How to Make Meat Stock for GAPS | How We Flourish (2024)
by How We Flourish
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Last week we learned how to make bone broth. But did you know that while on GAPS Intro, you should actually be making meat stock? Read on to learn the different and how to make meat stock for GAPS.
Now, before any of you chefs get all over me for terminology, I’m fully aware that the real food community has kinda gotten these two things backwards. See, in the culinary world, broth is made from meat and stock is made from bones. In the healing diet world, it’s the opposite! So please forgive me as I talk about these two things using the terminology that is used throughout the GAPS and paleo worlds.
One of the biggest things that people do not realize about GAPS Intro is that there is no bone broth involved! If you are considering Intro, you probably know all about bone broth, its healing powers, and how everyone that needs to heal their gut is drinking it. As I discussed last week, it really is great stuff. Dr. Natasha recommends both bone broth and meat stock for people who are healing, as they have very different nutrient profiles.
However, meat stock is considered much more gentle on the gut. The connective tissues and marrow that comes from the bone-on meat used to make this stock is also incredibly healing and an essential part of the GAPS Intro protocol. Bone broth is a fantastic addition to the diet, and I consume it every day. But some people are sensitive to it, or it can be too strongly detoxifying. It is best to stick to just meat stock at the beginning.
Meat stock is made by taking meat on the bone (such as a whole chicken or a package of beef soup bones) and boiling it in filtered water for a short period of time, just until the meat is cooked. For chicken, this will be about an hour to an hour and a half. I always cook the giblets and a couple chicken feet with the whole chicken for extra nourishment. Beef takes about 3 hours. Even with the short cooking time, I find that my meat stock always gels very nicely. I love seeing that healing jiggle!
Once you have made your stock, you can use it however you like. Take the meat, add some vegetables, and make it into soup, as I do with my many GAPS Intro recipes. Or eat the meat separately and either drink the broth on the side, or use it to make a vegetable puree soup. I have recipes for these in Healing Patiently.
However you make your broth, what is important is that you are drinking it! Whether in a soup, used to cook up vegetables or legumes, or drunk straight out of a mug, broth and stock are essential additions to your healing diet.
This nourishing broth is an essential part of the GAPS Intro protocol. It will help heal and seal the gut, and it tastes delicious, too!
Ingredients
Meat on the bone: A whole chicken with giblets, beef soup bones, joints, marrow bones, etc.
Filtered water
Instructions
Place the meaty bones in a large stock pot and cover with filtered water.
Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce to a simmer.
Cook until the meat is cooked all the way through, up to 3 hours.
Strain the meat and bones out to yield a delicious and nourishing broth.
Reserve meat, skin, connective tissues, and marrow to be consumed. Any soft parts that you do not want to consume can be blended up with some broth and added back into soups as a way to hide them.
Store in glass in the refrigerator for up to 7 days or freeze for several months.
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The benefit of meat stock is that it's more gentle and easy to digest and it's what to use on GAPS, but particularly during the GAPS Intro Diet. If you have a diagnosis of Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) you want to stick with meat stock.
Stock is especially rich in gelatin and free amino acids, like proline and glycine. These amino acids, along with the gelatinous protein from the meat and connective tissue, are particularly beneficial in healing and strengthening connective tissue such as that found in the lining of the gut.
A gap in a stock occurs when a stock's price jumps between the close of one candlestick and the open of the next. Typically, this is seen on daily charts when a stock opens at a very different price than the price at which it closed the day before. Stocks can gap up or down.
A stock gap is a large jump in a stock's price after the market closes, usually due to some news. When a gap has been filled, this means the stock's price has returned to its "normal" price; the pre-gap price. This happens quite often as the price settles after irrational buying and trading has stopped after the news.
According to some studies, bone broth may be high in glutamate. Glutamate may cause adverse effects such as anxiety, restlessness, low energy, mental exhaustion, sleeplessness, and concentration problems, although there is no scientific evidence to prove this.
Beef stock, derived from beef marrow bones, can help maintain a healthy gut and contribute to overall well-being. Incorporating homemade beef stock into your diet is a wonderful way to nourish your body and make the most of its digestive benefits.
From a GAPS point of view, bone broth doesn't normally get introduced until The Full GAPS Diet due to it being cooked for much longer than a meat stock (36-48 hours). It's great for health maintenance but is too strong to heal and seal leaky gut which is generally what we're starting with when doing gut healing.
Just bring to the boil then turn down to simmer slowly for hours. Remember: if you want a darker, richer stock, brown off the bones and vegetables first before adding water to simmer. If you don't have enough bones from one meal to make a rich stock, freeze them and pull them out when you do.
The trick with stock is to roast the bones first to get some caramelized flavor going, then to slowly heat them in water until a bare simmer, and then let them cook that way, gently, for a good long time. With beef stock, it helps to include some beef scraps or stew meat, as well as aromatic vegetables and herbs.
Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook for at least 10-12 hours, or until reduced by 1/3 or 1/2, leaving you with 6-8 cups of bone broth. The more it reduces, the more intense the flavor becomes and the more collagen is extracted. We find 12 hours to be the perfect cook time.
When it comes to cooking time at least. There's a limit to how much flavor a given ingredient will impart—past that, extra time just turns everything to mush. Big beef or lamb bones can be cooked for up to eight hours, or overnight.
Meat stock is milder in flavor than bone broth. The gelatin found in the joints and knuckles of bones is one of the most prominent “superfoods” for healing a leaky gut, helping to protect and heal the lining of the digestive tract and regenerate cells. It also aids in the digestion and absorption of nutrients.
Introduction: My name is Rueben Jacobs, I am a cooperative, beautiful, kind, comfortable, glamorous, open, magnificent person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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