In Asian culture, soups and broths are part of everyday meals. A traditional Japanese breakfast would include a bowl of Miso Soup to warm the body. Chinese restaurants feature a long list of house soups, from an appetite stimulating Hot and Sour Soup to even a light broth served after dinner to cleanse the palate and complete the meal.
Growing up, Mom always had soup simmering on the stove. Every night, without doubt, there was a Chinese style soup on the table. I remember saving the soup for last, as a ritual to conclude a delightful home-cooked meal.
I’ve tried to emulate Mom, but we’ve got such an active lifestyle that a pot simmering for hours on the stove isn’t feasible. Instead, we use a large 6-quart slow cooker to make an Asian-style bone broth that will last the entire week for our family.
What is bone broth?
Bone broth is often gently simmered for 24 hours (or more!) to extract as much nutrients from the bones of an animal, whether it be fish, chicken, pork or beef. The long cooking time breaks down bone to release vitamins, collagen and calcium phosphate — nutrients that are good for us.
Sure, it’s a trendy thing right now, with restaurants offering drive-through bone broth served in a coffee cup for $9, cookbooks dedicated to the art of bone broths (I highly recommend The Nourished Kitchen Cookbook which features bone broth) and even an entire line of bone broth concentrates that you can buy.
What’s the difference between broth, bone broth and soups?
Generally, soups are made with meats, bones, vegetables, herbs, added grains, sometimes thickened with starches – and simmered for a couple of hours.
Broths are mostly made from meats or vegetables and left clear without very much else added. Broths are also simmered for a couple of hours, resulting in a light colored, light flavored broth.
Bone broths are cooked for a day or even longer. Your favorite Vietnamese restaurant most likely simmer their pho broth overnight, which is why the broth is so rich and flavorful.
The long cooking time extracts so many nutrients and flavor! How do you know when you’ve extracted maximum nutrients and flavor? When the bones literally disintegrate just by giving a little pressure with your fingers.
Slow Cooker Bone Broth Recipe Asian Style
Like Nourished Kitchen, we make our bone broth in the slow cooker, and it will last us all week long. The process starts on Sunday night, and the slow cooker will do its magic all night long.
In the morning, we’ll enjoy bone broth as part of our breakfast. Every day, I’ll top off the pot with more water and keep the slow cooker humming along.
Each day, I’ll add a vegetable, switch out for fresh herbs, throw in a couple of umami-boosting Asian ingredients.
As the days progress, the bone broth develops new flavor, gets richer, smoother, fuller. We get the benefit of the valuable nutrition that’s normally locked inside the bones.
Some days, we’ll top off the bone broth with chopped herbs, or shredded seaweed just before serving. Or a spoonful of leftover rice in the bone broth is great too.
Secrets to Clear, Clean Bone Broth
Key to bone broth – be gentle. The cooking process is slow and gentle, coaxing out flavor with very little bubbles (no violent boiling!)
Don’t stir. Especially after the first 2 days. The bones will be come very soft and will crumble if you stir the pot too vigorously, resulting in a gritty broth.
Use cheesecloth or herb/tea bags to contain any herbs, aromatics or spices that are very small (see below.) This avoids having you dig around, stir around to fish these items out.
Use a very fine mesh skimmer to skim the surface of the broth every day, especially during the first 6-8 hours. The “scum” will cloud your broth during these first few hours of cooking. What’s the scum made out of? Proteins, fats, microscopic bone fragments (especially if the bones were cut), oils, impurities. Get rid of it!
Ready for the next batch? Jumpstart your next batch with a little of the last batch of concentrated “liquid gold!” We call this “Infinite Bone Broth.” Restaurants do the same with broths, sauces and sourdough bread too. Seed the next batch with rich flavor you’ve already built.
Bone Broth, Chinese Style
The “holy trinity” of Chinese cooking is garlic, ginger and green onion.
I’m not a fan of fishing out little pieces of ingredients, so I try to cut herbs so that they are easy to find and spoon out. The garlic head is cut in half. Sometimes, the cloves will separate (like above) but I’ll use a bag made for for DIY teabags or as an herb pouch (100 bags for $5.67)
Fill it up with the garlic cloves that are loose. Fold the top over and the cloves or anything you put inside will stay put. You can also make your own with cheesecloth. I like to use these teabags for other spices too, like whole peppercorns or star anise – anything that would be hard to find and fish out.
