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I’ve had a lot of questions asked about using the fat from the stock. Should you skim and save the fat? When and how?
In Nourishing Traditions, we see a 24-48 hour cooking time recommended for stock, following by chilling and removing the fat. Why? Fat begins to break down after a long cooking time. Breaking down means it is going bad, becoming rancid, and is no longer nourishing for your body. Free radicals produced during break-down are very damaging and difficult for your body to clear. They’re thought to be responsible for aging, and I personally plan to be ageless. 😉 Therefore, it is better to throw away the fat if you have cooked it for a long period of time.
But I Need The Fat!
If you need to capture the fat and use it in cooking, I recommend that you start your stock as normal and allow it to cook for an hour or so. Then turn the heat off and allow the pot to stop bubbling. The fat will rise to the top and you can simply ladle it off into mason jars and pop it into your fridge to cool and harden. Turn the heat back on your stock and keep cooking it as before. This will allow you to claim the fat while it is still good, but not be a significant interruption to making your stock.
Do you have the fat? What do you make with it?
We’ll look at what to do with the fat in a forthcoming post.
What’s Cooking?
Monday I concentrated a cup of beef stock down and used it to make taco meat for dinner. I also had chicken stock at breakfast and lunch from polishing off that chicken and rice I made last week.
Tuesday I ate more of the taco meat for dinner and had a cup of salted beef stock at lunch.
What are you eating? How are you getting bone broth into your daily diet?
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I’ve been using the daily broth to make butternut squash soup for snacking during the day. Yumm….
I have trouble getting the fat off because it doesn’t harden in the fridge…there is usually not very much of it and it stays liquid. Any advice? I usually leave my stock on the stove for about 24 hours.