Quarantine Food Diaries Soup Season, Bone Broth, why we all need it

 Bone broth is everywhere, the newest trend, everything from bone broth stocks to bone broth juices, supplemental bone broth powders and bone broth in capsules, but what is all the rage?

I sat pondering this clear broth and understood it was as old as time just repackaged and renamed for better marketing, so that all those who would could cash in on the new buzz word of our consumer culture.

Your mother's chicken soup is bone broth. It's that simple. Any soup made with the bones and connective tissue and fat simmered over two to three hours is bone broth. 

What's the fuss all about? Here's a few concise facts about what bone broth does and why it is said to support digestion, boost the immune system, act as a probiotic restoring the gut and reverse signs of aging like collagen loss and inflammatory responses. 

• It is rich in a protein called gelatin made from dissolved collagen. Collagen is found in connective tissue and digested in this way boosts collagen production in our bodies
• It is rich in amino acids called glycine and proline, neurotransmitters that have anti inflammatory properties and immune system support. Proline helps support joint health and collagen production.
• B vitamins: Niacin and riboflavin both of which play a role in metabolism, assisting in the breakdown of carbohydrates, proteins and fats and boosting the gut microbiome, it is a probiotic.
• rich in glucosamine and chonodrotin two nutrients that support joint elasticity and health.

So whatever your age, or gender, physical state bone broth has key roles to play as the fountain of youth from skin to gut to joints to immunity. 

Make sure you are giving yourself a broth made from humanely pasture raised animals as we carry the energy of that which we eat into our own cells, so making a broth from a chicken that hasn't run free and has been pumped with antibiotics and growth hormones will impart these traumas to you as well. 

I make a bone broth and like to add the umami to it, a few different ways today I'll give you one to play with. 

To increase the trace mineral content to your broth add ginger, and scallions, an onion and at the end you can saute' mushrooms, bok choy to give it a Ramen twist as I did. Just remember, good old chicken soup is also a bone broth!!

Ramen Broth

• 
  
• 2.2lb pork soup bones or if you can't find I used country ribs 
• 1 onion , peeled sliced 
• 3 shallots/scallions green part only
• 3cm/1¼” cube ginger , cut in half
• 2 cloves garlic
• 
  

 Ramen Broth

• 2 tbsp soy sauce or liquid aminos
• 1½ tsp mirin
• salt to adjust flavor
• 2 cups Ramen Broth in this recipe , boiling hot

 Ramen Noodles and Toppings 

• 80-100g/2.8-3.5oz fresh thin buckwheat noodles cooked separately and held until ready to compose soup
• a few shredds of the boiled pork or if you want to work harder, thinly sliced sautee'd pork (prettier)
• shredded raw red cabbage
• 2 baby bokchoy sautee'd with 6 shitake mushrooms sliced in sesame oil, garlic and chili, for a little kick. Add soy or aminos to steam slightly at the end. 
• Instructions

Ramen Broth

1. Bring 4L/8.5pt of water in a pot to a boil. Add pork bones and boil for 10 minutes. A lot of scum will surface.

2. Drain and wash the bones under running cold water one by one, removing coagulated blood.

3. Add the cleaned bones, the rest of the Ramen Broth ingredients excluding bonito flakes to a large pot with 4L/8.5pt water, and bring it to a boil.

4. When scum surfaces, occasionally scoop it off gently using a ladle (note 5). Do not mix the broth with the ladle when removing the scum as it will cause the broth to become cloudy.

5. After removing the scum 4-5 times, turn down the heat to simmer gently.

6. While simmering, remove scum a few more times in the beginning if required.

7. Simmer for 2 hours with a lid on but allowing for slight ventilation

8. Turn the heat off. Put the broth through a sieve and collect only the liquid.

9. Makes about 1.6L/3.4pt of soup 

Making Soy or Amino Ramen 

1. Place soy sauce or aminos and mirin in a serving bowl. 

2. Boil water in a sauce pan and cook noodles and drain.

3. Add Ramen Broth to the bowl, mix. Taste test the soup and adjust with salt.

4. Add the noodles. Place topping of your choice and serve immediately.