Today is National Bone Broth Day! What better way to celebrate it than drinking a nice cup of French Onion Soup and reading a great book on the subject, like The Bare Bones Cookbook (which not-coincidentally, releases today)?
Benefits of Broth
Every week either on the blog, our podcasts, our newsletter, or our social media channels, you’ll see us exhort the benefits of bone broth. Stacy consumes it in some form several times a week, if not daily. Why? The reason why is pretty clear. The collagen and proteins in broth have tons of benefits:
- improves skin health
- helps joint recovery
- supports skin, hair and nail growth
- improves digestion
- promotes relaxation and a good night’s sleep
- can help heal your gut
- helps tighten loose skin [source for more info]
The unfortunate thing about broth is that it takes a lot of time to cook it just right. In fact, it takes days. Even if I use a pressure cooker, like an Instant Pot, it takes 6 hours for good broth with softened bones and lots of gelatin. That’s a long time that a lot of people can’t spare. Or maybe you or your spouse don’t like the aroma as much as we do. But if you want to buy and not make broth or stock, most store bought brands are for flavor, not for nutrients, and thus don’t have the benefits you are after, not to mention the industrial processing.
But there is a company making broth the right way! Bare Bones Broth Company is cooking 100% organic pasture raised bones into the greatest bone broth you can buy! And their broths are not just for cooking with, but for drinking, too. They currently offer “sipping broths” in either a chicken with garlic and rosemary flavor (AIP) or a beef base with tomato and cloves. If you’re looking for the health benefits of broth without all the work, look no further!
However, if you ARE interested in making your own – or learning more about what to do with it other than sip it from mugs (we realize most people aren’t quite ready for The Broth Lady’s commitment yet) the Bare Bones Broth Company founders, Ryan and Kate Harvey, are sharing their secrets in this stunning new book, The Bare Bones Broth Cookbook!
About the Book
First of all, as authors, we’ve come to appreciate the quality of a good book. This book feels sturdy in the hand and has absolutely fantastic photography. It is well crafted – start to finish. This book will not only teach you how to make a great bone broth, but how to use that broth in foods you will love to eat! It’s perfect for those of us who want to enjoy the benefits of broth, but don’t know what to do with their liquid gold.
You might be thinking that this is just a soup cookbook, and while there are quite a number of soup recipes in this book, that’s not all that you’ll find. There are meat, fish, egg, and vegetable dishes as well and every single one looks like it will be perfection! All of this inside a gloriously full color hardback book guarantees it will be a staple in our kitchen.
What we love is that the book also makes adding the benefits of broth in places that are family friendly – and quite simply, genius. I can’t believe we’ve never thought of some of the recipes that are in The Bare Bones Broth Cookbook; and frankly we will be utilizing a lot of these recipes in our daily rotation going forward!
We think you’ll be surprised at where you can use broth to extra nutrients to your foods. Ever hear of a broth-enhanced smoothies? Ryan and Kate made them for you!
kid-friendly smoothies using broth from The Bare Bones Broth Cookbook
But to make things even more useful, there’s a huge section right in the front that breaks down everything you need to know about bone broths. Ever wonder why broth is such a great flavor enhancer? It’s from the natural glutamate that’s packed into every sip.
Best of all are the tips on making the most perfect broth you’ve ever tasted. I don’t know why these guys are giving away all their special secrets, but they’ll certainly be of benefit to you and me both. I can’t wait to have broth as pretty as they make.
Gorgeous and flavorful broth from The Bare Bones Broth Cookboook
It’s Genius!
When we opened the book, there was one recipe in particular that blew us away. Back in our pre-paleo days, Stacy loved French Onion Soup. Unfortunately, we haven’t had a good cup of it since because without the bread and cheese it’s just not the same. But Ryan and Kate had an idea, and their idea to use potatoes as the topping instead of bread and cheese is a wonderful stroke of genius that is finally satisfying our French onion craving!
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons ghee or fat of choice
- 2 onions, thinly sliced - we find sweet yellow or vidalia onions are best
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup sherry wine
- 1 cup dry red wine
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 6 cups beef bone broth (homemade will have the best flavor)
- 4 cups cold water
- 6 small white potatoes (russet and yukon gold are our favorites for mashed), peeled and diced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon sea salt
- Pinch of freshly ground sea salt
- 1 ½ tablespoons ghee or fat of choice
Instructions
- In a large pot over medium heat, heat the ghee or butter. Add the onions, bay leaf, thyme, garlic, and sea salt and sauté for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Increase the heat to medium-high and add the sherry, red wine, and pepper. Simmer to reduce until the wine has almost evaporated, about 10 minutes.
- Add the beef bone broth and bring to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes.
- While the soup is simmering, combine the water, potatoes, garlic, and 2 tablespoons of the sea salt in a pot and bring to a boil. Boil the potatoes for 10 minutes, then drain thoroughly to remove all the water.
- Return the potatoes to the pot along with the pepper, the remaining 1 teaspoon of sea salt, and the ghee or butter. Mash (do not whip) by hand with the back of a fork. Separate into four parts and roll into balls.
- Preheat the broiler to high.
- Place four 6-to 8-ounce oven-safe ramekins on a baking sheet and fill with soup to just below the rim. Press the potato balls flat, shaping them into disks slightly wider than the ramekins. Gently drape a potato disk over each ramekin without pressing it down; just let it rest atop the ramekin.
- Place the baking sheet with the ramekins under the broiler for 8 minutes, or until the potato disks begin to brown. Remove from the oven and serve immediately. Alternatively, the soup (without the crust) can be refrigerated for up to 1 week, or frozen for up to 6 months.
Notes
Gasp, white potatoes! Don't worry, when the Paleo police come you can remind them that white potatoes are more nutrient dense than their "sweet" counterparts and Paleo is grain, legume, dairy, and refined sugar free... nothing about (a lack of) potatoes mentioned!
That’s a real crust right there and it’s everything you want to soak up that brothy goodness and compliments the flavor of the onions just perfectly!
So if you’re bone broth curious or a bone broth veteran, we think The Bare Bones Broth Cookbook is a great addition to your shelf. We’ve been excitedly planning on using it, and it was a perfect National Broth Day present. You can buy it in stores or online starting today ♥
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