The green onions are tied with twine, again for easy removal. The ginger is a big hunk, just sliced in half. I reserve the other half of the ginger + the garlic cloves in the bag + more green onion – to add to the bone broth a couple of days later (I’ll discard the spent herbs/aromatics, replace with fresh.)
This week, I’m making bone broth with spareribs (it was on sale). Pork broth is very popular in Chinese cuisine. It’s just as popular as chicken broth is here in the U.S. Most of the Chinese soups that I make start with pork – for a lighter, more neutral flavor than beef or chicken.
Some people like to cut off the excess fat, but I just leave it on. I’ll skim out the fats and oils later with a skimmer.
Everything goes into the slow cooker, set it on low and let it go. If you plan on making slow cooker bone broth often, I suggest getting the largest slow cooker you can find. This one is a Cuisinart 6 1/2 Quart Slow Cooker ($99) that works really well. It’s never failed us.
After a few hours, I’ll skim the scuzz with a very fine mesh skimmer. This skimmer mesh is so fine that it catches all particles AND surface oils and fats.
Look how rich this bone broth is the next day! Season with salt, or fish sauce. Season to taste.
I’ll discard the spent green onion, garlic and ginger, and add fresh to replace. This time, I’m adding garlic chives and cilantro from the garden – again, tied up to make it easier to remove.
Top it off with fresh water. The slow cooker stays on all week, on low.
Chinese Bone Broth
After a couple of days, I might throw in some Chinese dried ingredients for a massive flavor and umami-boost:
Dried scallops, dried shrimp or dried black mushrooms (shiitake).
You can also add in sliced daikon and carrots for one of my very favorite home-style soups! Every trip back to my Mom’s house, I request her Daikon Carrot soup.
If you like cilantro, you can also add in a bunch of cilantro stems, which have just as much flavor as the leaves. I often use the stems for soups.
Japanese Bone Broth
If you’d like Japanese flavor for a bone broth, add a small 6-inch piece of dried kombu and a handful of bonito flakes (place these in the tea bag.) By the way, kombu can be used over, and over again. Just rinse, wipe, and let dry completely before storing for next use.
My favorite breakfast? Bone broth with a spoonful of leftover rice or grains, top with roasted seaweed. This type of seaweed is called Kizame Nori – or sliced, roasted seaweed.
By the way, have you ever tried Ochazuke?
Also, if you’d like to fortify the Japanese bone broth with miso paste – do this separately. Miso paste cooked at high heat or for too long will break apart and become gritty. Ladle some bone broth into a separate saucepan. Bring to simmer if you need to, but if it’s coming straight from the slow cooker, there’s no need to heat it up. Turn off heat. Whisk just a couple tablespoons of miso paste into the soup. Be careful of how much miso you add, especially if you’ve already added salt to the bone broth. I prefer shiro miso (white miso paste) as it’s lighter and less salty than the others. Miso paste is always added off heat.
Vietnamese Bone Broth
Add Vietnamese pho spices to a mesh bag or the tea bag (Here’s a recipe for Slow Cooker Vietnamese Pho.)
If you visit an Asian market, you can often find all these spices packaged, ready to go. Look for “Pho Spice Pack.” Instead of seasoning the broth with salt, season the bone broth with fish sauce. Start with 1 tablespoon, taste, and then add 1 teaspoon at a time until perfect.
What’s my favorite fish sauce? Right there in the sidebar is a free “Asian Masters of Flavor” ebook I wrote that includes my favorite brand! There’s a big difference between good quality fish sauce and crap, chemical-laden fish sauce.
More notes
If you’re concerned with the cost of running a slow cooker throughout the week, it costs pennies per day!
We grow all of our own herbs and most of our own vegetables in our aquaponics garden and greenhouse.
Here’s a tip for green onion. You can even start with store-bought green onion. Make sure you buy ones that have nice, wet, strong roots (no dry or wilted!) Just stick’em in soil. The green onions will continue to grow their roots and sprout more leaves. I just snip off what I need (leafy part only) and new ones will continue to grow throughout the entire growing season!
