The Bounty of Bones

I have by now filled our chest freezer with locally-raised meat for the coming year: beef and lamb; two dozen chickens; pork sausages and bacon. There are many pleasures to be had from buying one’s meat from local farmers. First is the pleasure of knowing that the animals are raised humanely, out of doors and on pasture, the way nature designed them to live. A happier animal is a healthier animal, and that translates to better quality meat. And it is satisfying to know that I am helping my neighbors in a very small way to keep the farm. Another pleasure is that I can choose, to some extent, the cuts of meat I want. Before the animal goes to the butcher, the farmer sends me by email a “cut sheet”, where I can designate how I want my share of the animal cut and packaged. This requires a bit of education. When we buy our meat at the supermarket, we can remain innocent of where the meat comes from; what cuts come from what parts of the animal, and what the best uses of each cut are. Somehow, it seems more responsible to know a little about the creatures who nourish us. And to have a relationship with the farmer who raises them.

Typically a whole lamb, for instance, will provide leg and shoulder roasts, loin and rib chops, shanks, stew meat, ground meat, soup bones and organs. When I order lamb and beef, I choose cuts that have the bone in when possible, because meat cooked on the bone is juicier and more flavorful than with the bone removed, and the bones can be used later for stock-making. (The rewards are worth the effort of all this planning.) I also order extra suet (the fat surrounding the loins and kidneys) for my winter birds, and marrow and knuckle bones which aren’t generally given out by the butcher unless requested.

Once the wood cookstove is lit, there is hardly a day in our household when the stock pot isn’t simmering.

Meat stocks are highly nourishing and restorative; chicken soup is, after all a traditional remedy for the flu. Not only are broths good for whatever ails us, but they add great flavor to food--be it soup, sauce or braising liquid for pot roasts and stews. And, they are very easy to make.

Ideally you will want to use a variety of bones from different parts of the animal for your stock. Knuckles and feet, for instance, are rich in gelatin; rib, neck and marrow bones impart color and flavor. If you can’t get these, collect and freeze assorted bones from cooked roasts and chops until you have enough to make a pot of stock.


Beef, Lamb or Venison Stock

6 - 8 pounds assorted bones from beef, lamb or venison (including knuckle, neck and marrow bones if available)

½ cup vinegar

2 onions, coarsely chopped
3 carrots, coarsely chopped
3 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
several sprigs of fresh thyme, (marjoram, oregano or savory can also be used) or 2 teaspoons dried herbs
1 teaspoon dried peppercorns
1 large handful fresh parsley
sea salt

If using knuckles, feet or marrow bones, place them in a non-reactive soup pot with the vinegar, and cover with cold water. Let stand 1 hour. (The vinegar draws the minerals out of the bones into the water.)

Brown the meaty bones in a roasting pan at 350 with one half of the chopped vegetables for 20 – 30 minutes. During browning baste the vegetables with the fat which accumulates in the pan. Add browned bones and vegetables to soup pot, pour off fat, and deglaze pan: add 2 cups of water to the pan, bring to a boil, and stir to loosen pan juices. Add this mixture to the soup pot with remaining vegetables.

Add more cold water to cover the bones and vegetables by at least 2 “ and bring to a boil. Skim off any brown scum that rises to the surface as the liquid comes to a boil. After the scum has been removed, reduce heat, add herbs and 1 ½ teaspoons of sea salt. Cover pot loosely. Cook at a quiet simmer for 4 – 24 hours. The longer the stock cooks, the richer and more flavorful it will be. (If the liquid is reduced below the level of the bones during cooking, add more water to cover).

Strain stock through a colander, pressing liquid out of meat and vegetables with a wooden spoon. Cool, degrease and strain again through a fine-meshed sieve or cheesecloth. Adjust seasonings, adding salt if necessary.

If you are not planning to use the stock within a week, freeze in pint or quart containers. If your freezer space is at a minimum, boil the stock down to a rich concentrate and freeze in small batches that can later be reconstituted with the addition of water.


Chicken Stock

1 large chicken carcass or 2 – 3 pounds of chicken parts, such as necks, backs, wings and breastbones

gizzards from one chicken (optional)
feet from one chicken (optional)
2 tablespoons of vinegar
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 carrots, coarsely chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
thyme or marjoram, fresh sprigs or dried
1 handful fresh parsley
1 ½ teaspoon sea salt
10 whole peppercorns

Place chicken parts or bones in a non-reactive soup pot with vinegar and vegetables. Cover with water by several inches. Let stand 30 minutes to 1 hour, to draw out minerals from the bones. Bring to a boil, remove scum that rises to the surface, and add the herbs, salt and peppercorns. Reduce heat, cover and simmer gently for 4 to 24 hours. Add water during cooking if necessary.

Strain, degrease and adjust for salt and other seasonings as in the above recipe for meat stocks.

Preserving our Roots

Carrots and beets, that is! Every home garden should have a row of fall carrots—that most reliable of keeping vegetables -- and one of beets for winter eating. If you don’t have a garden, most market farmers have extra root vegetables at the end of the season, and would be happy to supply you with them.

