How the French art of remouillage makes the most of your real food budget by saving money making bone broth or stock.
The Culinary Arts Dictionary defines the French word remouillage as a weak stock made by resimmering bones that have been used to make bone broth once already.
Indeed, this is exactly what remouillage is: a rewetting or remoistening of soup bones that have already served their purpose with a previous batch of bone broth or stock (not to be confused with meat stock).
It is a frugal approach to using broth bones much like boiling meat is the thiftiest way to cook it on a tight budget.
Despite the fact that my Father’s side of the family is French, I only started practicing remouillage well into the second decade of my traditional foods journey.
Folks had mentioned to me in the past that they “reused soup bones”. At first, this approach seemed to be an example of frugality run amok.
If you’ve simmered bones once, how could resimmering them possibly achieve anything close to the delectable flavor and superior nutrition of first batch?
As it turns out, there is always something new to learn with Traditional Cooking!
Broth from Reused Bones
The second batch of stock made from the same soup bones is definitely weaker than the first.
This is the case even when adding fresh carrots, celery, onions, and a bay leaf or two. Note that it is not advisable to reuse the vegetables from the first batch of stock.
However, you can easily compensate for this by simply boiling the remouillage down until the flavor and color is roughly comparable with the first batch.
The final result yields less stock – about half in my experience. The upside is that you will have more thoroughly made use of your investment in quality soup bones!
What Type of Bones Work for Remouillage?
What types of bones work best when making remouillage?
I’ve used all types of poultry (including chicken feet) and beef bones. All have worked very well and produced excellent results.
I am not in favor of using fish heads for stock more than once. The heads pretty much disintegrate after the first batch, and fish heads are so cheap to buy anyway. I pay $1.50/lb for top quality snapper heads.
Making Stock With the Same Bones More than Twice?
Some cooks claim to use hard bones like beef or buffalo for making stock not once, not twice, but three or more times!
An article by Amanda Rose on The Nourishing Gourmet claims that high gelatin bones called “beef feet” can produce up to 12 batches of gelatinous stock!
How many times should you make remouillage considering that each batch will have less flavor than the previous one?
The choice is totally up to you.
Certainly, when the bones disintegrate is a good sign to stop. This happens with fish heads which are good for only a single batch.
However, if you have beef bones that are still hard and obviously have some minerals left in them after the first couple of batches, then go ahead and make another batch and see what happens.
Best Uses for “Second Batch Bone Broth”
It’s important to keep in mind that you aren’t losing anything by making a second batch of broth with the same bones.
If the stock turns out too weak tasting, simply boil it down. This will concentrate the flavor until it is acceptable to use as a base for your soups, sauces, and gravies.
Other uses for weak, second batch broth include:
- Weak remouillage is perfect for cooking rice or quinoa instead of plain filtered water.
- Use it to make savory soaked oatmeal instead of the typical sweet versions.
- Remouillage makes a tasty base for mashed potatoes.
- Try cooking up your next pot of sourdough pasta in remouillage instead of water.
Are you already a fan of this French art of using bones twice to make broth? If so, please share your experience!
I have tried this more than several times, and the result is always that my stock smells and tastes terrible. I’ve found that if my first batch of broth sits too long in the pot, it has the same issue. Generally my stock doesn’t sit longer than 2-3 days, beef a little longer. And I don’t turn my heat up too high – I’m always careful not to let this happen. I also skim off the foamy debris on the top as soon as possible to avoid any sediment that might contribute to an “off” taste. Any ideas why this might be happening?
I’ve just started doing this myself, so I am definitely no expert, but what kind of pot are you using? I would recommend a stainless steel without any non stick. Not sure if that’s the problem, but it’s worth a try. Good luck!
Most resources say to simmer bones for only 12-24 ours. However, we have found that ruminant bones need 2-3 days instead. The broth is considerably richer at the 3 day mark, then the 1 day. And we do add water to maintain the same level as there was at the beginning.
