The Most Common Meat Stock & Bone Broth Questions

A recent post on meat stock posed a lot of questions from readers. The meat stock/bone broth debacle is probably the most misunderstood and confused aspect for foodies today. These are the top ranked questions regarding meat stock and bone broth.

Click here for a detailed description of making meat stock.

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Isn’t cooking meat stock longer better for you?

– No. Meat stock is cooked for a short amount of time, keeping essential elements for healing in tact while bone broth is cooked for a long time, often days. There is a lot of confusion around the difference between meat stock and bone broth. Meat stock is for healing gut damage evident through illness, bone broth is for health maintenance. There are two specific enzymes, essential to healing a damaged gut, that are cooked out of the stock if cooked too long. If you are cooking beef bones it is recommended to bring the water to a rolling boil, scoop off the scoobage (the foam which rises to the top of the pot, the bones cleaning themselves), cover and simmer on a low boil for 3-3.5 hours. For chicken cover and simmer for 2-2.5 hours.

What do I do if I get a histamine response?

– If you are experiencing histamine responses it is a sign that you have great intestinal imbalance in your microflora. This is good news as there is a specific protocol for healing this issue laid out in the GAPS book, click here to read more. Those with histamine issues are the easiest to heal because their bodies speak to you throughout the healing process telling you what to and what not to do. It often takes longer for healing to occur especially with age.

Most histamine responses come from bones and meats from animals fed GMO feed, have injected preservatives or flavorings or have been sprayed with bleach for sanitation. If you experience this situation source cleaner animals. The easiest way to do this is contact friends who are hunters and ask them for the bones from their kill. The best option in this case is to bake cookies for the man in your area who processes deer and other in-season animals. He is most likely throwing the valuable bones away.

The greatest benefit to the person who suffers from histamine responses is the old dog on a nail scenario. Imagine you see an old dog, moaning while curled into a pile on the floor. He moans and moans and moans, yet does nothing else. You ask, why is he moaning? He’s laying on a nail. Why doesn’t he move? It doesn’t hurt him bad enough.

Folks who respond to bone broth or meat stock with a histamine response are hurt bad enough to do something about it. This is an advantage. Those who aren’t hurting enough have no real motivation to change their ways, so they often do not. Then they slowly but surely get more and more ill over the course of time, while the histamine person gets better because they are sick and tired of being sick and tired.

If you feel a cold coming on should you do meat stock or bone broth?

– Meat stock, however we have found that it’s even easier to thwart a cold with simple kraut juice.

Why isn’t my stock sticky?

– Sticky stock is best achieved through connective tissues like hoof bones AKA ox feet. If you can choose bones that include a joint in the package this makes good sticky stock but hooves are optimal. Sticky stock stays with you, is more satisfying and heals a leaky gut faster.

Why isn’t my stock gelatinous?

– Gelatinous stock comes from the meat next to the bones. When choosing a bag of bones look for marrow bones, joint bones and bones with meat around them. Gelatin is also achieved from leaching nutrients out of the bones over a long period of time as in cooking with bone broth. Meat stock that gels contains different healing nutrients than bone broth that gels. Be sure to cook your stock with a few tablespoons of mineral salt and one tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar, with the mother, right from the beginning of the cook.

Isn’t bone broth healing?

– Meat stock is for healing any gut issues evident through illnesses from allergies to autoimmune disease. Meat stock is for healing illness, bone broth is for health maintenance. Meat stock is what is recommended in the GAPS nutritional healing protocol.

Can I reheat my meat stock after the initial cooking?

– Yes. Be sure to heat it on the stove top, not in the microwave. Microwave cooking kills the nutrients essential to healing. The easiest way to do meat stock is to prepare the stock and pour it into quart mason jars while it’s still hot. Wipe the lips with a clean towel and immediately put on the lids finger tip tight. Allow the jars to cool a bit further while on the counter top, refrigerate. Then 30 minutes before it’s time to eat take out a quart jar, pour the contents in a pot, add a chopped onion, a few chopped carrots, some grass fed ground meat and some peas. Cook it for roughly 25 minutes with a low boil, five minutes before it’s ready add chopped garlic. Pour soup into individual bowls and add one to two pastured yolks into each bowl of soup. This is what we call, “Becky’s Favorite Soup.”

How long does meat stock last?

It is best to use meat stock within the first week of preparation. Two weeks is the maximum time, unless it has been frozen.

Is it OK to heat up rice noodles in meat stock for my ASD child?

– It’s OK but it’s not beneficial for ASD children to be eating rice noodles as the starches in rice noodles feed the pathogens in the gut. Rice, corn, wheat, grains, arrowroot powder, baking powder, garbanzo bean flour, tapioca flour, soy flour, corn starch and tapioca starch and all starches and/or complex sugars which feed bad bacteria in the gut. This is why my son, and most other autistics, are/were addicted to them – they are feeding the pathogens. In fact for us, my son only ate those foods which were the most damaging to his body, the ones that fed his pathogens. To be honest, when we started on the food-to-healing path he only ate three foods, total.

Foods that feed pathogens cause no stomach or gut pain as the pathogen pleasure overrides the inflammation. We do veggie noodles with a slicer like this one or a mandolin like this one. After you have been eating clean, non-pathogen feeding foods, for a few months if you happen to eat something which feeds pathogens you will feel it in your stomach or gut immediately. This happens because the masking response is gone.

Why am I not getting better on my stock?

– Sometimes it’s because the stock is being improperly made. Other times certain people need a very specific laid out protocol of healing, following a specific step by step plan. Be sure they are knowledgeable and fit your situation. Click here for a list of Certified GAPS practitioners. Phone or Skype consultations are often available.

Why doesn’t my stock taste good?

– Properly made stock is so rich and yummy that even the pickiest eaters love it. That said, my son hated stock for years. Then I found out I was making it wrong, changed my ways and ever since he begs for stock. Even his normal food eating friends love it and often say things like, “You guys eat the BEST food!” Yes, I’m referring to public schooled teenage boys who eat the traditional American diet as well as picky eaters.

*Nourishing Plot is written by Becky Plotner, ND, traditional naturopath, CGP, D.PSc. who sees clients in Rossville, Georgia. She works as a Certified GAPS Practitioner who sees clients in her office, Skype and phone. She has been published in Wise Traditions, spoken at two Weston A. Price Conferences, Certified GAPS Practitioner Trainings, has been on many radio shows, television shows and writes for Nourishing Plot. Since her son was delivered from the effects of autism (Asperger’s syndrome), ADHD, bipolar disorder/manic depression, hypoglycemia and dyslexia, through food, she continued her education specializing in Leaky Gut and parasitology through Duke University, finishing with distinction. She is a Chapter Leader for The Weston A. Price Foundation. becky.nourishingplot@hotmail.com

“GAPS™ and Gut and Psychology Syndrome™ are the trademark and copyright of Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride. The right of Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Patent and Designs Act 1988.