Recommended Cooking Equipment
More recipes to explore
Vietnamese Pho Pressure Cooker – Paleo Friendly (Steam Kitchen)
Mom’s Chinese Chicken Soup (Steam Kitchen)
Vegetable Thai Curry Noodle Soup (Steam Kitchen)
Tofu and Mushroom Miso Soup (Steam Kitchen)
Chinese Daikon and Carrot Soup (Steam Kitchen)
15 Minute Udon Miso Noodle Soup (Steam Kitchen)
Thai Fish Soup (Steam Kitchen)
Soba Noodles in Shiitake-Shoyu Broth with Spring Vegetables (Serious Eats)
Spicy Korean Seafood Soup (Serious Eats)
Slow Cooker Bone Broth Recipe - Asian Style
Ingredients
- 4 pounds spareribs
- 1 head garlic, halved
- 1 big knob of fresh ginger (about the size of 2 fingers), halved
- 3-4 stalks green onions, cut in half
Instructions
- Reserve half of the garlic, ginger and green onion for later in the week. Tie the green onion bundles with twine.
- In a slow-cooker, add green onion, garlic and ginger. Fill slow cooker with water, up to 1-inch below rim. Set to cook on high heat at first. When the bone broth comes to a simmer after an hour or so, you'll see lots of scum. Skim and discard. Set slow cooker on low and let the bone broth cook for at least 6 hours.
- Use a skimmer to skim the surface of any particles and oil. Season with salt, to taste.
- After drinking some of the bone broth, top off the slow cooker with additional fresh water. After 2 days, discard the spent meat and bones, herbs and vegetables. Cooking the bones beyond 2 days may make the soup taste sour, as the bones break down. Add the reserved garlic, onion and green onion (and additional meat/bone if desired). Continue to add additional vegetables, aromatics, dried ingredients (see post above for details) as you wish. Keep the setting on low.
Did you try this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the recipe card below and leave a review in the comment section! I always appreciate your feedback and I know other readers do, too!
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I’ve read a lot of broth articles and I think this may be the best one I’ve ever read. I have great appreciation for the way you answered even the simple questions.
I showed my mom this recipe and i have to say it comes out fantastic every time we make it
Thank you so much Stella! -Jaden
Jayden your a legend thank you I will try it.
Unfortunately my wife I still allergic to meat & seafood which I guess that leaves up with chicken bones only .Any other ideas ?
one question, so ive had it going for 24 hours now and i want to make it japanese style. Do i add the second lot of garlic ginger onion as well as the konbu and bonito flakes or do you add the konbu and and bonito flakes instead of garlic ginger onion? regards
Konbu and Bonito instead of garlic ginger onion.
I will try the bone soup,it looks really good. thanke you jaden
I tried Miso soup before and it was really tasty, I loved it. I’ve been trying to make my own bone broth but I wasn’t that successful. A friend recommended Au Bon Broth and I’m liking it so far. I love that it’s tasty like it was home made plus it’s organic.
What a fantastic & informative article – I’m very keen to try bone broth & it looks like you’ve pretty much covered all bases – Thank you!
Do you leave the bones in the whole week? What happens if you continue longer than a week? And last if you use a lot of the broth in one sitting do you still just refill with water? Thank you
I remove the bones after a day or two. Leaving the bones in too long makes the soup taste a little off. Just keep refilling with water and more vegetables or new bones.
Hi! Question – after a few days of keeping it going (love it), I allowed the bone broth to condense down to the “Liquid Gold” and allowed it to cool so I could refrigerate it (needed the crock pot for something else). How long does it keep in the refrigerator? We have been using little doses of it for broth-in-a-cup fixes by heating water in a mug and adding the broth to it. But day 4 of that has me wondering how long that is ok to do?
What a great idea!! My suggestion is 5 days supply, and freeze the rest in containers that you can defrost.
Hi Jaden!
I love this post! My slow cooker has been on for over a day and my family loves taste testing it. I got dried shiitake mushrooms to add but I’ve never used them before. Do you add them right in the broth or do you soak them first?