This year my row of fall carrots got a late start, so I have ordered extra from a friend. Next week I will put her large, sweet storage carrots and beets –unwashed, but with tops cut just above the root and clods of dirt brushed off—into damp wood shavings in lidded plastic tubs in my unheated cellar. Then, through the long winter, a ready supply of locally-grown, fresh vegetables is only a few steps away—at the bottom of my cellar stairs.

Carrots and beets like cold, damp storage, such as an unheated cellar. Onions, garlic, and squash want cool, dry storage—the closet of a spare bedroom on the north side of the house, or an attic, or cool entryway off the kitchen. When you start thinking about it, its not hard to come up with places where you can squirrel away winter vegetables, and you’ll be glad you did. They taste so much better than anything you can buy in the supermarket, come January.

Before canning and refrigeration, the most common method of vegetable and fruit preservation was cold storage of food in its natural state. When the first English settlers arrived in New England almost 400 years ago, they were unprepared for the harshness of our winters. The houses they built resembled those they had known in English villages—but with a difference: in the New World they needed cellars to preserve the harvest which was essential to their survival. Many of our older houses have stone-walled cellars, whose purpose originally was not to house furnaces and hot water tanks, but to store food during the winter. Now most basements are too warm for keeping food. But all is not lost if you don’t have an unheated cellar. A corner furthest from the furnace can be partitioned off to achieve the desired coldness (32 – 40 degrees). A basement window well with the light blocked can be used for mini cold storage, as can the steps of a bulkhead door. A handy piece of equipment to have is a wireless thermometer. I tuck one down cellar near the vegetables, and monitor it from the kitchen.

The beauty of storing root vegetables in damp shavings in tubs with lids is that high humidity is maintained (without having to humidify a large space) and rodents are kept out. Experts recommend that a change of air is necessary to keep the vegetables fresh, but I have found that opening the bins several times a week in the normal course of collecting food seems to do well enough. Moisten the shavings evenly before layering with the roots. The vegetables may touch but not crowd each other. Put a good layer of wood shavings between each layer of vegetable. Cardboard boxes work well, too. The wood shavings tend to dry out faster in cardboard than plastic, and will need to be refreshed with water every month or so. I have not experimented with them, but clean sand or sawdust can be substituted for wood shavings. Parsnips, turnips and kohlrabi can also be stored this way.

This year we ate our last stored carrot July 1—eight months after we put it away. It was still sweet and amazingly crisp—and it had never been refrigerated. To my mind, that is independence!


Carrots are the workhorse of winter cooking, receding somewhat into the background as the aromatic base for soups and stews. Beets, while not quite as versatile as the carrot, are delicious roasted or grated raw in salad. Both are nourishing; packed with vitamins and minerals. Studies done in France, where the carrot is revered as the savory basis of almost everything, suggest that raw carrots alleviate digestive ailments, lower blood cholesterol, and reduce the risk of lung cancer in smokers. Beets, which were developed by German gardeners in the middle ages, are so concentrated, nutritionally speaking, that many vitamins are derived from them. Beets and their tops contain substances that detoxify the liver and clean the blood. In Europe beets are used in cancer therapy.

Roasting root vegetables sweetens and caramelizes them. Large carrots often have a woody core which is best cut out before cooking. Beets bleed when cut, so if you don’t want their juices staining other foods in the dish, cook them separately or roast in the oven with skins on, and slip off the skins when cooked. (I happen to love the jewel-like stain beets impart to other root vegetables when cooked together!)

Oven Roasted Carrots and Beets

Preheat oven to 400 F.

6 medium carrots
6 medium beets
¼ cup olive oil
Salt and pepper

Wash, peel and trim the ends of carrots and beets and cut them into pieces that are roughly the same size and shape.

In a large bowl, toss the carrots and beets together with the olive oil, and season generously with salt and pepper. Spread the vegetables evenly in a baking pan in a single layer, and roast, uncovered, stirring and tossing occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, for 20 to 45 minutes.

Serves 4 to 6


Salad of Beet, Apple and Endive

2 medium beets, trimmed, peeled and quartered
1 medium apple, peeled and quartered
1 head of curly endive, or lettuce, rinsed, dried and torn into pieces
Balsamic vinegar, or blueberry vinegar
Olive oil
1 shallot, peeled and chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Fresh chopped parsley
Goat or Roquefort cheese, crumbled (optional)

Grate the beets and apple in a food processor, or by hand. Put into a bowl with chopped shallot, 1 TBL vinegar, and 2 ½ TBL olive oil. Mix, and let rest for 15 minutes to marinate.

Prepare the greens: right before serving whisk 1 TBL vinegar with salt and pepper to taste in a bowl. Add 2 ½ TBL olive oil in a thin stream, whisking constantly. Add the endive or lettuce and toss so that the leaves are coated with the dressing. Arrange the leaves on a serving platter. Toss the beets one more time and mound atop the lettuce, leaving the lettuce showing around the edges.

Garnish with crumbled cheese, if desired, and chopped parsley.

