Do you have frequent trouble where your homemade broth doesn’t gel after being chilled in the refrigerator? This is a problem to solve quickly, as correct preparation is one of the foundational techniques of Traditional Cooking.
So critical is properly made, gelled homemade stock to the ongoing maintenance of health that Dr. Francis Pottenger MD, author of the nutrition classic Pottenger’s Cats, considered the stockpot the most important piece of equipment in the kitchen.
Homemade stock is so essential because it contains ample amounts of gelatin, a colloidal substance that attracts digestive juices to itself and prevents gastrointestinal bugs from attaching themselves to the gut wall and wreaking havoc. Natural gelatin both assists digestion and keeps you well!
In addition to gelatin, stock contains minerals such as calcium, silicon, sulphur, magnesium, phosphorus, and trace minerals all in a form that is incredibly easy for the body to absorb.
Do you take expensive supplements for joint pain or arthritis?
Simply adding homemade stock on a frequent basis to your diet will do your cartilage, tendons, and joints a world of good as stock also contains collagen, chondroitin sulfates, and glucosamine.
With homemade stock such a critical food to health, it is important to make it correctly. One sign that you have indeed performed the task well is that your stock gels beautifully once it is chilled in the refrigerator.
If you find that your stock won’t gel most of the time, here are the 5 typical reasons why as described by Monica Corrado, MA, CNC, and author of the blog Simply Being Well. Monica teaches cooking classes and does consultations, so be sure to check her website for this information if you could use some coaching.
Reasons Why Stock and Bone Broth Won’t Gel
- The stock rolled at too high a temperature. If stock or broth is simmered too high, the heat will break down and destroy the collagen. To see what the perfect simmer on your stock should look like, see my short video on the subject by clicking here.
- The stock did not roll long enough. Once you get that perfect simmer or “roll” going, be sure that chicken stock rolls for 6-24 hours and beef stock for 12-50 hours. Less than that will likely not draw enough gelatin into the stock from the bones.
- Not enough of the right kind of bones were used that yield gelatin. To get the right mix of bones that yield gelatin versus other types of bones that add flavor and color, make sure you use one of the following methods: 1 whole, free-range layer hen with neck and wings cut up, 3-4 lbs of boney chicken parts which includes a combo of necks, backs, and wings, OR the picked carcass of 2 meat chickens. For beef stock, use about 7 lbs bones total (4 lbs of boney bones and 3 lbs of meaty bones).
- Too much water was used in proportion to the bones. For chickens, the correct proportion is 3-4 lbs of bones per 4 quarts of filtered water. For beef stock, the correct proportion is 7 lbs of bones per 4 quarts of water or more to cover.
- Using bones from battery chickens or chickens raised in cages. Conventionally raised chickens or chickens raised in cages typically yield little to no gelatin. It is worth the extra money to get quality when you buy meat especially if you will be using those bones to make stock.
To get additional gelatin, add 2-4 chicken feet to the stockpot or even the head for even more! If your chicken is a rooster, add the comb. This will also add gelatin along with testosterone to the stock which adult men may find appealing as levels tend to decline with age.
Failsafe Solution If Your Stock Won’t Gel
If despite all your best efforts, you still come up with a pot of stock that does not gel, add 1 TBL of powdered gelatin per quart of liquid.
Vetted sources of good quality gelatin are available under the Supplements Section of my Shopping Guide.
Hopefully, these tips will help you solve the riddle of why your stock doesn’t gel so that the time you spend on this age-old culinary tradition is well spent producing the most nutrient-dense stock possible!
More Information about Gelatin
The Reason You Need More Gelatin in Your Diet
Gelatin and Collagen Hydrolysate: What’s the Difference?
The Benefits of Gelatin and How to Get More in Your Stock
Video: Stock that Gels!
More Information on Broth and Stock
How to Make Turkey Stock
The Healthiest and Best Bone Broth
How to Make Duck Stock
Rabbit Stock
How to Make Beef and Chicken Stock
How to Make Shrimp Stock
Confused about Stock versus Bone Broth?
The Perfect Simmer on Your Bone Broth
I always get beautiful gel just by using my crock pot. I do always put it on low and use a couple of chickens, or a roast with a bone. It doesn’t seem to matter what animal as long as it has meat and bones.
what is the benefit of the stock gelling?!
The benefit is that it’s an indication of a high gelatin content, rich in collagen, super nourishing, great for digestion and assimilation of nutrients, a boost for the immune system.
My thinking is that if the liquid doesn’t gel from too much water, but, cooks down and gels there is gelatin in the mix wether it’s diluted or concentrated. So, the benefits are still assimilated, regardless.
Just my logic, unless there is another reason this would not be so?
Thanks Sarah – my stock doesn’t gel and I have a feeling it’s either the bones I’m using or too high a temp. Not sure what to do on the temp as I keep the stove as low as it will go. 🙁
Try boiling it down and see if it gels. If it does, then it was simply too much water.
I have been using my 7qt slow cooker for my stock just due to the set and forget aspect of making the stock.
Even on low it seems to be a little to hot and I believe I loose a bunch of liquid to steam and leakage out of the top of the lid.
Do the stock pots work better and as the lid traps and directs the vapours etc back down the pot in the cooking stock??
Thanks for any and all advice!!!
Denny
Folks who have a gas stove seem to have this problem a lot .. even on the lowest setting the stock simmers too high.
The solution is to get a hot plate. Problem solved. This is what Monica Corrado suggests as even crockpots seem too cook stock too high in some cases.
