Food a Medicine

BONE BROTH

At Pediatric Alternatives we consider food to be medicine and ask all of our families to learn to make a basic bone broth. A bone broth can be made from beef, pork, chicken, turkey, fish or shellfish. Since chicken is most available, basic chicken stock will serve as our prototype.

Broth (or stock) continues to be a staple in professional kitchens due to its unsurpassed flavor. Broth contains the minerals and protein magically embedded in bones that are easily extractable in the kitchen in a form that the body can readily absorb. Sometimes known as “Jewish Penicillin,” stock nourishes a sick body. By cooking the bones, usually discarded in our culture, we honor the creature that gave its life so that we might be nourished.

In my freezer there are always bags of bones or fish parts waiting to be made into stock and jars of many sizes filled with homemade stock. All my friends know that we do not throw away bones in my kitchen. Some of the many uses for bone broth include:
    •A beverage for a toddler in a bottle or sippy cup
    •Add stock to pureed baby foods both purchased and homemade
    •Replace the water when preparing a grain such as rice, quinoa and millet. For example: 2 cups stock to 1 cup quinoa.
    •Build a soup (see below)
    •Anytime stock is called for in a recipe
    •Whenever anyone is sick
    •Freeze pre-measured quantities that can easily be defrosted. I find 2 cups and 1 quart to be the most useful.

BASIC CHICKEN BROTH

Making broth requires almost no work. Just put the bones in a stockpot or crockpot, add water and vinegar, bring it to a simmer and walk away leaving it to simmer on the back of your stove or in your crockpot for 24-48 hours. (See Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon for further information.)
Ingredients:
       Bony chicken parts cooked or raw such as necks, backs, breastbones, wings, fat and feet, enough to fill your stock pot.These can be purchased from a good butcher or saved from a chicken dinner
      Carrots, celery, parsley, onions
      2 tablespoons vinegar
      Broth made with only chicken bones and vinegar is more adaptable to an Asian recipe. By adding carrots, celery, parsley and onions, the broth is sweeter and more like old-fashioned chicken soup
Directions:
      Place bones and vegetables (see above) in the stockpot. Add water to cover the contents plus 2 tablespoons vinegar.
      Bring to a boil and remove the film that rises to the top. Cover and simmer for 6-24 hours or longer. Strain through a colander discarding the cooked bones and vegetables. Refrigerate the stock overnight allowing the fat to come to the top and solidify.
      Lift the fat from the stock with a spoon. Discard fat or freeze in small containers to be used later.
       The cold stock will be gelatinous and can be warmed to distribute into your freezer containers. This stock will keep in the refrigerator for about 5 days and in the freezer for months. Freeze in plastic or glass. If using glass jars, only fill 2/3 full to allow for expansion.

FOOD as medicine

BONE BROTH

BASIC CHICKEN BROTH

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