Homemade beef broth

We got a quarter cow three years ago and, while most everything is long gone from the freezer, we still had a number of packages labeled 'soup bones.' Everything straight from the farm like this is wrapped in paper and already frozen btw. I'd never used soup bones, nor frankly even opened one to see what was inside. (The bones, I discovered, were quite meaty.) My wife recently lined up another quarter cow that'll be arriving this month and I needed to use them or lose them.

I knew soup bones can be used to make homemade broth and thought I'd give that a whirl. After taking a couple packages out of the freezer and letting them defrost in the fridge, I looked up how the food blogosphere recommends doing it. Pioneer Woman had a little article but didn't actually write it like a recipe at any point so I looked elsewhere. After finding one for utilizing a slow cooker and another for an instant pot I decided to try both, those two packages were not both going to fit in one machine.

The ingredients used were the same:

(exact amounts are not needed however)

~3 pounds beef 'soup bones'

1/2 yellow onion, roughly chopped

1/2 red onion, roughly chopped

1/2 head garlic, cut whole thing in half and put half the (peeled) pieces in each

2 carrots, chopped

2 celery ribs, chopped

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

handful grinds of salt/pepper

8 cups water

Quick instructions:

1. Sear the (defrosted) soup bones in a frying pan with some oil

2. Place in slow cooker/instant pot and cover with remaining ingredients

3. Cook 10-12 hours on low in slow cooker or 2 hours on high in instant pot

4. Strain into mason jars, or wherever you're going to store it

   
   

It was really easy and made the house smell delicious. Though the meat had been in the freezer for years it was super tender when it came out and I used some for dinner that night. We shredded the good pieces and combined it with ramen noodles and broth straight from the instant pot, like a simple pho. It would've been improved with a few more items but we couldn't complain about the results. The broth was good!

There was a ton left over. After straining I ended up with six mason jars of 2-3 cups of broth that took forever to cool and I've since put in the freezer. Now I need to continue to find ways to use it, especially if I'm going to make more in the coming days. More soups, chilis, and goulashes I expect.

I'll probably try this making chicken broth too, since it's super easy and we go through a lot. On the next occasion we get a rotisserie from Costco, for example, I'll probably throw the carcass (appetizing word lol) in the slow cooker with some water and veggies, etc. No sense in wasting it now.

If you've cooked a lot in your life this may be laughably simple to you, but I'd never done it. And I'm glad I tried.

That's all for today. I'm glad to have this down for my own notes and maybe you'll find it useful too.