Serves 4 to 6

Pesto, but Hold the Basil

Now that basil flourishes in my garden, releasing its heady fragrance at the touch and making a grand gesture of sliced tomatoes or the simplest of pasta dishes, I am reminded to put up some jars of pesto for the winter.

No sooner are we in mid-summer swing in our short growing season than fall and an unexpected frost are right around the corner. Basil is the tenderest of plants; its leaves will blacken at the first nip of frost. A year’s supply of this most delectable herb can be lost in a twinkling of an eye to the first cold snap, while we are too busy harvesting everything else in the garden.

The aromatic pungency of basil is distinctly Mediterranean—its flavor and fragrance take us on a Roman holiday. Basil is the queen of global gourmet, tasting dramatically of summer’s heat--a fine match for other southern European imports like tomato and pasta.

Pesto comes from the Italian, meaning to pound, or crush. Known since Roman times, this pungent sauce of crushed herbs, garlic and oil originated in the Genoese countryside, where a particularly intense basil grows wild. The addition of cheese and nuts is a regional variation. (Commercially prepared pesto generally contains both.) A version called pistou made simply with basil, garlic and oil comes from Provence, where it is used to flavor the hearty vegetable soups which are a specialty of that region.

Pesto is traditionally made by crushing the herbs and garlic in small batches with a mortar and pestle; a food processor makes the job easier, though purists would say that the mortar and pestle bring out more flavor. The herbs and garlic are chopped finely in the processor, then oil is added in a thin stream with the motor running until blended to a smooth paste. Cheese, nuts or other flavorings are added last.

Several years ago I began thinking about what herbs and greens more suited to our northern climate could be preserved pesto-style in oil to liven up our winter fare of bean soups, stews, and roasted root vegetables. At this stage in my life I am more interested in native-ness than novelty. I no longer want to spend time pampering plants that are--however attractive—out of place in our climate and food culture. Nothing about basil relates to the scents or tastes of the North; Basil and balsam? Basil and venison? Basil and potato? --quite incongruous!

Here is my short list of alternatives to basil for pesto making:

Over the years I have grown to appreciate parsley for its vigor, versatility, and year-round ability to make simple foods special. Its sweet-sour flavor is enhanced by garlic and goes beautifully with traditional New England food, from venison to braised cabbage and corn salad. I have harvested parsley from under the snow in December, and if I had to grow only one herb, this would be it. While I still preserve basil for winter pastas, I keep a jar of parsley pesto always at hand. My favorite variety this year is Gigante d’Italia, a flat-leaved Italian heirloom with an unusual sweetness (from Fedco Seeds).

Kale, Swiss chard, and arugula (rocket) thrive in our cool fall temperatures and also make delicious pesto. Kale and chard should be cooked before processing. I use chard pesto as a sauce for roasted beets. Spicy arugula can be combined with basil, walnuts, garlic and lemon juice for an interestingly different sauce. Try a pesto made with mint, garlic, pine nuts and lemon juice with crumbled goat cheese and lamb.

Basic Parsley Pesto made with garlic and oil is my kitchen essential; great as a base for salad dressings, sauces, or brushed on grilled meats and fish. A dollop of it will enliven any soup. Nuts or cheese can be added to the basic recipe even after the mixture has been frozen and thawed.

2 cups packed parsley leaves, washed and dried
4 large garlic cloves, peeled, green centers removed (or to taste)
½ -1 cup good quality olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Freshly squeezed lemon juice (optional)

Using the steel blade in the processor, drop garlic cloves into the bowl with the motor running to finely chop garlic. Add the parsley leaves and continue to process until they are chopped fine. Add oil in a thin stream until the pesto has reached a desired consistency (thinner, if adding cheese or nuts). Taste, and add salt and pepper, or a dash of fresh lemon juice for more zest.


Kale Pesto made from Tuscan kale (cavolo nero) has a distinct flavor, delicious as a spread on hearty bread, or an enrichment to bean and vegetable soup. I grow Tuscan kale just for this purpose. Kale, cabbage or Swiss chard may also be used in this recipe. Kale is tougher and may need more cooking; cabbage produces a more delicately flavored pesto.

1 lb Tuscan kale, kale, Swiss chard or ½ cabbage
3/4 tsp coarse sea salt
2 garlic cloves
½ cup or more extra virgin olive oil

Carefully wash the kale, chard or cabbage in a sinkful of warm water. Remove the tough central ribs of kale or chard and the core of cabbage. If using cabbage, cut the head into chunks.

Steam the greens or cabbage for 10 or 15 minutes or until tender. Kale will take longer to cook than cabbage. Refresh briefly in chilled water, and drain and squeeze to remove all excess moisture.

Puree the vegetable, garlic, oil and salt in the food processor to form a smooth, stiff paste. Store in the refrigerator in a glass jar, covered with a layer of oil, where it will keep for a week or more.


Note: Pesto can be stored in the fridge for up to four weeks (herb pestos last longer refrigerated than cooked vegetable versions), and frozen for up to one year. I use small mason jars for freezing. When pesto is exposed to the air a natural enzymatic action will cause it to darken. This discoloration does not indicate spoilage. Top pesto with olive oil as you use it to prevent air from discoloring the pesto.