You can add them right into the pot, they’ll rehydrate while cooking 🙂
Hi Jaden,
I just stumbled upon your recipe and I’m in love already! I’m like 2 and a half days in and so far so good. I am confused about something though. You say you leave your bones and meat in for the duration of the week, but in the printable recipe it says to remove the bones or else you get a sour taste; is that only for the pork bones called for in your recipe? or is it just up to personal taste? As I said, I’m confused and would love your help.
Thank you!!
It’s personal taste! You can do either. I like to take them out after 2 days.
Hello Jaden,
Thank you for this delicious broth recipes. Many recipes call for AC Vinegar to draw out more minerals. Do the Chinese also use vinegar?
I have recently started out with bone broth with hopes of eliminating my 9yr olds constant cold.
BTW, I just love the detailed explanation you have given for each kind of broth. Thank you so much again.
Andrea
Hi Andrea – I don’t use vinegar, and I haven’t heard of Chinese broths using vinegar to draw out more minerals. Hopefully, the bone broth will help your 9yr old! Jaden
Hi, Jaden: I have my pork bones, garlic, ginger and leeks in the slow cooker as we speak. My husband mis-understood me when grocery shopping and also bought us about a pound of what is known in Panama (where we live) as puerto liso, or “smooth pork.” I have no idea how this is going to cook up, but I do not plan to add it until after the bones and cooked for 24 hours. Should I cook the hunk of pork separately and, if so how and for how long? Or, should I add it to the slow cooker after 6 hours once I’ve got the soup skimmed on low and, if so, for how long?
Do you ever mix the meats? i.e. use pork and chicken?
if so what cuts would you recommend?
Thank you!
Yes, absolutely! I like pork and chicken together.
Thanks 🙂
I turned the slow cooker off overnight, 🙁
do I need to start again or is it ok if I bring it back to a boil?
Thanks!
As a food professional, I need to tell you to start again, as bacteria can grow in room temperature broth. I’m so sorry!
I tried my first ham bone broth ever. I am wondering of I am doing it right. I cooked a ham for dinner, left the bones and juices to cool. Scooped off the fat that formed and dumped the bones and juices in my crockpot and filled it full of water. It has a deepndark appearence and an overpowering ham smell. Is that right?
Hi Trisha – that’s because your ham is already smoked, baked and salted. Your resulting bone broth is based on your ingredients that you put into it. I like using ham bone for split pea soup in pressure cooker https://steamykitchen.com/21252-split-pea-and-ham-soup.html
Thanks for posting this recipe! My bone broth has been simmering for 24 hours and the flavor is incredibly bland! Does that sound strange or will most of the flavor
Come from the salt or fish sauce? Thanks!
flavor will come from salt and or fish sauce!
Thanks Jaden for the recipes. Okay, off to the asian market to see what I can find! Japanese and Vietnamese are must try for me right now.
Can’t believe I’ve been missing out on broth all this time. Recently found a free download on Amazon, downloaded it out of curiosity and now i’m just discovering the broth! OMG, where has it been all these years.
Skin hair and nails hasn’t been like this in over a decade. Let the brothing begin!
P.S. perhaps it’s still free on Kindle; BONE BROTH FOR THE SOUL
I prepared this broth as the soup base for hotspot. It turned out very well – full of flavor minus the high sodium from store-bought soup base. My kitchen smelled wonderful with the aroma of the broth. Will definitely make again!
Hi Jaden,
Help! I’ve put the bone broth on low and high, alternating for 3 days now, and this morning it had a sour aspect to it. I’ve mainly put in green onions, carrots, onions, ginger, and garlic, along with chicken bones and pork bones. Has the whole broth spoiled? On low setting, sometimes I can still see the soup boiling.
Thanks!
Hi Dee – It shouldn’t be sour at all. Not sure what happened – are you sure the slow cooker on the entire time and didn’t turn off accidentally at any point?
HI HI – wonderful ideas here!! One question – I was given thigh beef (leg?) bones – and attempted a bone broth, cooked it for about 6 hours – but it was a horrid, almost bitter liver flavor. Nothing I added made it taste good. I’ve tried several times to make bone broth with these kinds of bones – Once I roasted them first, but no luck. I’ve tasted paleo broth from a restaurant nearby – and it’s awesome. I’m about ready to give up on making my own beef bone broth… any suggestions?
