Bone broth or stock? Susan Jung strains to see the difference

A New York Times article last month about simmering meaty bones with vegetables, aromatics and lots of water made me realise that, for once, I was ahead of a trend. I’m not au fait with the lingo, though – I call it stock while the nom du jour is “bone broth”.

What’s the difference between the two? In The New York Times article, Julia Moskin writes, “Many people use the terms interchangeably, but strictly speaking, both broth and stock include bones and meat, but stock has a higher proportion of bones to meat.” However, the recipe she gives with the article contains lots of bones (short ribs, beef shank or oxtail, plus beef knucklebones or neck bones), which seems to make bone broth fit the description of stock.

I drink stock (that’s the term I choose to use) and use it in cooking because it tastes good, but, Moskin says, for bone broth-ers – many of whom are following the Paleo diet (also known as the caveman diet) – what’s important is the nutrition. “It is the content of the bones – including collagen, amino acids and minerals – that is the source of its health benefits. Extracting the nutrients from bones is accomplished through long cooking and by adding some acid to the pot, like vinegar, wine or a bit of tomato paste, which loosens and dissolves the tough bits,” she writes.

Whichever term you use, stock and broth use the same techniques. At its most basic, you cover bones (which can include varying amounts of meat) with water, heat the ingredients and simmer everything for a really long time so all the flavour and nutrients leech out. Usually, the solids are strained out and the liquid is drunk as is, or used in sauces or soups. But by adding steps and refining that simple technique, you can change the flavour and quality of the stock.

How do you make a clear stock, one that doesn’t turn cloudy? First, it’s important to blanch the bones and meat (I do it twice) then rinse them well, to get rid of the impurities that might cloud the liquid. You must also cook the stock at a low simmer: if it cooks too vigorously, it will be cloudy because the fat (from the meat and bones) will emulsify into the boiling liquid. Skim off any scum that floats to the surface of the stock. If you cook the bones for such a long time that they begin to disintegrate (which is what they do for bone broth), this will cloud the stock, too.