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’ve done this before but I always gave it to the dogs in their food for several days. They love it! With this current batch, I might be stingy and keep it for us! ; )
I’ve never done this, and wish I had known last week, when we made stock from three venison carcasses! I had so many bones I could have reboiled!
I’m also interested in the fish heads… I’m going to ask today at my local grocer.
Aimee, I store my broth in quart-sized bags in the deep freeze. You just need an open shelf for the initial freeze, or you can stack them flat on a cookie sheet. It’s hard to make room for all of it when we do big batches, like with the deer. I’d love to can it, but don’t have a pressure canner, and I don’t think you can do it in a water canner. That’s what I’ve heard, anyway.
I have always reused my stock bones. I add the drippings to the first batch and simmer as long as I can. Then I cool it in an ice bath, strain it, and throw both in the refrigerator. The stock goes in my 1 quart screw top containers I got at GFS or a reused clean milk jug. The bones stay in the pot in the fridge. After cooling, the stock gets put in the freezer. The next time I have the time I add water and fresh veggies to the old stock bones and simmer again.
After simmering chicken/turkey bones for 24 hrs I strain and then put all of the soft bones, veggies, cartilage, etc. into a food processor and pulverize. It comes out like pate; this can be added to dishes or, I admit, I sometimes give it to my dog as part of her meal – it lasts @ a week, and she loves it!
Ro, that is a fantastic idea! i am going to try that with my new pup…..it’s a shame to throw all the goodies away 🙂
As long as the bones are truly crumbly with no shattering, I just give them to her straight. Bone deodorizes dogs’ poop quite a bit.
So, I am new to cooking like this, I mean super new, that I basically haven’t started. I am so interested in the homestead, caveman, paleo type cooking and am moving my family to that lifestyle. I grew up in huge cities, but live in a rural community now, though on a town lot, but my goal is to use it to garden for the changes I want to make. I guess my question is, why do you use so much stock and what in? I have 4, 3 & 2 year olds and they aren’t going to eat that much soup. Sorry if I sound ridiculous, lol. Also are your bones from animals you have bought at butcher or do you go in and request bones? Any tips would be great, thanks!
Bet,
It’s just me at my house and I don’t particularly like to cook so I don’t do much in the way of soups and stuff. I generally just have a cup of hot broth w/some sea salt every morning in the car on my way to work now instead of making tea.
Bet, I think most readers here get their bones from pastured, grass-fed animals, if possible. We purchase grass-fed beef and pastured chickens from local farms, and I save every bone I can get my hands on for stock. I throw them in gallon bags in the freezer until I have enough to make a big batch. Sometimes I purchase “chicken frames”, which is the necks and backs for much cheaper to make stock, and I actually get about a cup of meat per frame as well for soups.
Bone broth is so good for you! It’s full of minerals, calcium, and gelatin, and much more. Any time we feel like we’re coming down with something, we drink a mug of broth. My husband struggles with lower back issues, and he always asks for broth when it’s flaring up.
Using it for soups is obvious, but there are many more ways to get broth into your diet. I use it to cook rice in, instead of water. I use it to make gravies and sauces, we drink it plain. I’m sure there are many more good ideas from others. Sarah has several videos on this website showing you how to make stock, and probably several articles explaining the benefits, and suggestions for uses.
Sarah, where do you get your snapper heads for your fish broth? I live pretty local to you and would like to go to the same fish market– thanks!
could someone please tell me how they store their bone broth? i would love to can it but i really don’t like using the pressure canner. does anybody water bath can successfully? or do i have to take out the pressure canner or freeze? thanks!!!
I store mine in quart jars in the freezer. I never use a canner. I let it cool on the counter for a bit in gallon jars, then transfer it to the fridge to cool completely. I skim the fat off the top then pour into the quart jars for storage in the freezer.
Patricia, thank you for the idea! do you just put your stock in regular old ball quart jars with a normal two piece metal lid? i had a mishap once so i’m always afraid to try again…..but i loathe the idea of putting my beautiful stock in plastic bags!
Like Sherry says below, I use the wide-mouth jars. I’ve never broken one of those. I tried two-quart jars and they always break even if I have thoroughly cooled them first. I think it is the design. They have ‘shoulders’ instead of being straight-sided.
I used either the two-piece lid or the plastic lids. Both work well. My stock is never frozen for very long since I try to have some every day.