Hi there – sometimes the marrow can be bitter (the stuff that’s inside the bones). I like to par boil beef bones first, to get rid of the mucky muck. Bring a big pot of water to a rapid boil. Add in the bones – let it boil on high for 8 minutes. The vigorous boiling action helps loosen and gets rid of the bits of blood, livery marrow and any other impurities. You’ll see the white foamy scum and brown bits come up on top of the water. That’s the stuff you don’t want in your bone broth.
Drain and rinse the bones really well. Now, you can proceed with your bone broth!
Thank you, thank you. This is a great post. I’ve been making bone broth for a year and needed some variety. I am most curious about your mother’s carrot daikon soup. You have inspired me to make a pork broth. I’ve been making Pho, but didn’t know to put in fennel or cardamon. This may give it the complexity that I’ve been missing. I will return to your web-site again. Great information.
I put locally raised babu backribs, half a garlic bulb, and fresh ginger and water. I understand you don’t add salt til later. Is black peppercorns considered Asian? I am trying to keep this authentic. I really don’t want to invest in the tea pouches. For one they are probably bleached and two I plan on making bone stock continuously and buying those would be a pain.
Jaden, thank you so much for this post. I hate to be such a fanboy, but really, this has made a huge change in my diet. Unless I need it for something, I now always have some broth simmering in my crock pot. My new go-to breakfast. Maybe add a sliced hard-boiled egg (a staple in my fridge) some fresh sliced green onion, and a crunchy veg or two (red bell pepper is lovely).
One of the best things is that now I always have some fresh broth whenever I have a recipe that calls for some.
It may seem a small thing to you, but it has made a huge difference in my day-to-day eating and cooking experience. Thanks again.
Thank you so much Mark! I’m just about to start a new batch tomorrow. Chicken, carrot, daikon and dried scallops.
Have just read all the comments, very interesting & informative. So a Slow Cooker maintains a safe temperature on a low setting (to eliminate bacteria forming) so the broth can simmer for a few days?
Hi Jan, yes. Bacteria grows between 45F to 140F. The slow cooker’s low setting is usually around 180F.
I have known for a long time the benefits of bone broths but I think my family would mutiny if I left the broth on for the week due to the smell! Do you find the scent of the broth in the slow cooker overpowering? I tend to use chicken feet and necks and the smell is very strong.
Hi Corrie – try a 12 hour chicken bone broth – then remove the chicken feet, add vegetables continually throughout the week (discard the spent veg). That should help!
My family also is not found of the aroma. I just keep my crockpot in the garage when cooking. Also, I would recommend seeking out grass-fed or organic products as you will be consuming large quantities of this soup. (At least I consume LARGE quantities of bone broth – yummy stuff!)
I’m about 9 hours in–just pulled the chicken meat from the bones to save for later–and this is already a lovely, rich broth. Can’t wait to try it tomorrow. I’m doing mine with onions, carrot, garlic, peppercorns, and dill and plan to use it as the base of my matzo ball soup for Passover this Friday.
Awesome! I’m going to start this now. I live in Minneapolis and it is snowing right now. (Noooo!) Broth for breakfast will be perfect. Thanks.
How can you do this without a slow cooker? Can you just keep a huge pot on the stove at a very low temperature overnight and add water as needed?
Hi there – yes you can!
You can do it in the oven at low temps (around 190). Be sure the cover to the pot is secure.
l made a batch in a pressure cooker. Only 2 whole chicken carcuses, 2″ ginger, 3 green onions, 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar fill with water to cover and let sit for 1 hours, vinegar draws minerals out of bones. Simmer for 4 hours, then on medium for 1 more hour, opened, smashed the bones, then through a sieve….delicious.
Thanks for sharing!
I made this last week with a cooked chicken carcass and it was really really good, but it didn’t quite give me he rich flavor I am looking for. I am pretty sure I will achieve it using raw chicken. I just started a new pot in the slow cooker with raw chicken and cannot wait!! Thanks so much.
