Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
How to follow the “cumulative time” method for making bone broth, a strategy that does not involve leaving a simmering pot on the stove overnight or unattended while you are out of the house.
A big concern people have when they start learning how to make bone broth at home is about leaving a simmering stockpot on the stove for many hours.
Depending on when you start the process, this could entail leaving the pot simmering overnight or while you are out of the house temporarily.
This can be an unacceptable fire risk, so what to do in those situations?
While successfully producing a gelatinous pot of broth is critical, it should not involve a safety hazard to accomplish!
Fortunately, there are several options for avoiding this problem.
First of all, you can make meat stock or fish head broth. Both of these require only a couple of hours at the most to make.
If you are so time-crunched that you need something even quicker than that, I suggest bonito broth. This type of stock only requires the time necessary to boil a pot of filtered water.
Cumulative Time Bone Broth
At some point, however, you are going to need to make a proper pot of chicken or beef stock.
This type of long-simmering broth will require significantly longer than a couple of hours on the stove or in a slow cooker like a Vita-Clay.
In that situation, the cumulative time method is recommended. This is the approach suggested by Monica Corrado, CNC CGP of Simply Being Well.
She introduced me to this concept at a traditional health conference in Baltimore.
Monica really knows ancestral cooking like few others I’ve ever met. In addition to being a chef, she’s also a GAPS Practitioner. She has significantly helped my husband with his GAPS Diet journey…which requires a lot of properly made bone broth.
According to Monica, the cumulative time approach for making bone broth simply means that the required simmering time for a particular type of stock can either be continuous or broken up into sections that equal the total required duration when added together.
The catch is that each time you start to heat the broth again, you must bring it to a boil, skim the foam, and then lower the heat back down to a simmer.
Avoid the temptation of simply bringing the pot back to a quick simmer.
You must bring it to a boil first, skim and then reduce the heat to a simmer with the lid on. In other words, just repeat what you did at the beginning of the process.
What to Do When the Heat is Turned Off
There is no need to move the stockpot in and out of the refrigerator between simmering sessions on the stove.
This is because the pot stays very hot for hours after the heat is turned off.
For pathogens to start to grow, the stockpot would need to be at room temperature for 4+ hours.
Anyone who is experienced in making stock knows that a stockpot with the lid on will stay hot for many hours. It won’t get to room temperature for 4+ hours for at least half a day!
In my experience, the pot also will not get to room temperature if you turn off the heat and leave it on the stove overnight.
If the length of time to make bone broth had you concerned in the past, try the cumulative time approach!
An easy way to keep track is to keep a little notebook in the kitchen. Then, you can log the total amount of time the stock has simmered. This will ensure quality, gelatin-rich broth when you are finished.
Making stock safely couldn’t be easier when using the cumulative time method!
I have been making stock since June when I learned and WILL NEVER go back to store bought. This past batch was the best yet– it was SO gelatinous! I put 2 jars in the fridge for easy use and sure enough, my son felt under the weather. I scooped (not poured, b/c it was so perfectly gelled!) the stock in my pot, added incredible English Peas we got from a local farm and shelled ourselves, sliced carrots, added a handful of egg noodles and cut up leftover chicken that had cooked in fresh garlic and lime sauce (YUM) and, my kids ate every single drop. The illness never came to fruition, kids were like normal afterward, I even took 2 thermoses to the ball park Saturday with the soup for my lunch. Thank you for all your instruction. It has transformed my kitchen.
I might have missed it in the comments or mis-read the post, but I wanted to clarify something. The temperature danger zone is between 40 and 140 degreees – the zone where bacteria multiply rapidly. Whether or not the stock cools to room temp in 4 hours depends on a variety of things… like if they strain their stock and put it in more shallow pans or pans that conduct cool air more quickly, stir, etc. While it may take a while to get to room temp, any temp below 140 will bring about bacteria growth. Bringing to boiling is essential to kill any bacteria growth started, but thinking that it is safe if it goes to room temp isn’t always the case, although it will work the majority of the times. Having made literally thousands and thousands of gallons of stock through the years, there have been times when not keeping an eye on those variables caused me to have to throw some out because of the obvious spoilage. You can also very effectlvely reduce stock in the oven if you are careful about watching it the first time you do it to see how quickly it evaporates on your temp setting.
