Bone broth times two

Meat is very expensive where we live. We don't have meat daily, especially red meat, which is more like an occasional treat rather than a daily necessity for us. So when we do have meat, I want to take advantage of it to the fullest. Part of that includes making bone broth. Not only is it a very tasty drink, it's also very nutritious, and a great way to flavour up many otherwise meatless dishes. I rather don't think of all those years of bones being thrown out when I didn't know there was such a thing as saving bones to make broth... But then again, it's just a learning experience. And perhaps I can inspire someone wherever they might live, who doesn't have a clue about what to do with bones to start making their own broth. Isn't that the fun thing of blogging? 🙂

So in June we butchered a lamb, and it wasn't until past Sunday that I used up the very last bag of lamb meat. I already made bone broth with around half of the bones a few months ago, but there still was a bag of bones in the freezer, waiting to be used. Everytime I wanted to make broth there was something that came up, and since it's supposed to be on the stove for hours there obviously has to be someone present in the house all day. It also has to be good weather- not terribly cold so that my north African tiled cuisine walls won't fog up too much, and preferably not even windy, so I can open a windows during the process. Yes, I'm a bit demanding I guess! 😉

But on Monday, I figured it was the perfect day to do some bone broth making - perfect weather circumstances, and not a lot of other food prep planned (or it wouldn't fit on the hob). You essentially don't have to do a lot - apart from being there, just in case. So that day the entire house smelled lovely. My children would disagree, but I absolutely love the smell of lamb broth. Most people when making bone broth apparently leave it to simmer for 24 hours, but that doesn't seem possible for me, so I put the heat off when I went to bed. Since it's quite a large pot and steaming hot, I just left it to cool down overnight. The next morning, when I came in the kitchen it was still a bit warm. So I just strained it (because of the seasonings I added) and transferred most of the broth into bottles to freeze for later use. I also kept some in the fridge to use right away. For some reason, it feels very reassuring to have those bottles there in the freezer - always being able to make a nice pot of soup out of that lovely broth! 

But here's where it's getting a bit extra frugal . After straining the broth, I put the bones back into the put, added seasonings again, filled the pot with water and there I had yet another day of making bone broth! Yes, apparently those bones can be reused. I found this out not that long ago and I knew I had to try it. This was actually Mt 2nd time of reusing the bones, and both times the 2nd batch of broth came out fine, albeit a bit less strong, but still good enough worth all the hours of simmering that broth. Perhaps it could be used a 3rd time even. That's what others tried with beef bones anyway, but I figured that since beef bones are obviously much bigger than lamb bones, it wouldn't be worth the effort and will come out too watered down, so I think for the time being I'm just sticking with only reusing the bones once. 

So that was a bit about making bone broth - why I do it, and how I make it extra frugal. Today, I'll be cooking up a pot of rice for my family, using the "2nd batch" of broth. And I'll enjoy a nice mug of broth for lunch.