Meat Stock: Make This if You Can’t Tolerate Bone Broth

Properly prepared homemade broth is a foundational food for autoimmune healing diets such as GAPS, AIP, or the Specific Carbohydrate diet.

The GAPS protocol, for example, recommends a small cup of broth with every meal. This traditional food is the only cooked food that acts as a raw food when consumed. This is accomplished by the gelatin in the broth, which powerfully attracts digestive juices to itself. This, in turn, significantly enhances the nutrient absorption for all the other foods consumed with it.

Ironically, this most curative of foods is frequently not well tolerated by people with leaky gut – the very people who desperately need it! Fortunately, this intolerance only lasts a short period of time until gut-healing advances.

What to do in the interim since bone broth is such an important healing food? The answer is to make meat stock instead.

When Meat Stock is the Better Choice

The reason some individuals with leaky gut do not tolerate bone broth is is due to the beneficial natural glutamates that can sometimes trigger uncomfortable reactions. MSG is the synthetic, factory-produced version of glutamate. MSG is an excitotoxin, which means it damages or even kills neurons. Neurosurgeon Dr. Russell Blaylock MD lays out all the science in his eye-opening book Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills.

While the natural glutamate in bone broth are not dangerous or equivalent in any way to concentrated, factory-produced MSG, they can nonetheless trigger similar symptoms in sensitive individuals. Yeast extract can do the same. Thus, anyone sensitive to MSG typically does much better with meat stock, which has little glutamate by comparison.

Others best served by stock instead of broth are children and adults who are autistic, those with ADD/ADHD, and/or people suffering from seizures or tics.

Another sign that bone broth is best replaced with meat stock is when uncomfortable die-off symptoms, as well as nervous system agitation occurs. These are signs that your digestive tract is not ready for bone broth. Use meat stock when symptoms such as diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, constipation, and skin eruptions or rashes develop. Making the transition gradually from stock to broth is advisable.

Storing Meat Stock

When you make meat stock as described in the recipe below, you will notice that a significant amount of fat forms with it. This fat is best left in the stock. When it cools, it will rise to the top and remain there. The fat forms a protective seal that prevents oxidation.

Refrigerated meat stock will last a week or more with that layer of fat on top. If you prefer to remove the fat to create a clarified meat stock, it is best to freeze it. No worries, as meat stock thaws beautifully.

This article on freezing stock or broth provides tips on the safe use of either plastic or glass for this purpose.

Homemade Meat Stock

The most significant difference between meat stock and bone broth is that stock is not cooked as long as broth. This results in some pros as well as cons.

Pros

First for the pros. Stock is just as rich in gelatin and beneficial detoxifying amino acids (like proline and glycine) as broth. These nutrients are pulled out of the meat and connective tissue during the first several hours of cooking. A lengthy simmer is not necessary.

Another pro is that the meat used to make stock doesn’t become tasteless as it does with a long-simmering broth. It is delicious and can be used alone or with any meat dish you wish.

Cons

Now for the cons. First, you will notice that stock is not quite as flavorful as long-simmering bone broth. This is due to the significant reduction in glutamate.

The savvy home chef can compensate by ensuring quality vegetables are simmered with the meat stock. While making bone broth doesn’t always require vegetables to achieve amazing flavor, meat stock definitely does. If you don’t have time to add veggies to your stock, check out this article on seasoning stock to ensure it is great tasting anyway.

I would recommend following the recipe below as closely as possible to ensure your stock tastes as flavorful as properly made broth. Using chicken feet is highly recommended as well (though an optional ingredient) to achieve higher levels of gelatin.

Avoid Stainless Steel

I recommend avoiding stainless steel pots and pressure cookers like the Instapot for making both meat stock and bone broth.

This is due to the very real potential for leaching heavy metals like nickel when acidic dishes are cooked. Enameled stockpots or the clay slow cookers like Vita-clay would be safer choices. This is especially important for those already suffering from heavy metal toxicity issues. This risk has been demonstrated by compelling scientific research.

How to Use

Meat stock is a wonderful base for soups and sauces just the same as broth.

Sipping it on its own in a mug is delicious and hugely beneficial too, especially when added to a meal of other cooked foods.