Like Sybil and Joyce I make my stock in LARGE quantities. My family loves lots of soups and we all enjoy a cup of warm salted broth before bed. I keep my bones in the freezer until I have enough to fill my giant stock pot. We never throw a bone away, just toss it in the freezer. I also combine bones from chicken, beef, turkey or whatever. The flavors deliciously mingle and it is much easier than trying to keep them separate. I also toss in chicken heads, gizzards, necks and feet. My favorite bones from the cow are the shanks (calf bone) because they make wonderful gelatin. Here in Washington State we have cold enough months 6-7 months of the year that we make most of our stock on the woodstove. This is a wonderful energy saver since the woodstove would be going anyway. I have an assortment of cast iron trivets of various heights so I can set my stock where I need it to get the right simmer.
I also freeze my stock in glass jars. No need to risk chemicals leaching from the plastic into your lovely stock. We use 1/2 gallon canning jars that you can buy at the local hardware store. I just leave a good 2″ of head space for it to expand as it freezes. Homemade bone stocks are a foundational part of my family’s diet.
What is the max time you leave it in the fridge. -and also the max time for thawing before
the timing and temps are difficult to navigate. When would you throw it away?
I brought a slow cooker with a countdown timer (10 hours). But there are slow cookers where you can program the time to turn on and to shut off. I’m away at work for 10 hours and I get home just in time for my slow cooker to turn off. I just punch in another 10 hours or whatever # of hours you need to complete your stock.
When making beef stock how do you know when precisely that it is done? What is it I’m supposed to be looking for? I was already doing the cumulative time approach when making stock. (I have firefighters in my family, too) (I’ve only made one batch of beef and one batch of chicken) The chicken didn’t gel. : ( Does that mean its no good?
I started my first ever pot of chicken stock on the stove yesterday (bones from roasted whole chicken plus the neck, and other parts they stuff inside). My husband refused to allow me to leave it on the stove overnight, even though we have a Corning cook top (he is a volunteer fire police and has been to too many stove fires caused by unattended pots). So, I transferred it to my crock pot. It only has 3 settings, High, low, and warm. The high seems to boil too much, with the low there is no movement in the broth so I am now adjusting it between high and low hoping to find just the right “roll” as Sarah showed in her video. My house sure smells yummy and my stomach has been growling — hoping my first attempt has good gel results! 🙂
I always just let mine simmer continually as it just doesn’t worry me. A lot of my friends and family tell me I am mad though, so this approach may be the key to get them to finally start making real stock!
I have been enjoying this blog but cannot seem to find any sort of “about the author” page.
This is a bit frustrating. Does anyone know if there is a page dedicated to telling me who it is I am reading and perhaps the goal or concept of this blog?
I don’t even know how to properly share it as I can’t say what precisely I am sharing beyond “a blog which seems to be focused on healthy concepts by a possibly anonymous person”… Not much a of a selling point that..
Am I missing an obvious link?
Click “Sarah” at the top of the page.
OH!
Thank you. I didn’t realize I could “click” the words on the purple bar. I thought they just opened the drop menus. Hence my frustration. I saw her name but could only see options for adverts etc. in the dropped portion.
Very interesting.
Thank you Sarah! I have been wondering about this. I don’t so much mind making stock on my electric stove (although after seeing your simmer the other day, I think I may keep it too low overnight), but at some stage I could be moving into a house with a gas stove, and I know there’s no way I could sleep with a flame burning all night!! So I’ve been worried about what I would do if that ever comes (although it may not happen for a couple of years!!).
I also kind of like the idea of leaving a crockpot outside to make stock!! It would also feel a bit safer that way. Unfortunately, my crockpot doesn’t seem quite big enough… I have used it before (before I got a good stock pot), but I really had to squeeze the ingredients in!
Hi Fiona, Even my two crockpots combined can’t make the all the stock I need. I invested in a Le Creuset 12 qt. Stainless Steel stockpot–got it for a great price at one their outlet stores. I use a metal flame tamer under mine on my gas stove and start in the day time whenever I get around to it and leave it on the flame tamer on very low all night. As long as you use a flame tamer and don’t turn your gas flame down so low that it is flickering, you won’t have any problem.
In addition, I found a great Rubbermaid strainer that it curved on the edges (no bar to rest it on the pot side) and it makes a fabulous scouper/strainer when you are making large quantities of stock. For instance, I cannot pick up my 12 qt. stockpost and strain the stock into something else. So, I use the scouper/strainer and scoop out most of the bones, etc and the weight of the pot them becomes manageable for me. good luck!
Joyce