Check out this recipe for roasting marrow bones and simmering them with flavorful vegetables and herbs to make beef stock for soups, stews, and other dishes.
My Chinese doctor once advised me to make my own soup from scratch for health reasons when I was a college student, but the details are too lengthy to go into now. In his words, “get beef bones and boil them”.
The good news is that I had one of those food epiphanies: I never realized that soup stock is made from bones. Mom never bothered to explain why she simmered the turkey carcass. ).
The bad news is that I had no idea what I was doing. Nevertheless, I dutifully requested some beef bones from my neighborhood butcher and boiled them for a long time in a rolling boil until the bones were almost completely disintegrated. After taking out the bones, I added lentils and salt and consumed it.
This is not the way to make stock for those of you who are unfamiliar with how to do it. (Admittedly, if you are calcium deficient and don’t care about the flavor or grittiness of your soup, it is still edible. ) 2:04.
What are Soup Bones
Cut into 2-3 inch pieces, soup bones are beef marrow bones that make a flavorful and nourishing soup. Butchers refer to them as pipes because they resemble pipes and are made from the arms and legs of cows. (wait for it) a small pipe.
These bones can be found in the freezer section of grocery stores and butcher shops. They are also available for sale online.
To make high-protein soups, stocks, broth, and bone broth, soup bones can be used. You can make a variety of soups, including ramen, pho, and beef stews.
By placing these bones in a big pot, adding water, and letting them simmer for a few hours, you can quickly make stocks and broths. To flavor or increase the richness of your stock, you can add anything else you like.
Finally, soup bones are commonly used to make bone broth. A concentrated, high-protein broth called bone broth is created by combining bones, connective tissue, meat, and cartilage. Learn more about the health benefits of bone broth.
Because of their high protein and low salt content, sourcing standards, and brand, Bluebird Provisions is the best. star.
How to Make Beef Bone Vegetable Soup
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This nourishing beef bone vegetable soup is simple to prepare and takes only a few hours. The best part is that, after putting everything together, you can leave it on the stove to simmer while you take care of other things.
A pot of simmering soup has a certain innately soothing quality. I frequently set it up, then while I wait for it to finish, I’ll walk the dogs and do some laundry.
Be sure to read the instructions thoroughly to ensure you don’t miss any of the important steps along the way.
- 2-3 pounds meaty beef soup bones (marrow)
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 6 cups water
- 3 large potatoes, cut to 1/3 inch cubes
- 3 large carrots, chopped to 1/3 inch pieces
- 1 large onion, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup dried barley
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp arrowroot starch or tapioca starch
- Optional: 1 bay leaf
- In a sizable stockpot, Dutch oven, slow cooker, or crockpot, add bones and water.
- Over high heat, or the high setting, bring to a boil.
- Once boiling, reduce heat to a rolling simmer.
- Over the first hour, skim the foam, fat, and impurities that rise to the surface two or three times.
- Cover and simmer for 2-3 hours total. Your soup will have more depth of flavor (and umami taste) the longer it simmers.
- Using a spider strainer or slotted spoon, remove the bones from the pot.
- Return the meat to the pot of broth after removing the bones. Place the bones in your compost.
- To the pot, add all the vegetables, barley, salt, pepper, and bay leaf.
- Potatoes should be tender when prodded with a fork after an hour of simmering with the lid on.
- Whisk tapioca starch in 1/3 C cold water until smooth. Pour into the pot and stir the soup for one to two minutes.
- Enjoy with a fresh baguette or garlic bread.
What are some tips for making a delicious and nutritious soup with soup bones?
The two best suggestions for making bone-based soup are to roast the bones before simmering them and to diligently remove fat from the broth. Let’s go over each so you can understand what I mean.
Roast the bones for flavor
It is impossible to achieve a certain richness if you skip roasting the bones before boiling them. Because of this, if you have the time, roast the bones first.