Hi Karen – yes, if you use a whole raw chicken, you’ll get the deeply rich flavor you are looking for. The more meat and bones you start with, the better the flavor. As I mentioned in the post, before I add the chicken to the pot, I’ll carve out the breast meat. Everything gets added into the slow cooker (including the breast meat) and the next morning, I’ll remove the breast meat, shred and refrigerate to add a little meat to each bowl when we are ready to eat.
I appreciate your recipe. I will try it.
Thanks for the great recipes! Bone broth is something that’s been on my To Do list for a long time, and I have mine now simmering in the slow cooker.
When using the pho spices and leaving the slow cooker on all week, how often do you have to replace the spices?
I’ll replace those spices every 3 days. Depends on my mood 🙂 Sometimes I want the soup to mellow out on the spices – by the 3rd day, I’m a little tired of the same spice flavor, so I might remove them and replace with something different or just leave spices out altogether.
This is a fantastic take on bone broth! I’ve not had much luck with keeping a perpetual pot. For whatever reason my (very inexpensive) slow cooker will not remain on indefinitely. It shuts off automatically after 12 or so hours. Does yours do this or is it just because mine is cheap? If so, how do you deal with it?
I usually make a pot of bone broth and then chill it in an ice bath in my sink before freezing it in a silicone muffin tin in 1/2 cup measures before tossing the soup pucks into a gallon bag. They are perfect for adding to a recipe or tossing in a mug.
Molly – mine does too, I just twice a day turn it off/on as I pass by the kitchen. Great idea re: muffin tins!
Do you think it messes up the electronics or overheats it or anything by doing that? Because that seems like a perfectly workable solution!
Hi Molly, slow cooker is designed for low temp cooking for long periods of time. Just make sure your machine is in good working order.
I live in France, and bone broth is a staple here too. I LOVE the idea do the tea bags or cheesecloth bags for the veggies and herbs. Having a Japanese cooking background I also adore your Asian recipes. It’s on, I’ll let you know in the morning…..
Hi Jennifer – oh do let us know what you put in your bone broth!
Hi Jaden, I just placed a whole chicken in my slow cooker…I will then do bone broth..
Question… when you mentioned to season it with salt and fish sauce, do you add it in the slow cooker or you take some broth out and then season ?
thanks
Hi Annie – I season directly into the slow cooker.
My slow-cooker bone broth been going for over 8 hours as I am writing this post.
I decided to make the beef broth. I used — they were cheaper than neck bones — beef shanks with center bone-in and added a few more beef bones. I am also using the H.B. slow cooker 8-quarts. I seasoned the broth with Kosher salt and whole black peppercorns.
The aroma and smell is just amazing. I tasted a sample and it is out of this world.
Previously when I made beef broth, I boiled and simmered for 1.5 hours. It was good, but the slow-cooker method extracts more flavor. I can already tell.
Look forward to more lovely and easy recipes…
Great Steve! Enjoy that broth! It’s so good for your body.
After 33 hours of simmering in the slow cooker, I finally turned it off. I only had to add “bottled” water just about once every 8 hours.
To the folks who have not made this broth, all I can tell you is you don’t know what you are missing in taste and texture. Wow, amazing…
A question to Jaden. Since I might not be able to consume all the broth in a week, I like to freeze some. Can you please give me your take on freezing the broth.
Again, thank you for this wonderful recipe for broth!
Hi Steve! So happy you love it. I like to take a freezer gallon or quart bag. Put the bag inside something tall (to make it easier to pour liquid into a wobbly bag). Pour broth into the bag, leave a good 1.5″ of open space (liquid will expand when frozen) Seal, squeezing out as much air as possible. Sometimes I will double-bag. Freeze, laying flat in your freezer.
I usually freeze broth 2 or 4 cups at a time in ziploc’s – it takes any recipe calling for stock over the top with flavor and richness, and is invaluable for when you find yourself sick and without a pot simmering yet….
I am so excited for this!!!!
Question, usually when I slow cook chicken, it gets really stringy. Should I take out the meat like you suggested, is that the reason why you take the breast out?
If you want to eat the meat, then yes, take the breast out, shred or cut, and refrigerate for later. If you just want the meat to stay in and contribute to the flavor of the bone broth, then you can just leave it in.
