Water bone cellar – don’t assume adding salt is always enough, learn this method to have clear and flavorful bone broth

When it comes to soups, hot pots, porridge, or pho, bone broth is a crucial ingredient to make the dish delicious, rich, and savory. You can use bone broth to prepare various tasty dishes such as potato and bone broth soup, papaya and bone broth soup, bamboo shoot and bone broth soup, or beef pho.

Even though many people try to replicate it at home, they still wonder why their bone broth doesn’t turn out flavorful and might still have an unpleasant odor. In reality, to achieve a clear, fragrant, and rich bone broth, you don’t need to add excessive seasonings, and it’s crucial to know the right timing to add salt. Let’s learn how to make delicious bone broth with a simple method below.

How to make pork bone broth

1. Prepare the ingredients

– Pork bone: 4kg

– Ginger: 20 grams

2. Cook the pork bone broth

Step 1: Prepare the ingredients

– After buying the pork bone, soak it in clean water for about 3 hours. During this time, change the water once in the middle and then rinse the bone thoroughly. This step helps remove blood and the characteristic odor of pork bone.

– Peel and wash the ginger, then slice it into thin strands.

Step 2: Parboil the pork bone

– Place a pot on the stove, put the rinsed bone into the pot, and add water until the bones are fully submerged.

– Add the ginger strands to the pot of bone broth and boil on high heat for about 10 minutes. While boiling, use a large spoon to skim off any foam that floats to the surface. This foam is excess blood in the bones, so you need to skim it off to get rid of the characteristic odor.

Step 3: Simmer the bone broth

– Remove the bone from the pot, rinse it with warm water, and set it aside. Then, put the parboiled bones into another pot, add hot water, and simmer over low heat without covering the pot. If you see any blood foam floating in the middle of the simmering bone broth, skim it off completely to eliminate the characteristic odor. If the broth starts to run low, add boiling water to the pot.

– After simmering the bones for about 3 hours, you will see that the bone broth turns milky white. When the color of the broth matches your desired preference, you don’t need to add any more water.

– After simmering for about 10 minutes more, the bone broth will become even thicker. At that point, just add a bit of salt to taste. This step is crucial because adding salt too early will make the bone broth lose its white color and aromatic flavor.

Now, you have a “standard” pot of bone broth that is perfect for making hot pots, soups, pho, or porridge.

3. Notes when simmering pork bones

– To make the bone broth turn milky white, soak the bones for about 3 hours to remove the blood and the characteristic odor of pork bones.

– It is recommended to parboil the bones after soaking them to eliminate any impurities and get rid of the gamey smell of pork bones.

– Simmer the bones over medium heat and avoid covering the pot. If you see the water in the pot getting low, add boiling water. After simmering the bones for about 3 hours, you will notice that the bone broth turns into a creamy white color.