HerbLady

Sometimes events just come together and create the most fantastic results.

It all started because I've been improving my cooking. I'm home anyway so why not strive for perfectly prepared meals. I love to eat so I should eat well, right? I'm not looking for complicated meals with ingredients I can't pronounce, no, not for me. Instead it is getting the basics down and doing it very well. I decided to start with broths. These are simple and can be the base for many dishes.

My cousin has been thinning out his stuff. He's been bringing over things like alien key chains, bobble heads, a nice sauce pan, and other little odds and ends. Last week he showed up with a gigantic 32 quart stockpot with a spigot at the bottom. The clouds parted, light came down and made that pot just glow.

A couple days before the stockpot came to me, like a gift from heaven, my neighbor mentioned they were going to be butchering a cow. Once I finished hugging my new stockpot, I went over and asked if I could buy some bones. I walked home with a femur in a plastic bag for free.

Yup, 32 quarts of homemade beef bone broth for the price of 2 onions, 4 carrots, and 6 stalks of celery. I feel the universe has come into alignment as I sit here with a smug self-indulgence sipping my rich, hot broth.

Did I mention I can get a second batch from those bones?

**tip to anyone smugly making broth - roast the carcass or bones with the vegetables until caramelized. This makes for a more flavorful broth.**