Damn, I'm so proud of myself. It is the first time ever that I made chicken bone broth, and it worked beyond my expectations! Yesterday, I made Soto Ayam and decided to keep the bones instead of throwing them away. I wanted to make Chicken Bone Broth for a long time, but I always thought it would've been too time-consuming, too difficult, or not tasty.
If you don't know what Soto Ayam is, I can highly recommend this Indonesian chicken soup dish, it's the best and maybe one of my favorite meals that I enjoy eating.
Before going to bed, I talked with my uncle for a bit. He lives in the US and owns two restaurants. He is a great chef and someone who enjoys putting in the hard work. While he was showing me a meal that he made from the Star Wars movie (Nerf Kebabs) after receiving a recipe book from my brother, I took the chance to ask him about the chicken bone broth. I knew the broth had to be white-colored, and that skimming off stuff helped to keep a clean broth.
He told me to keep the broth in the refrigerator overnight and if I did a good job extracting the collagen from the bones, I should end up with a layer of fat with, hopefully, gel beneath. Hold up, this is new information for me, keep it in the refrigerator overnight? Fat? GEL? GEL? What gel? I'm making broth! He told me that the most important thing about Chicken bone broth is extracting the gel from the bones. "But don't use too much water" FML.
I realize I poured in 500-1000ml of water AFTER I saw that the water lowered (and I was like; well I need some broth, so better add some water). Due to the time difference, he had to work, and I had to sleep. I thanked him for the tips and valuable information. If I did it right, I did it right... right? So, I threw the broth in the refrigerator and decided to check it out this morning.
Holy shit. The lid was still on, and the color turned light gray/white. The color is nice. After picking up the pot, I can feel that some of the liquid inside started to move, but once lifted the lid, there was this beautiful gel looking back at me. And no layer of fat. This is why you skim! Skimming = Winning! I was super excited and showed my uncle right away, he was sleeping, but responded right away. I'm glad I told him I was trying to make the chicken bone broth, and he immediately started to share his cooking knowledge with me. I think this is pretty common in my family, we unsolicited share information and ideas about what we know with the other person.
Imagine him not doing that, I would never have put that pot in the refrigerator, and cooked the entire thing another 10 hours.
I don't know what to do with it. lol. I wanted to make a broth, and store it in the freezer (which I probably will do with the gel), I just need to make sure this is the best option to store it, or if there are other things that I should keep in mind.
Alright, so, the whole reason why I wanted to make bone broth, is because of all the health benefits that I heard about it. A friend of my roommate made this when she came over, and that was the first time that I have heard of it.
I became mainly interested in making it because it could boost the immune system (my depression back in the day really cost me a lot). Also, it is supposed to be good for the gut, your joints, and so on. Let's try it out!
Click for Soto Ayam Recipe
Either way, this gel is going to be for sure an awesome basis for my ultra-next-level-best-chicken-bone-broth-basis-for-Soto-Ayam.
Cheers,
Ruben
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