Calcium Broth

Roasted beef bones suspended over a sea of hot fat.

My son can't have dairy right now, so we're giving him bone broth in hopes that his growth will not be horrifically stunted from lack of calcium and other bone-building minerals. Consequently we all have broth pouring from our ears- but I guess it's the season for it anyway. According to this article, cultures that don't consume dairy regularly consume bone broth instead for the easily assimilated calcium they contain. 

To make this, you roast grass-fed beef bones for about two hours. I do it at 350 degrees. At the end, the pan will have lots of rendered fat in it. Put the bones in a pot, cover them with water, and bring it to a boil. Strain this to get the last of the fat out. Cover them with water again, bring it all to a boil, and simmer it for two to three days. Eventually a milky substance should come out. This is the calcium and other minerals finally coming out of the bones. 

Mine never looked the way I expected it to after hearing it described as milky, but I made some chicken stock the other day and had to admit there was a huge difference. The broth made this way is opaque. Since there are no savory aromatics, you can now use this as a neutral cooking medium for rice and other cereals like oatmeal. I confess that I have only used this for rice and soups, but I like the idea of using it for other things and thought I'd pass the information along at least. The rice was really delicious, and it had an interesting texture I can only describe as a little sticky. 

After I roasted the bones, I poured the fat through a small strainer into a jar. The beef tallow was amazing. It cools to a candle-like hardness (obviously no coincidence since candles used to made from tallow). I used it to fry mustard greens and some other Chinese greens I don't know the name of and it added a great slightly meaty flavor. 

I had also read about beef tallow being great for a skin cream, and I mixed the second batch in with a little jojoba oil (to make it soft at room temperature) and essential oils. Tallow smells just like crayons (also not a coincidence), so the essential oils make it feel a little girlier. It is an amazing skin cream that can be used on the body or the face, but I admit every once in a while I am a little creeped out to think that I'm rubbing beef fat into my body. 

If you are at all interested, I recommend reading this article.