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Posts: 1813
Joined: Nov. 8 2010
From: London (living in the Bay Area)
Nails, gelatin and stock/broth
A couple of years ago my wife convinced me of the value, from the stand-point of both nutrition and taste, of cooking with with what the British call stock (and Americans apparently call broth) in most cases where the recipe calls for water.
By this I mean what you get by simmering bones and other miscellaneous body-parts in water for around 24 hours, and straining the result.
The reason I mention this is that my nails use to be quite brittle and broke frequently; but now they haven’t done so for quite a long time. This is an unexpected fringe-benefit, as previously I hadn’t considered that aspect at all.
You can buy bits of the animal that no one wants to eat (such as chicken backs, necks, heads and feet) relatively cheaply at a decent butcher’s.
What we typically do is roast a chicken, and then simmer the carcase, along with 6 or so feet, for 24 hours in a crock-pot. If we haven’t got a carcase to hand, we use a couple of pounds of other body parts.
We then strain the result and put it into jars. We now use so much that we just put these in the fridge. (If you’re going to keep them more than two or three days, they need to go in the freezer, and in that case, you need to allow enough room in the jar for the ice to expand, and also to leave the lids a little loose so the jars aren’t airtight.)
The same kind of operation applies to beef.
I’m now finding that a cup of hot stock with a bit of salt makes an excellent snack between meals, too!
The feet are what provide the gelatin, and the stock/broth you buy in stores typically doesn’t have nearly as much — as well as frequently having icky preservatives.
Straining the stock is a somewhat messy task, but it takes about 20 minutes. If you spend more than that per week fixing broken nails, you might consider giving this a shot. It’s more beneficial than gelatin tablets, and certainly tastes better.
P.S. you’ll need to skim the fat off the top after it’s been in the fridge a while.
RE: Nails, gelatin and stock/broth (in reply to Paul Magnussen)
Great tip Paul!
Stock becomes broth when it is seasoned (basically when you add salt) and 24 hours is a pretty long time. At all the restaurants I worked at we generally made stock in about 6 hours or so, though in a stock pot, not a crock pot. I've never made it in a crock pot so 24 hours it may be..........
RE: Nails, gelatin and stock/broth (in reply to Paul Magnussen)
quote:
ORIGINAL: Paul Magnussen
By this I mean what you get by simmering bones and other miscellaneous body-parts in water for around 24 hours, and straining the result.
24 hours is a bit excessive! You can make a decent stock from within 45 minutes to 3/4 hours, but the longer it cooks the better it will taste. For Chicken/Pork 3 hours is a good time, Fish 2 hours, something like a big bone of beef would require longer.
If one doesn't have a chicken carcass then a good thing to use are chicken wings, as they can often be bought for quite cheap.
I'm liking the culinary threads on this forum so far.
RE: Nails, gelatin and stock/broth (in reply to tijeretamiel)
quote:
24 hours is a bit excessive! You can make a decent stock from within 45 minutes to 3/4 hours, but the longer it cooks the better it will taste. For Chicken/Pork 3 hours is a good time, Fish 2 hours, something like a big bone of beef would require longer.
i never heard of simmering a stock for longer than 3-6 hours before, does the extra time (24hrs) draw out more of the gelatin? ie. 3-6 hours for food but 24 hours for medicine?!
RE: Nails, gelatin and stock/broth (in reply to Paul Magnussen)
The best thing to do with a good caldo is to drink it at 3:30 am when you are half drunk and need to rest for 20 minutes before going to another party or fiesta. It will make you feel new on the spot, and make hair look better, if you play for baile you still might need pegamento and tissue.
Not to keep playing in the same dead fish, but here in South Japan they make caldo with pork. Any ramen place were they make the broth, or as they call it 'soup', the noodles come in a steaming hot, rich caldo.
There's a well known Japanese comedy by Juzo Itami called 'Tampopo' which as all about making broth, or caldo. Good broth is secret and chefs will hide the recipe.....it's on netflicks and in most good US video stores.
Posts: 1813
Joined: Nov. 8 2010
From: London (living in the Bay Area)
RE: Nails, gelatin and stock/broth (in reply to mark indigo)
quote:
i never heard of simmering a stock for longer than 3-6 hours before, does the extra time (24hrs) draw out more of the gelatin? ie. 3-6 hours for food but 24 hours for medicine?!
24 hours isn’t obligatorio — as has been pointed out, 6–8 hours will get most of the nutrition out.
We just prefer to be thorough; and also, it’s convenient to put the stock on at one time and take it off at the same time the next day.
RE: Nails, gelatin and stock/broth (in reply to Paul Magnussen)
As a youngster i once gathered rhubarb for a week for a local farmer and the daily contact with freshly cut rhubarb(juice) made my nails hard as steel.
RE: Nails, gelatin and stock/broth (in reply to Erik van Goch)
I was born a frail child. In order to boost my poor health my mother would boil bones to make stock. After a long period this not only gave me strong hair teeth and nails but eventually I became incredibly adept at healing, often surviving dreadful battles with injuries which would have killed lesser men.
The heartbreak of this bloodshed lead me to take long periods where I eschewed utterly the company of my weaker brethern. On these many depressing sojournes I often came across rhubarb whilst foraging in the wilderness. Although I didn't notice much at the time Eric's comments caused me to recall that on subsequent days it was even easier than usual to eviscerate rabbits and whatnot.
In truth though it was only when I was weaponised by the US military that my nails achieved their current strength and shine.
RE: Nails, gelatin and stock/broth (in reply to Paul Magnussen)
It is keratine that builds nails, hair, epithel, feathers, hooves, horns and what have you.
But maybe healthy effects of bone components like calcium, gelatine and iron of the marrow help further metabolism too. After all there should be enough keratine in the average diet, and lesser nail mass possibly due to some disturbance in either absorbtion or growth. Just being smart.
Ruphus
PS: Fat and marrow of mass breeding will likely contain high doses of less desirable pharmaceutics.
RE: Nails, gelatin and stock/broth (in reply to guitarbuddha)
quote:
I was born a frail child. In order to boost my poor health my mother would boil bones to make stock. After a long period this not only gave me strong hair teeth and nails but eventually I became incredibly adept at healing, often surviving dreadful battles with injuries which would have killed lesser men.
The heartbreak of this bloodshed lead me to take long periods where I eschewed utterly the company of my weaker brethern. On these many depressing sojournes I often came across rhubarb whilst foraging in the wilderness. Although I didn't notice much at the time Eric's comments caused me to recall that on subsequent days it was even easier than usual to eviscerate rabbits and whatnot.
In truth though it was only when I was weaponised by the US military that my nails achieved their current strength and shine.
Wolverine.
You mean you were a member of the legendary Lard Guard?!
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