The wide mouth quart jars are “officially approved” for the freezer. I was having a hard time with the pint jars breaking in the freezer until I noticed the chart on the side of the box of jars. It tells which ones are safe to put in the freezer.
Aimee,
I freeze my broth in wide-mouth pint or pint-and-a-half sized jars, which are all straight-sided, and the jars don’t break in freezing like they often will with regular canning jars.
It does keep very well in the refrigerator for a couple weeks or so as long as the fat is left on the top, acting as a seal for the broth.
I love the new Pint and a Half size Ball jars with the perfectly straight sides! Frozen broth slides right out after a brief rinse in warm water, and they’re less prone to cracking since they don’t have curved “shoulders”.
You must pressure can broth if you want to can it. Otherwise freezing is a wonderful alternative. Canning it is so simple though because you have already made the broth it is just a matter of sticking it in the canner and waiting for it to be done. I do it often.
I used to freeze my broth in quart jars by too often I’d forget to defrost a jar in time for meal preparation. I’ve switched over to freezing in ice cube trays. Once frozen I pop out & store in gal freezer bag in freezer. Since I measured out how many cubes 1 cup of broth makes (for my ice cube trays 1cup=10 cubes) I know how many to remove from freezer & plop directly into my recipe even without defrosting first. Works for me!
This is brilliant! I freeze mine in quart jars and they never defrost in time for my last minute meals. I’ve really wanted another size for quick meals. I love this method! Thanks for sharing.
We cook ours down till quite thick, and then freeze it in ice cube trays. Once frozen, the cubes are placed in a freezer bag.
We store ours in the wide-mouth pint size Ball canning jars in the freezer. Don’t use the regular mouth ones; the glass is not tempered for freezer use. I strain the broth into the jars and cool on the counter for awhile (leave about an inch of headroom), then set the jars in the freezer overnight with only the lid on top, not the bands. That way if the broth expands too much it just knocks the lid off instead of breaking the jar. In the morning I screw on the bands and keep them frozen until we use them.
Aimee, another option is to cook down the broth and condense it. Then it doesn’t take up nearly as much space in the freezer or fridge. I don’t think it’s safe to water bath can broth, not enough acidity. You could pressure can it though if you wanted to store some on the shelf instead of in the freezer. Another option is to remove all the fat, cook it down until it’s almost a syrup, then dry in the dehydrator. You can then powder it or just break it up into small pieces and store in a jar. It’s important to remove all the fat because the fat would cause it to spoil more quickly. You can also salt to taste before condensing. The salt will aid in preservation and the stock is ready to be reconstituted when you need it. Great for traveling, camping, and emergency prep, too.
I let it cool in fridge, then transfer it into yogurt or cottage cheese containers for the freezer.
Me, too!
Another good trick is to freeze them in ice cube trays and then you have smaller amounts available. It’s also easier to pull them out frozen and you don’t have to worry about a broken jars. You can measure how much water each cube holds and then you’ll know how much broth you have. It is so much quicker to pull it out and put it into your recipe without having to melt it in the jar first.
yep, i’m a frugal cook, I always make a 2nd batch of broth with beef bones! i’ll add a little powdered gelatin on the 2nd batch for body. i nearly fell over when my mom threw out the carcass after a roast chicken dinner while I was away….a farm chicken too!
Raine,
The old French cookbooks that taught me to make broth recommended simmering it for twelve to sixteen hours, then straining it into bottles. I know many people simmer it longer, but I have never had a problem with it, and it is hard to imagine how it could be better than it is.
The same books said you could reuse bones once or twice, but that the broth would be stronger and tastier if you did not.
I am also wondering if you add salt to your broths, how much you add, and when.
YES! I have my bones from my first beef stock still! I was going to give them to the dog but now I’ll give it another go! THX
Be weary of giving dogs bones that have been cooked.. As the bone minerals break down they become brittle and chewing on the brittle bones will cause the bones to splinter sharply and injure the dogs stomach and intestines.
Bones that have been simmered for a long time as traditional bone broths are made (24 hours for chicken, 2-3 days for beef), are fine to give to pets. You’ll know the difference because you can literally squeeze the spent bones into dust when the process is finished.
Bones for pets should either be raw or long simmered and soft. Bones that have been cooked as in roasted, baked, etc. are the ones that are splintery and potentially harmful.