We always cook our beef stock for 3 days too. Chicken I do for about 24 hrs 🙂
We’ve done up to 3 batches successfully so far with beef femur bones. The bigger the bones, the more batches you get I would guess. Who told that parable about the village that would pass the soup bone around house to house until it didn’t give any more soup?
I think that thing about the bone being passed around the village was from Weston A. Price Foundation. I love that, and it makes so much sense!
I went to culinary school, and now that I’m paleo I think that one of the most useful things I learned was how to make stock. I have always made the “remy” (as Chefs refer to it in slang) as long as I have room in my freezer for it! You’ve already paid for the ingredients, so you might as well get your money’s worth. Glad you blogged about it bc more people should do it! Incidentally, I never use new veggies, and I don’t think they taught us to. I’m sure new veggies would make it more flavorful though. I have also read that it can take over 10 hours of simmering to encourage some collagen to be released, which is another reason to do it! Great post!!!
I’m making a second batch right now. 🙂
I always reuse the bones when I make them in my pressure cooker. And both times, they have a great gel and taste yummy!
I almost always do this! I feel so frugal when I am able to produce extra broth this way and I can always use it! Love it!
Here’s a recipe from the WAPF website.
http://www.westonaprice.org/food-features/sourdough-egg-noodles?qh=YToyOntpOjA7czo3OiJub29kbGVzIjtpOjE7czo2OiJub29kbGUiO30%3D
Enjoy!
Does anyone have a good homemade noodle recipe to go with this excellent broth?
Thanks!
Hey Sarah, I’d actually love some recipes for using fish stock, I’ve never made fish stock because I don’t know what to do with it!
Maybe you have recipes on your blog you could direct me to? Thanks!
By the way, sometimes I can get THREE “runs” out of my bones if I’m lucky. 🙂
Kelly
Fish stock makes the most amazing chowder. 🙂
Me too, Kelly! Yes Sarah…would LOVE to start making fish stock, but have no recipes and don’t know what to do with it! Glad I’m not the only one! 🙂
Miso soup is wonderful: fish broth, miso paste, tofu cubes and then green onions added at the last second. Super easy and it’s delish! My Japanese husband is sooo happy when I make it. You can omit the tofu easily if you want to avoid all unfermented soy, and I found it was really easy to find non-GMO miso at our Japanese market. It’s so salty that it’s probably shelf stable and you could probably order it online if you’re not nearby a Japanese market.
Ive always wondered if I could do this. With my husband on GAPS and the flu knocking on our doorstep (son came home from school today sick 🙁 Though if it is the flu it’s the mildest case I’ve ever seen…counting on our daily dose of FCLO to keep it mild 😉 ) we’ve been going through broth like crazy. I think we’ve gone through at least a quart a day…I’m making a batch of chicken broth right now (chicken heads and everything! 🙂 ). Should I re-use the bones right away? Or put them in the refrigerator/freezer and start the broth another day? Should I re-use the feet/head too? Or put some new in it? Does/should this broth gel like normal? Okay…that’s a lot of questions 🙂 Thanks!
Hi Rochel, What is FCLO?
Rosemarie, you can use them immediately. I do three batches consecutively. But you could store them for use another day.
Rochel, you mentioned using the heads. We raised and butchered our first broilers this past fall and used most everything BUT the heads. Everyone was already grossed out enough about the feet and organs, but I KNOW there is lots of nutrition in those heads! What specifically did you do to those heads between the butchering and going into the pot, such as defeathering, removing beaks, what??? Thanks for your help!
Carmie, I just threw the chicken heads in 🙂 I didn’t butcher them myself, though, so when I got them they didn’t have any feathers. I put the beaks in. It IS really weird to look into my pot of broth and see a face staring back, so I don’t look often 🙂 I’m really not sure that I am doing it ‘right’ but we haven’t gotten sick yet from it 🙂