothing quite like good homemade broth or stock. The store stuff just seems pale and weak...

I agree that you need more bones or a different bone for gelatinous stock, I find that when I add chicken feet to chicken stock, or something like oxtail or ribs to beef stock, I get a more gelatinous final product. My last batch was made of steak bones with a package of ox tail thrown in for the extra collagen, and it looked like this:

Beef Jello!

Annie

WOW Annie I'm impressed. My broth looks nothing like that. Although, as it sits in the frig it is a "tiny bit" gelled. My husband ate it and that's saying something because he is a very picky eater. So I'm happy for that.

I'll have to look for oxtail for my next batch. Thanks for all your help.

Go to youtube and find out how they process chicken feet. Boil, water blast, boil again and blast again. No more taste left. You might as well make it simple and use packaged gelatin.

dcarch

Do you have a link? I've never bought cooked or processed chicken feet.

Here you go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0V3V6EA-HY

dcarch

interesting. but....when I was able to find chicken feet at Azure Standard, they came with their skin and nails still attached. They have been out of stock for quite some time so I cannot compare what they offered to what is being shown in this video.

Regarding your comment "....how they process chicken feet. " I would amend that to *one* way that chicken feet are sometimes processed. With respect dcarch7, I'm not sure this process is for every single chicken foot on the market. Just sayin'.

Not my process for chicken feet, that's certain. I remove the feet, which are somewhat cleaned by dunking my chickens in scalding water to pluck. Then I take them home, trim the nails off, scrub well in hot water. The skin remains mostly intact. Then they get frozen for stock or tossed into the pot immediately.

Annie

Why even bother with packaged gelatin and take a pill. Or don't bother with food at all or the fun of cooking and take a vitamin or Soylent. (kidding)

My duck paws and chicken feet don't look like that either. Just like Annie's and i clip the toes and freeze. Tossed on the roasted tray they have lots of flavor and a use more natural than a powdered package.

When i order my meat and chickens and duck i add-on extra necks and feets for the freezer for stock.

I've been 'stocking' up this past week after Spring cleaning out my freezer. Made a fish stock for chowder, a veg/beef broth...just one meaty beef bone and no real spice...that made just 4 pints.

Last night i roasted veg and bones, started a leek top and celery end with lots of aromatics at the same time, then combined them for a 6 hour simmer. That one made 6 pints for Pho and NoodleBowl. (coriander, star anise, cardamon pods, etc...)

I've not roasted a chicken in ages so will do that next week and save carcase for stock. I usually roast two organics and have lots of meats to freeze and nice stock bones.

I am amazed at these replies.

I never bought chicken feet or duck paws. Never plucked a chicken either. Grew up in the city and still live in the city so I wasn't around any of this. Shopped around town yesterday for organic chickens and feet. Nobody, not even the butchers had organic. I found oxtail in the supermarket but do I have to buy that organic or grass-fed. So many questions, but I'm learning and you are the experts :)

Where on the planet are you cactus?

MaryMcP, lol.....New Jersey and not the suburbs or rural New Jersey. I am a city girl. Houses very close, there are no secrets among neighbors :) New York is a half hour away.

As for finding organic or grass-fed, it's too expensive. People here will not buy it. I can get it in New York, but that's a hassle. I would rather order online.

Yeah, me too re the online ordering. We have lots of latino and asian markets here but I'm concerned about what a 'background check' of their poultry might show. I Googled "Organic chicken feet" and found this: BlackWing dot com

Organic meats. Not much luck with duck paws but you might try that yourself, I'm not a duck fan personally. Good luck and let us know what you find. If I didn't have 40#'s [WHAT was I thinking??] of chicken backs in the freezer, I'd grab some of those feet from BlackWing.

Every organic chicken and duck has 2 feet. I'm in NY and am surrounded by farms. Probably a farm CSA right up the road from you. Some will ship.

You can set up delivery for a mixed box of your choice to be sent once a month or four times a year or just twice a year.....many of those

Or ask around for a real butcher, not a chain grocery store. A real butcher can order you anything you want. Ask at a coop or health food store for group ordering. (not at a chain type store).

Farm fresh duck...duck shipped to your door

They are in Pennsylvania

You don't have to like duck to make a good stock. You can order 10lbs of necks, 10lbs of carcase, 5 lbs of paws....etc 25 lbs of good stock parts for under 100 bucks. (ish)

Roasted, then simmered with veg makes a great stock.

You can mix all types of bones.

cactus, you may find that oxtail is more expensive than short ribs, as a cow has more ribs than tails. The tail used to be one of the parts the farmer kept because no one would buy it, now it's gourmet cuts! I was amazed when I found oxtail was the same price as Porterhouse.

