Once you’ve learned how to make bone broth, do you know what the perfect simmer looks like? Many people don’t even with much experience making broth. It is very easy to have the broth roll too high or too low which affects taste and quality of the gelatin.
It’s important to get this right folks!
At our home, we like to roast 2 ducks for Christmas dinner. I get more than a little excited about the incredibly flavorful gallon or so of duck stock from this effort.
I talk quite a bit about the importance of homemade stock in the diet and how crucial it is to make stock yourself on a frequent basis and have some ready in your freezer at all times for quick meals as well as any illnesses that might strike your household.
The Perfect Simmer on Your Stock VIDEO DEMO
For those of you just learning the ropes about homemade stock, I’ve filmed a one minute video to show you exactly what the perfect simmer should look like once you’ve brought that stock to a boil and turned down the heat.
I get a lot of questions about the perfect simmer, so instead of attempting to describe with words, I thought a visual to show you exactly what the ideal simmer looks like would be more effective.
TIP: Â The longer you cook the stock, the richer the flavor will be. On the other hand, the longer you simmer, the more glutamates in broth. So, if you are sensitive, best to go shorter and make meat stock instead.
Be sure to have your simmer no higher than what I show in the video so you can easily cook it for 24-48 hours and get the richest flavor possible!
Sources and More Information
My Youtube playlist of over ten videos on all aspects of making bone broth
How to Make Turkey Stock
The Healthiest and Best Bone Broth
How to Make Duck Stock
How to Make Beef and Chicken Stock
How to Make Shrimp Stock
5 Reasons Why Your Stock Won’t Gel
Confused about Stock versus Bone Broth?
I’m wondering about how high to heat the broth again after it’s been refrigerated or frozen. I think I heard somewhere along the line that we needed to boil it to get rid of any pathogenic bacteria that might have grown in the frig. Sarah, are you saying just a simmer is better? For how long? I have a son doing the GAPS diet and he drinks a lot of broth.
thank you!
Thank you Sarah! I love your videos and all of the information that you share with the world. You are saving lives one bite at a time.
I made broth that didn’t stink last night! I have been trying to find a way to make broth wihtout getting upsetting my husband with the smell. I bought a slow cooker and put it ourside under a small table and the BBQ cover. The smell still wafted around the house so much my husband still complained. Then I listened to your talk on the Real Food Summit and then looked your perfect simmer video on your website. It took me 2 hours to get it my stock pot on my electric stove low enough, and it did boil at least an hour, but once it had been simmering for awhile I noticed there was no smell (as long as I didn’t lift the lid). My husband made no comment about it when he got home and I was able to leave it on all night. It has just a very yummy mild smell and golden color. Now if it gels, it will be perfection!
Thank you, Sarah, for saving my broth.
Is this simmer shown for chicken in this video the same simmer you want for beef or fish stocks?
I found out about your site and videos through your talk at the Real Food Summit 2012. I just started making some beef stock right now and hope to get a more gelatinous broth this time through all the help you’ve given me. Thanks Sarah!! 🙂
Dear Sarah —
Since moving back to the United States I am having a terrible time getting a good simmer for my stock. I have never had any problems with our stove we had in Europe and always produced perfect broths with great gels.
We are in a temporary rental place now and the stove we are using seems to always be too high of a temperature or too low, thwarting any good simmers. It results in either a slow rolling boil (which produces a terrible tasting broth) or if on the lowest setting then there is no simmer at all.
I recently tried to make a stock in a crock pot (thinking this must be why so many Americans love their crock pots) and on the low setting it was nearly boiled out by 4am, waking me up by the strong brothy smell from all condensing and boiling out. They were only small beef marrow bones that had been in there for less that 12 hours and nearly 50% of the water was boiled out.
I use only pastured bones straight from an Amish farm co-op and a Staub cast iron dutch oven – as my Le Creuset Stock Pot seems to allow for even more boiling or burns the soup on this stove top we have now (although I never had problems using it with the Europe stove) even on the low settings. I believe the over-boiling is preventing my broths to gel nicely and also produces a murkey broth and the taste is not so great, in spite of high quality bones.
I am sure this is just a problem with a cheap rental stove/oven, so in the meantime before we buy a house and buy our own stove, would you be able to recommend a good crock pot for simmering broths? It seems the lowest settings for crock pots is 170F – is that too high? Are there any that have lower temps?
Also would you be able to recommend nice stove/convection oven if one were to buy one for low temperature/slow cooking?
I look forward to your reply
With Warm Regards
Thank you so much for posting this video! I’ve been making stock for months now and could NEVER get it to gel. I’ve added feet to my chicken stock, marrow bones and knuckles to my beef broth, and even started making it in my crockpot instead of the stove… and I still never got my stock to gel. I’ve just kept plugging away, because I figured that low collagen bone broth from our pastured chickens and beef is better than no bone broth at all. But I’ve been harboring under the misconception that it should sit at a low simmer for 24 hours, not the simmer you showed in the video (my version of a slow simmer has multiple bubbles, not one lonely one). I’m so excited to make my broth this week now! I can’t wait to put it in the fridge and FINALLY get that nutrition-filled jelly that I’ve been after for the last 6 months or so! Oooh, I I’m so excited!!!
Seeing the visual was helpful. It would be even more helpful if you could put a probe thermometer into the middle (depth-wise and) of the center (diameter-wise) of the pot and report what the temperature of the stock was when it was so beautifully simmering. That would help those of us who want to use a crock pot. At least for me, with a crock pot, the bubbles tend to be more toward the outer edges than the center so I be very interested in knowing what the temperature of your stock was so I can use that as a safety guide. Thanks!
I make stock in the crockpot, but lift the crock on a small metal measuring cup or empty tuna can (clean!). Leave the crockpot on low and you will have the small bubble Sarah showed in the video.
My crockpot seems to have more of a simmer than this even when on low- Karen- what do you mean you place it on a metal can? on the inside of the crockpot? with the ceramic pot on top? Thanks!
I’d like to know the answer to this, too. I’ve always made mine in a crockpot and it has a bigger simmer than the video shows.
i haven’t tried roasting duck yet- thanks for the tips!