If you are losing a lot of water from the stock, then that is a big clue it is simmering too high as well. You really shouldn’t lose that much.
We buy pastured chickens, but the gelling is inconsistent. I think I add too much water. Getting the feet from our pastrured birds seems to be a big issue from the facility that butchers them. I am nervous about sourcing the chicken feet from an asian store that maybe are from chickens that are not as high of quality as what we routinely purchase. Is this worth worrying about. We always buy the best we can afford in our meats and fats, so I don’t want to ruin what we have invested in, by buying the poorer quality chicken feet…thoughts?
I’ve recently started using just bones from chicken wings which gel so much better than bones from whole bird. It gels solid, amazing.
Here’s my video on making fish stock. One caveat: you CANNOT use just any fish to make it. You MUST get the right kind of fishheads else the results will be disgusting.
https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/video-making-fish-stock/
When you make the fish stock with the correct kind of fish heads, does it taste really fishy, or is it a fish taste that can be masked with garlic or such? Thanks:-)
I tastes like fish broth for sure but it isn’t overly fishy. I think it is just so delish … plus I LOVE what it does for my thyroid 🙂
Thanks! I will try to work up my courage and attempt it in the future:-)
Stay away from strong oily fish. Salmon doesn’t work well and I wouldn’t think tuna or mackerel either. Here in California, halibut, rock cod and our local white sea bass are very mild, not oily and certainly not fishy. You do not need to mask these fish at all, just a simple, carrot, onion, celery, bay leaf, white wine, parsley and salt is all you need for a wonderful, light, healthy stock. For a quick soup, and I have this with my breakfast along with an egg like Sarah said the monks in Japan do, and mix a little miso into it.
The simplest thing to take the fishiness out is to add an inch or so sliced-up ginger root and bring the fish heads and water to a boil with sliced ginger in it. Fish the ginger slices out after the stock is done and you have no fishiness. My spouse wouldn’t drink my fish stock until I started adding ginger to it. Give it a try!
Thanks Sarah! Very helpful! For sure I do not get good results from using a previously cooked carcus, even when I add a few chicken feet or necks/backs along with it. The easiest to get good gelatinous quality in a short time, every time, is fish stock. How long do you simmer your fish stock for?
4-6 hours. Fish stock is the fastest, most nutritious, most tasty stock there is. Fish stock rocks. It’s amazing to me that hardly anyone I know makes it. Fish heads cost next to nothing too. Who says it takes a lot of $$ to stay healthy? It’s dirt cheap folks.
I’ll second that! I can get fish heads for free from my fish monger! I made a big batch in December and froze pint size containers, I have it for my chowders, gumbo and for drinking straight up ( with a little dulse sprinkled in). The best stuff!
I agree and it’s so mild and delish; not fishy and just like “the sea.” I’m blessed to live 15 miles from The Pacific in SoCal and our local fish monger gives me the whole fish that they’ve filleted for free. Last time it was a 4 foot long white sea bass from our local waters! What an adventure cutting him up to fit into my stock pots! It took two pots to make stock from his large frame but I ended up with quarts and quarts of wonderful, healthy stock for hardly any money at all. You are blessed to live near the Atlantic! 🙂
Sarah,
Thank you, again, for such useful, informative directions. Because I am married to a firefighter, there is never going to be stock simmering on our stove top. I must use a crock pot, and I still have to turn the stock off while we sleep. In the morning, I put it all back into the crock pot. It is no wonder I never get gelatin. I can’t wait to read your crock pot suggestions.
Leslie R., I just wanted to let you know that you’re not alone in having to turn off the broth at night. My husband is a long-haul truck driver, but won’t allow it for safety reasons. So, I just make sure that it is definitely heated through (rolling gently), turn it off for the night, then back on first thing in the morning. I use an ss stock pot, and leave it on the stove overnight, and I’ve had no problem because of that yet, but won’t say it’s perfectly fine for everybody. I just tend to think about what women might have done before they had refrigeration – they certainly couldn’t move it to the fridge overnight. Then, I figure the probiotics from my Kefir can handle any infraction(s).
Thanks for this! Just pondering this exact question yesterday…I think I’m using too much water. I use a 20 QT stockpot and fill it to a couple inches above the chicken and veggies. That AND to hard of a boil — hard to control on such a big pot and an electric stove. Gonna tweak it. Thank you!! And, thanks for the fish stock info…my thyroid could use the help (Hashimoto’s and I j ust had a baby). You are always such a great source of motivation and information.
Made one of those chickens tonight that we bought the other day. WOW!! It cooked so differently. It was our 1st real free range chickens. You are not kidding when you say that it is well worth the money. We have a full bowl for more meals!! (sorry, but that is another 1st in our house.) I am making stock now and I thank you for this post. I hope it will turn out great. I will be off the milk cure tomorrow and would LOVE to drink some of this for breakfast!!! I will need a pick me up.
Oh, and I am down again to taking the steroid once every few days. Hoping to cancel that med in a month. I think I was rushing it before. So, I am feeling better about slowing it down a bit. Oh, and I read Paula’s post from Feb. about fish stock. Now I am going to have to make that as well.
Thank you for a great post!!
I have cup of fish stock with breakfast many mornings. I LOVE fish stock. I think it is a must for any woman these days as it keeps the thyroid so very strong. I learned this trick when traveling in Japan many years ago. The women there have basically no problem at all with menopause and they don’t have midlife weight gain either. Fish stock is very widely used there. Of course there are other big dietary pluses in their diet as well, but the fish stock thing I feel pretty confident is a big reason for women’s amazing post menopause health there.