Mine are organic and grass fed because I raise them myself, same with the chickens. So it's really up to you. If it's important to you that it be grass fed and sustainably and humanely raised, or organic or whatever, then that's what it has to be. That's why I raise my own, commercial agriculture and their treatment of animals offends me. So I raise cattle and chickens, sometimes ducks and pigs. I have a big organic garden, eggs from my hens, and I want to get some bees. My husband? Not so much. (grin)

Anyway, I'm a big proponent of buying local and helping out the small farmer (since I am one), so even if it isn't organic or grass fed or whatever, if you can get it from a local place I think you're a lot better off, both in quality and in sustainability and probably in the treatment of the animals you intend to use for food.

I know Sleevendog lives somewhere in your part of the world, so the link/organization she mentioned is probably a very good place to start. I'm clear over here in Michigan so someone closer is going to know better than I do, of course.

In the interest of full disclosure, all my broth doesn't turn out that gelatinous, but it was a good batch. Good luck...

Annie

When doing a big batch of chicken salad for a church funeral, I buy bone in, skin on chicken breasts and poach them in a court boullion made with onion, carrot, garlic, parsley stems and celery tops and a couple of lemon rinds. I slowly simmer the chicken until it's just done.....remove and toss the bones and skin back into the pot and simmer while I am cutting up the chicken and making salad.
When that broth is cooled and refrigerated, it's well gelled....."shimmys like my sister Kate". It's not as flavorful as if I had a couple of feet and more bones to add to the pot, but as a by-product of chicken salad, it's pretty good!

My husband and I started to question how the meats we buy are raised and processed, etc. We were ignorant up to that point and we were appalled at what we discovered.

annie1992, it is very important to us that our meats are grass fed, sustainably and humanely raised and organic. I applaud you for doing what you're doing. I imagine it is not easy and it's hard work. But the benefits, as you well know, are countless. We buy our honey from a beekeeper in South Jersey. It cannot compare to the stuff you buy in the supermarket.

sleevendog, as you suggested, I asked a local butcher if he could order me organic, pastured chickens. He told me his chickens are high quality and Grade A, the best chicken I could buy. When I asked if they were organic he told me no but repeated they are Grade A. So thank you so much for the link. I am working on setting up delivery with one of the farms. I didn't know any of this existed. Thanks again.

Interesting, that duck link; I buy the same brand here(frozen) from a local store called "The Meat House" & they come to about $15 each.

FWIW, when I include all the cartilage, skin, etc. & cook 'til the bones are soft, it gels beautifully. The cooking takes many hours for that & I'm just talking about poultry, but IMPE, lamb neck makes a stew gel very well too, since it contains a lot of cartilage.

i love to make stock, chicken stock in particular i use my 6 quart programable hamilton beach crock pot and i always make it on the back porch (screened)

i usually cook a bunch of bone in chicken breasts - either in the crock pot or the oven and recover the meat and cook the bones if i'm just making a couple of bone in breasts, i freeze the bones til i have enough to make stock

i found bone in chicken breasts for a dollar a pound and filled my freezer last week

i much prefer organic and grew up in the 50's eating almost all organic foods, but can't manage that now/here

I just finished making stock today out of chicken and oxtails. Oxtail makes a very intense stock. I roast slow in the oven - (I just used a large lasagna pan with lots of seasonings and some white wine in the bottom of the pan.) Then I let the meat cool and pulled if off the bones and put the bones and skin in a pot with the drippings and more water and let it simmer slow for a long time. I just got through straining it - will cool it down overnight and I'm sure there will be lots of gelatin in this puppy. Yeah I remember back in the day they could hardly give oxtail, soup bones and short ribs away. I couldn't believe how expensive the oxtails were, hadn't gotten any in awhile. I'm using it tomorrow for gumbo.

carolb_w_fl, thanks. I've come to the conclusion that I didn't use enough cartilage, skin, etc. My next batch will be better (fingers crossed).

ritaweeda, while doing research for my next batch, I couldn't believe how expensive oxtails were as well. I throw all my poultry, beef, etc. bones in the trash. I won't be doing that anymore. Just curious, how long did you simmer your stock. I did mine for 30 hours and was very nervous leaving the gas stove on at night. Next time I am going to try making the broth in the oven, as suggested here.

I probably simmered it for about 4 to 5 hours. That's all I have the patience for.

zippity1, thanks for your reply. You are lucky to have found chicken breasts for $1.00 I roasted a chicken last night and I will be freezing the bones for stock.