I should note that roasting the bones does not increase the soup’s vitamin, mineral, or protein content. It only improves the taste of the broth. Therefore, follow these instructions if you want a rich and satisfying broth.
- Place bones on a large baking sheet
- On the bones, drizzle 2-3 tbsp of tomato paste OR 2-3 tbsp of olive oil.
- It is simpler to combine everything in a sizable bowl with tomato paste, then transfer to your baking sheet.
- Roast at 400 F for 40 minutes.
- The bones will begin to caramelize in the pan, as you will see. This is exactly what you are looking for.
- Scrape the bones and all the caramelized bits from the pan into your pot.
Skim the fat from the broth
You must be meticulous when skimming to avoid a cloudy broth. You’ll notice gunky, foamy bits rise to the surface as your stock or broth boils, which is what I’m getting at.
These must be removed using a ladle or large spoon. If you don’t do this, all of this could cook into your broth and turn it fatty and cloudy.
While some keto people love this, most do not.
More information on skimming and my other trade secrets can be found in my exposé on common mistakes people make when cooking broth.
Other Soup Bones Recipes
Vegetable beef soup, prime rib or lamb stew, Vietnamese pho, and Korean OX bone are a few recipes that frequently use soup bones.
Lets go through each of these below.
Simple Vegetable Beef Soup
A traditional recipe calls for ground beef, root vegetables, and beef bone broth or soup bones. Take the above recipe’s general format and replace the soup bones and water with 6 cups of beef bone broth.
Additionally, you can season it by adding ingredients like 2 tablespoons of Worchestershire sauce, diced tomatoes, ground beef, and herbs like Italian seasoning, thyme, and rosemary.
In your soup pot, combine the vegetables and bone broth. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook for 60 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork.
Brown the ground beef separately in a pan. You can add it to your pot of broth with the vegetables once it has been browned.
Read my guide outlining where to find bone broth if you can’t find one nearby.
Homemade Prime Rib Stew
The flavor of any ordinary soup is transformed by the mouthwatering, tender meat in this prime rib stew, which is easy to prepare.
These commonly slow-cooked beef cuts provide more gelatin, glycine, and essential amino acids than our typical American diet typically provides.
Prime rib, flank, sirloin, chuck roast, or lamb roast are all suitable choices. Simply adhere to the directions listed below to create a filling stew suitable for any occasion.
- Brown the prime rib on all sides after cutting it into 1-inch pieces.
- Add thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper, a bay leaf, and vegetables (sweet potato, carrots, onion, and celery) to the pot.
- You may need to add more olive oil to the pan as you saute for a few minutes.
- 8 cups of bone broth or just enough to cover everything in the pot with a little extra should be added.
- Sweet potatoes should be soft after 50 minutes of covered simmering after bringing to a boil.
Vietnamese Beef Noodle Pho
The ingredients needed to make a beef noodle pho are:
- 8 ounce sirloin steak, thinly sliced
- 7 ounce of rice noodles
- 1 tbsp sugar or allulose
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped
- thumb size piece of fresh ginger, peeled
- 5 star anise or 1 tsp ground
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp cardamom
- tbsp coriander seeds
- 2 pounds of beef (or chicken) bones or 8 cups of beef bone broth
- tsp fish sauce
- Garnish: cilantro, bean sprouts, thai basil, lime, onions, sriracha
On a stovetop over medium heat, brown the ginger and onion. Add bone broth and spices to a different pot and heat it to a boil. Add onions and ginger after 5 minutes and stir. Cover and cook on low for 30 minutes.
If using whole spices and vegetables, strain them out before stirring in fish sauce and sugar. Meanwhile, cook noodles according to directions on package.
Now you are ready to assemble. Put a portion of the cooked noodles in a bowl with the thinly sliced raw steak and pour the hot, boiling broth over everything. The meat will be cooked by the boiling broth.
