Serious Soup

Bone soup is one of the most nourishing things for your health.  I had made it on occasion, but during my second pregnancy, I really realized it's benefit.  Very early in that pregnancy, I was hit with urinary urgency, and I thought, "oh no, I'm going to be one of those women like my grandmother, with urinary issues from childbearing" (she was such a fancy pretty lady, and she refused to wear her un-fancy diapers, so there were occasional embarrassing pee accidents when we went out as a family).

I was in school for Oriental Medicine at the time, and my channels and points teacher told me to make 'bone soup'.  I immediately did, and within a week my urinary issues had cleared up and never returned, even though I had gained 67 pounds during the rest of the pregnancy!

Bone soup seems to come out better for me when I include a cow foot.  This one I got at the butcher and asked him to cut it into smaller pieces.  You can see the delineation between the bones and the connective tissue when cut in cross section...

I put the foot in my roasting pan into a cold oven, and roast at 350 degress for an hour and a half.  Using a spoon, I transfer the foot to my stock pot, add chicken or turkey carcass, and onions and celery (and sometimes carrots, if I have really sweet carrots on hand).  Sometimes I save the beef tallow from roasting the cow foot, sometimes not.

Then I cover with water (the turkey was still frozen, so I had to wrestle it into the pot as it thawed-- like the titanic going down into the North Atlantic).  I add about 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, and this time I added a splash of red wine.  The acids in the vinegar and wine help leach out the minerals from the bones and dissolve the connective tissue.

I let the stock stand for about an hour, then I put it on medium heat and skim off any foam that arises.  Then I lower heat to low simmer and cook it pretty much for three days.

Reduction stock reducing...

Strained, finished product!  I give myself a pat on the back if it gels, if it doesn't, I take it as a sign I used too much water and didn't reduce it enough.  If it doesn't gel, I'll add some knox gelatin when I'm heating it up to serve.  It makes good gravy, crock pot foods, etc.; but to serve to the children and get the most mileage out of it, I put an inch of filtered water in a mug, stir in a tablespoon of miso paste (our kids love mello white miso the most), heat up two ladles-full of bone soup in a pot until warm (not hot) and stir together.  I've also been putting a spoonful of coconut oil into it (anti-inflammatory, super-healing).  I make sure the soup isn't too hot, because the miso is probiotic, so you don't want to kill off the friendly bacteria (they like you!).  I hold the mug, while we all take sips until it's gone.  I make it first thing in the morning, before and after each meal, for snacks... I try to get as much of this soup into us as I can.  I give us a vitamin C with the soup, figuring that the soup gives them the constituents to grow and repair anything necessary (teeth!) and the vitamin C aids healing and helps their bodies use the soup to heal.

These are some of the bones from the cow foot.  You can tell that the collagen and connective tissue holding the bones together has dissolved, along with the marrow in the center of the bones.
I wish I could say that I used all bones from only grassfed animals, I know that's the ideal and I do when I can.  When I can't, I don't want perfect to ruin good, so I use what I can get my hands on and afford.

I started picking at this batch on day 2, as our daughter started coughing.  She has had pneumonia a few times, so when I hear her cough, I get nervous.  The soup is more of a help than the Mucinex I have on hand at the Doctor's suggestion, or Albuterol or saline breathing treatment.  Yaay soup!