I’ve tried the Nourished Kitchen’s version before. Have you tried to blend up the softened bones after a long cook? My blender did it — kind of. A bit gritty. The bones felt soft enough but perhaps I needed to cook for a few more days effort blending?
I’ve never blended the bones before. But no matter how long you cook the bones, they’ll be gritty and powdery because of the nature of the bones.
This is great…If we don’t want to use our slow cooker all week…couldn’t we just reheat broth as needed on stove?
Yes you absolutely can!
Perfect- so would you then just let it cool and leave meat/spices everything in it to refrigerate? Or would you need to take everything out.
I would strain before I refrigerate — or if you want to enjoy all week – leave it in the slow cooker and ladle out some each day.
Thanks for this article. At least 30 years ago — maybe more — I heard about 1,000 Year “Sauce” — which was essentially a stock which had been cooked long and slow and every so often either meat or chicken would be added to poach and then removed as part of a meal, a bit of broth with it and the liquid replaced with water and fresh herbs and spices added to replace the tired ones along with chicken feet (gives a great gelatinous mouth feel) and bones and other pieces of meat. I had one of these “sauces” going for many years. Well it wasn’t always in a slow cooker — when I wasn’t going to be using it for a time I would strain it, seal it in a vacuum bag and freeze it. As long as your freezer doesn’t die on you — which is what happened to me and ruined everything in it –you can keep this going for years. I’ve seen this done in China where they have huge vats of it and each day they would add more water and fresh herbs and spices — often using a hose to add enough water to the vat. Bones and various meat parts would be bobbling around. It was always delicious and usually served with noodles, the best being hand pulled.
Phyllis – yes! It’s the Ancient Chinese Secret LOL!
Is this a recipe that can be used for Pho soup? I keep hearing about it and want to try it.
Yes, absolutely! Same process. Season with fish sauce – don’t be shy about the fish sauce, add enough until you have a very pleasant balance of savory, salty, with just a hint of sweet. You can even add paper thin slices of hot chile pepper and squeeze a wedge of lime just before serving to add the final sour and spicy to complete the 5 S’s of Southeast Asian Cooking.
I can’t handle biting into a fresh, hot chile pepper, so what I’ll do is cut a chile pepper in half, lengthwise. scoop out the seeds and discard. I’ll hold onto the stem of the chile pepper, swirl it in my bowl of soup just for a few seconds, and then remove. It gives the perfect amount of warm, soothing heat, without the bite.
Can you use a crockpot?
Yes, Crockpot is essentially the brand name of a slow cooker (like Kleenex is a tissue)
Thanks ! Never really knew the difference from bone and regular soup broth .Sounds like a good idea ,especially with the weather ,we are experiencing lately .Have to give it a try .
Stewart – give it a try! You’ll be addicted to making bone broth. I’ve been drinking it out of a coffee cup lately – all day long.
I love your recipes! Is it safe to simmer in the slow cooker over such a long time? I am wondering about the bacteria growth at such a low heat.
Yes it is. A slow cooker is designed to regular temperature over a long period of time. Make sure your slow cooker is in good working order!
I am definitely going to try this recipe out, the last time I tried a broth for pho it tasted terrible, I used the wrong kind of meat (beef tongue) and I didn’t simmer it long enough. I’ll try it out with beef spare ribs this time around.
Jaden,
Thank you for the variations of bone broth. You mention fishing out and discarding the spent green onions, ginger and garlic and replacing with fresh. And I understand the desired goal is the liquid gold, the broth. But when using something like pork spareribs, do you fish out the meat? Is it flavorful or usable? Or is it also discarded?
Hi Carmen, I leave all the meat and bones in the slow cooker all week long. There’s not much meat in the spareribs LOL! At the end, I’ll pick off the meat, and the use to mix in with our 3 rescue dog’s dry food.
If I’m using an entire chicken – A lot of times, I’ll actually pre-carve the chicken breasts out – but still add them to the slow cooker. After the first 8 hours of simmering (usually, I start the batch at night and it’s ready in the morning), I’ll fish out the chicken breast, let cool, shred and refrigerate. As I serve each day, I’ll put a few shreds of chicken in each bowl.
It all depends on how much meat is on the bones 🙂