Beef Bone Broth with Leeks and Mushrooms

I finally found some more beef bones at a halfway decent price and decided to can up the rest of my winter broth.  This recipe takes at least two days so the broth can chill to skim the fat.

The chicken broth was almost free, but this one ended up costing something like $2 per pint.  I don't buy much beef on the bone, so it was all new purchases.  I did end up with half a pound of shredded beef for the freezer, so we can discount that $3.  If I had realized there would be two cups of meat, I would have used it for the quesadillas instead of the canned.  Name-brand bone broth can be $6 a pint or more, so while mine cost more than generic store brands, it wasn't too outrageous.  And I got to flavor it how I wanted.

The leek and mushroom part is to use scraps in the freezer.  It wasn't my intent when I put them in there, but while I was poking through the bones every week for a good deal, it started to sound very good.  I'm not keeping the solids, just the essence in the broth.  For how rarely I use beef broth, this flavor profile sounded like a great idea to make a quick soup by adding some cooked barley and maybe some carrots.  Actually, I fished out and saved the turnip and carrots from the veggie stock I made the same day, so maybe they could go in it.

Unlike with the chicken broth, I decided to add salt to this batch.  Not a lot, since I'll salt it in the final use, but more than zero.  Maybe it's because of the fat content, but I find beef broth needs the help.  I added 1/4 tsp to each pint, half of the recommended amount.

You do not have to pressure can this recipe to preserve it.  You can freeze it.  Or, just make one quarter of what I did and make just enough for a single batch of soup.  I was making this to get things out of the freezer.

I bought a jiggler, which is a weighted pressure regulator so you don't have to calibrate the gauge.  I'm pretty good at using the right amount of heat to maintain a steady pressure, but the jiggler lets me do it by listening to the rocking motion.  If it jiggles too fast, you turn down the heat; too slow, turn it up.  It will always prevent over-pressurization.  This was my first canning session with it, and it does help.  It also proved that my gauge is off by almost two pounds and I've been canning at a higher pressure than necessary.  I hope this will improve my seal rate.

As usual, I'm using the NCHFP website's current guidelines for canning the beef broth, except I'm roasting the bones first for a deeper flavor, which does not affect processing time.  I also canned some vegetable broth at the same time, which isn't listed on their site.  In the older Ball book, the time for veggie broth is 30 minutes for pints, so that's what everything ran for.  You always go for the longest time of any ingredient, recipe, or size jar.  Processing for a longer time never affects safety, and with broth it doesn't affect quality.

4 lbs raw beef marrow bones, meat on ok
1 gal water
2 Tb apple cider vinegar
*green tops from one bunch of leeks
*stems and pieces from 1 lb of mushroom caps
1 tsp peppercorns
salt to taste

1.  Preheat oven to 400º.  Arrange bones on a rimmed baking sheet.  Roast 20 minutes, turn, and roast another 10.

2.  Add bones with meat, and any juices on the baking sheet, to a large stock pot.  Pour cold water over them.  Add vinegar, which dissolves the marrow and other goodies in the bones.  Bring pot to a low boil, then lower heat to a simmer.  Cover and cook 3-4 hours, until meat is falling off the bones and any marrow has dissolved.  If any scummy stuff rises to the surface, skim it off.

3.  Remove bones and pick off any meat and gristle.  Save the meat for another use, if desired.  Return bones to the pot with leeks and mushrooms.  Make sure the vegetables have been very well cleaned.  Both tend to harbor dirt in hidden pockets.  Simmer another 1-2 hours.  Strain out solids and refrigerate stock overnight.

4.  Once cooled, remove hardened fat from the top of the broth.  If not canning, broth is now ready for use.  For canning, prepare pressure canner and jars for a 6-8 pint yield (or 4 quarts) as hot pack.

5.  Strain broth back into the stock pot, trying to get out any last solids that have gelled overnight.  Bring broth back up to a boil.  Fill hot jars with hot broth, adding 1/2 tsp of salt to each pint, if desired.  Wipe rims clean with vinegar.  Center lids and screw on rings finger-tight.  Process according to the linked chart for altitude and size of jar.  Cool, check seals, wash jars, and store.  Any failed seals can be reprocessed with new lids, refrigerated for immediate use, or frozen for later.

Makes about one gallon

Difficulty rating  :)