Korean Ox Bone Soup
Korean ox bone soup is also known as Seolleongtang. It is a deliciously savory soup made from brisket or other similar cuts of meat and ox or beef bones. Its simple but I absolutely love it.
Here are the ingredients needed to make it:
- 3 pounds of beef bones, including knuckle and marrow bones
- 10-12 cups of water
- 1 lb beef brisket
- 7 ounces wheat or rice noodles
- Chopped green onions as garnish
Add bones and water to a large stock pot. Bring to a boil, then skim off any surface impurities. Cook at a light boil for 4 hours. Add water to replace what is lost to evaporation.
Add your brisket and cook for another 2 hours. Use a spider strainer to remove the bones and brisket after everything has finished cooking. Pour broth through a strainer with a bowl underneath.
Slice brisket (if not already). Now you can serve the broth with your noodles. Garnish with green onions and some salt.
What is the difference between soup bones and other bones?
Soup bones differ from other bones in that they are typically the marrow bones, which look like small pipes.
They have bone marrow in the middle of them, which gives them their name and explains why so many people like to use them. These bones are from a cow’s legs and arms.
Knuckle bones are a term used to describe various beef bones. Cow joints, such as the hips, knees, elbows, shanks, and ankles, are where knuckle bones originate. They have more cartilage, meat and connective tissue.
In my article, I go into more detail about how to choose the best bones for soup.
The funny thing is that knuckle bones work better than marrow (also known as soup) bones for soup in my experience making over 250,000 L of broth over the years.
What is the nutritional value of soup bones?
The amount of connective tissue and bone marrow in soup bones determines how nutritious they are. You’ll find that the majority of the nutrients in the bones do not make it into your soup if you only use them for soup.
You will receive 2-4 g of protein, glycine, and glutamine per cup, but not much else. This is due to the fact that the bones are not sufficiently cooked in a typical soup recipe to obtain the full benefits.
To add protein and electrolytes to your soup, use real bone broth or simmer your own bones for 12 to 24 hours. You can also get some marrow into your broth.
The advantages of bone marrow for health can also be discovered here.
Can soup bones be frozen?
Yes! Soup bones can be frozen for later use. To combine with other bones and scraps, it is best to freeze in airtight bags. This way, you can just dump the entire bag into your stock pot when you have enough hands and decide to make soup.
One of the most adaptable and delicious ingredients you can use to make soup are soup bones. You can transform soup bones into a high-protein, wholesome meal with the right recipe and a little bit of time.
If you ever want to speed up the process and get the same taste and health benefits, opt for a pre-made bone broth. Bluebird Provisions low sodium chicken bone broth is the perfect way to get started. You can find them on Amazon Prime or on their website.
Leave a comment and tell me if you’ve made soup with real bones and how it turned out. Alternatively, feel free to ask any questions and I will respond.
Great taste and texture. Will be purchasing this again. Works well in soup as well as on its own for sipping.
Beef Bone Soup Recipe
FAQ
What are soup bones good for?
To make high-protein soups, stocks, broth, and bone broth, soup bones can be used. You can make a variety of soups, including ramen, pho, and beef stews. By placing these bones in a big pot, adding water, and letting them simmer for a few hours, you can quickly make stocks and broths.
What to do with the meat from soup bones?
Any dish that calls for a small amount of meat or where meat is not the primary flavor can be made using leftover broth meat. Try stuffing homemade ravioli or cabbage leaves with your broth meat mince after mixing it with egg yolks and Parmesan.
Can you eat beef soup bones?
Share: The scraps from the butchering process are referred to as soup bones or stock bones. Although they don’t have enough meat for a full meal, these are great for giving your soup more flavor.
What to do with beef bones after butchering?
A key component in the kitchens of chefs, butchers, and food enthusiasts is beef stock. It’s perfect for making great-tasting stews and it’s nutritious. It’s an easy way to use up beef bones and any leftover roast meat trimmings.