For Mouthwatering Bone Broth, You Need A Little Vinegar

As a home cook, one of the most deeply satisfying things you can do is make a stock. It's an excellent repository of vegetable scraps, a sublime tailor-made foundation for everything from phô to chicken noodle soup, and a nutritious culinary supplement. If you're really into maximizing nutrition, consider making bone broth. 

While many stocks are made from animal bones, bone broths really go the distance both in terms of simmering time and collagen-and-nutrient extraction (although, if you want to get technical about it, it's also a stock). There are a few foundational rules for making bone broth, primarily about the blanching and roasting of the meaty bones. But another indispensable bone broth ingredient comes in the form of vinegar, typically apple cider vinegar. You need this, not only for its slight acidic bite, but also to help extract the collagen and nutrients from the bones which give bone broth its richness and depth of flavor. 

Vinegar is an acid, after all, and as such is pretty good at breaking things down. This makes it an ideal for extracting the nutrients and collagen in the marrow, once it's able to gain access to cracked, roasted bones during the boil.

You're no doubt aware that vinegar is great at tenderizing animal protein, which is why it's so often used in marinades. Collagen is also protein, primarily found in the bone marrow and connective tissues. It breaks down into gelatin, which in its hot liquid form, is the rich essence of bone broth. It also happens that collagen is full of good stuff, according to Healthline — chiefly in the form of the amino acids glycine and proline, both of which help our bodies create and strengthen our own connective tissue.

But vinegar does more than tease out collagen. It's also instrumental in drawing out nutrients in the form of vitamins and minerals, typically zinc, calcium, and vitamins A and B. While vinegar itself is devoid of nutrients, it more than makes up for this deficiency when boiled with animal bones. In the final analysis, only bones, water, and vinegar are essential to making bone broth. The other additives are just flavoring supplements (no shade here — we're big on flavor).

As most recipes will tell you, it can take up to an entire solar day to make a batch of bone broth. Don't be dissuaded; that's why we have pressure cookers– those can accomplish the task in as little as two hours! Ideally, you'll want an assortment of bones like pig's feet, oxtail, beef knuckles, veal bones...what have you. If the bones are raw, give them a good simmer for around 20 minutes to remove flavor-altering impurities (don't worry, you won't be cheating yourself out of anything but the scummy stuff). Then roast the bones in a hot oven till they get lovely and dark — this accomplishes two things: enhanced flavor due to caramelization and cracked bones. Now you're ready for the vinegar and water to simmer.

Do you have to use apple cider vinegar in your bone broth? No — any acid will do. Most people go for apple cider vinegar because it's mild, fruity, and slightly sweet. You could squeeze a lemon in the pot; it'll accomplish the same tasks. Lastly, don't treat bone broth like chicken stock: it doesn't need to be crowded with carrots, bay leaves, whole cloves, and sundry aromatics. Garlic cloves and sea salt will serve you well. Be judicious. We promise the result will not only be luscious, it will also fill you with a pervasive sense of well-being.