{"id":164601,"date":"2010-01-11T02:25:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-11T06:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6715049094354778809.post-9184980408241548198"},"modified":"2010-01-11T02:31:38","modified_gmt":"2010-01-11T06:31:38","slug":"making-the-most-of-animals-part-3-beautiful-bones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/164601","title":{"rendered":"Making the Most of Animals: Part 3 – Beautiful Bones"},"content":{"rendered":"
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[Click on the small pictures in the main story to see larger images]<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>In part 1<\/a> I talked about the value of offal and in part 2<\/a> about the value of fat.<\/p>\n

In both cases these often discarded treasures are much healthier from animals that have lived a happy life; and although organic, free-range meat costs more, eating rather than discarding these parts can compensate for the additional expense.<\/p>\n

In part 3, I am going to tell you about the value of bones. There are three opportunities: making soup from leftover bones, eating what’s inside the bones (marrow) and eating the bones themselves.<\/p>\n

Soup<\/h5>\n

This applies to smaller animals that can be roasted in the oven. Theoretically I suppose it applies to any animal but since we lack the facilities to spit roast entire hogs, I have no experience with using bigger carcasses in this way. For us, it applies to duck, chicken, rabbit and other poultry such as pheasant or partridge.<\/p>\n

At the end of the meal, even the most determined carnivore cannot strip the bones of every morsel of goodness. Believe me I have tried – Mrs M sometimes finds me hunched over the dessicated remains of a roast chicken, mouth and lips surrounded by meat and grease, speculatively gnawing in search of some overlooked morsel of meat.<\/p>\n

Here’s what we do. After we’ve used all the easily available meat, we take what’s left – usually a collection of bones or a semi-dismantled carcass – and cook it for several hours. I also include the leftover bones from our plates. This may seem unhygienic given we have been chewing on our respective bones – but they are going to be blitzed for hours, so it really isn’t.<\/p>\n

We break up into smaller parts any pieces that can be, then put them into the slow cooker. The idea is to add just enough water so that the pieces are covered and will remain covered as the water evaporates. We find an extra inch of water is usually enough when we cook overnight.<\/p>\n

You can also simmer the pieces in a pan on the stove – but Mrs M was always nervous about leaving a pan on the stove overnight so using this approach we rarely cooked the bones for more than a few hours before bed. This is not really long enough to fully loosen the meat and (as we will see later) soften the bones. With the slow cooker it is easier to set the heat low enough to make overnight cooking appropriate; and it allays Mrs M’s fears because slow cookers are self-contained and designed to be left in this way.<\/p>\n

To make the soup you could simply sieve the hot liquid and make the soup from that – but you’d lose a lot of the good stuff, in my view. Instead, we first let the contents of the pan cool. Then I methodically remove the bones and gristle with my hands, ensuring we get all the little pieces of meat not already separated by stirring. This can be fiddly, but ultimately it’s rewarding. You usually get a few crunchy bits and pieces in the last two spoonfuls of soup, but that’s okay.<\/p>\n

Here are some photos taken when we made soup from rabbit bones. This was the cooked rabbit: \"\". After the meal, these were the bits left to slow cook \"\", and this was the result after several hours of slow cooking with some stirring to separate the meat from the bones: \"\". These were the bones I picked out \"\" and this was what was left \"\". Finally, after some additional ingredients, the soup: \"\". This is how those ingredients are added:<\/p>\n

First, I steam some vegetables. Typically this is celery, onion, mushroom, carrot, parsnip or a combination. Once softened, they are added and blended into the mixture. As well as adding flavour, the vegetables thicken the soup – this is particularly important since thin soups are somehow not satisfying, yet the normal thickening agents like corn flour are not on the menu.<\/p>\n

Next I add one or more of the following:<\/p>\n