Grass Fed Bone Broth and Soup

This is a photo of a monstrous ball and socket hip joint from a grass fed cow. It was a big, meaty bone.
I wanted to make a nice slow-cooked beef broth from it and then do a big stockpot of soup with lots of carrots, onions, and cabbage. I need strong bones and so do all my CrossFit family and friends!

I grew up on home-cooking. I already knew the wonders of mineral-rich bone broth from my mom, my grandmas, and my great-grandma, too. (some of the best country cooks in the world!) The best soups were powerhouses of nutrition. I was raised on beef from my Papa Cecil's farm. This was all WAY before paleo, but it's "in my bones," if you'll pardon the pun....

So, bone broth won't taste right if you don't brown the bones in oven. They need to roast and it totally changes the flavor. (It does more than that, but this isn't where to find that explanation)

I lined a big pan with foil and put that big bone into a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes.
I added celery, onion, and carrots into the pan and let it cook another 15 minutes.

I transferred ALL of that goodness to a large stockpot. I even scraped off the yummy bits that were stuck to the foil.
I poured cold water in the stock pot, covering the massive bone. It might have been 5 quarts of water.
I also added 3 TBSP of balsamic vinegar and some rosemary and thyme, and 2 bay leaves.
I heated it up to a boil, then immediately turned it down to a simmer.
I did this when I would be home all day. I skimmed off the little bit of stuff floating on the top of the broth a couple of times and then I didn't see it anymore. ( I think they call that stuff scum - isn't that an awful word? No wonder you skim it off!)
I let the broth cook all day and all night, too.

(Now, you could put the broth in containers at this point and freeze for later use. Sometimes I freeze it in ice cube trays and then transfer them to freezer bags)

The next morning I let it cool down and took the bone out and picked the meat off of it. I threw the meat back in, along with peeled organic carrots, a head of cabbage, shredded, and some onion that I'd cooked in coconut oil. I also put in some leftover cooked grass fed burger, just to make sure it had enough protein in it for my crew.

You could taste the strength and good health in this stuff! That was some great soup.

Calcium, magnesium, silicon, phosphorus, trace minerals, chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine - that's what I'm FEEDING GER SASSER.