Chicken Broth in a Slow Cooker

[jmh]

Has anyone ever tried making chicken broth in a slow cooker (crock pot)?
I found this recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-Br ... ismetric=0
that only calls for chicken (or any meat), celery chunks, carrot chunks, onion, and basil.

The first time I made it, it was WONDERFUL! and I highly recommend it. However, my question is whether you can cook this too long. The first time I cooked it for 8-9 hours on Low (calls for 10) and it was great. This second time, I slept in! (who would have thought?) and it cooked for 12 hours! When I woke up, it smelled overcooked to me (maybe a little burned). It still had all the fluid in it, but was much darker. My husband doesn't notice much difference. Am I crazy?

All that aside, it is a super easy and wonderful tasting broth ... when you do it right :}

Judy

[JFR]

I make all kinds of broth in a slow cooker. I can't eat chicken but I make turkey broth, pork broth and lamb broth. I cook it for about 24 hours. You really can't cook it too long. Longer cooking times are supposed to allow more of the nutrients to leach from the bone.

Jean

[jmh]

OK, Thanks Jean. I did decide to give it a shot and had it over my rice for lunch. While it was different, it wasn't bad tasting. I must say I liked the milder taste of the first batch, but if this one is more nutritious, I'll go with it.

Thanks again!
Judy

[JFR]

Judy - I don't know whether the longer cooking time actually makes the broth more nutritious but that's the claim.

Jean

[tex]

Maybe it's just me (I don't claim to know how to cook), or may be it's my cheap slow cooker/crock pot, but I find it rather easy to burn things, depending on ingredients, and heat setting, unless I stir it now and then. This happens after ingredients stick to the sides or bottom — after they stick, they will begin to scorch/burn. I cook a lot of stews and chili in a slow cooker, and I usually find it necessary to stir it early in the process (when there is just meat and onions), and late in the process, when all the ingredients are in. I will admit that these are very thick stews/chilis, and that presumably makes the problem worse, but still . . . this is something that isn't supposed to happen with slow cookers. Is it?

I usually cook stew on high, for 8–9 hours, and chili for 5–6 hours. Stirring it whenever I add ingredients is usually sufficient, but in the latter stages, it seems to need stirring at least about once an hour, to prevent any problems, if I allow it to continue to simmer. There may be temperature and heat distribution differences between various designs of slow cookers that cause this problem. Mine will reach simmering temperatures even on low, and that seems to be enough to make things stick, but of course the problem is much more likely when the temp is set on high.

I notice that plastic liners (similar to oven bags) are sold specifically for slow cookers, to prevent ingredients from sticking. So apparently I'm not the only one who has noticed that slow cookers still need to be stirred once in a while, to prevent sticking/scorching.

And yes, Judy, early on I ruined a perfectly good stew by allowing it to simmer too long without stirring. After it darkened, it was still edible, but it was no longer gourmet quality, IMO. These days I tend to err on the side of caution (by stirring it roughly every hour), and I haven't had any more scorching problems.

Tex

[jmh]

Thanks Tex. I will keep that in mind. Although I don't usually have to stir during the cooking process for most dishes. But this one definitely had a much longer cooking time. In this recipe, the liquid was filled almost all the way to the top, so there wasn't much room for buildup to burn, and not much liquid cooked out. I'm wondering if it's just the meat in it that cooked too long. Next time I may try cooking the meat until half way through, then deboning and throwing the bones back in until the cooking process is finished. My first batch was so good that I couldn't stop singing the praises for this broth! Guess I should just stick to the 9 hours for a better tasting broth.

Judy

[Hopeful]

Judy - that's exactly what I do. Cook for 8 hours on low, remove meat from bones (otherwise it's way overcooked) and throw the bones back in the broth for another 12 hours. I always cook on low and don't lift the lid too often. Hardly any of it evaporates this way.

[jmh]

Thanks, Hopeful. I do believe I'll try that next time. I appreciate the feedback!

Judy

[gac]

Since I cannot eat any vegetables except white potatoes and sometimes carrots, could I cook vegetables and drink the broth, just to get the vitamins from the veggies, discarding the veggies? I love frozen mixed vegetables and have 2 bags in my freezer that I bought for making soup but now cannot eat, absolutely unable to even try as my intestines are far too fragile to even try any veggies. But I wondered about somehow cooking the veggies and using the broth, discarding the veggies. I tried cooking the veggies and pureeing them, thinking if I made it easy on my intestines to digest and absorb them, it would be easier. But even one tablespoon made me sick (oh heck, everything I eat makes me sick!!!!! and I've been like this for over a year). When I see so many other people who seem to have such varied diets doing so well, I wonder what I am doing wrong. But then I remember I started out in Intensive Care with this a year ago and have had a very long battle this year. Yesterday was another difficult day for some unknown reason as I spent hours unable to leave the bathroom/taking showers/washing clothes/wearing a diaper again.

I'm going to try making bone broth. I really like beef and seem to handle beef well. Pork and I do not like each other. Chicken and I may have said good-bye to each other this week when I got so sick again. I have tried sunflower and cashew butter but both are expensive and not going to be a good alternative for my peanut butter, which does not seem to be making me sick. So for now, three meals a day of peanut butter again. Yesterday all I ate was herbal tea for intestinal problems and GF saltine crackers for 10 hours plus huge amounts of immodium until my intestines settled down again. All is quiet for the past 16 hours so I am back on the peanut butter.

Will try bone broth when someone can get to the store to buy the bones for me. Very frustrated again as I remain a prisoner in my house.

Gail

[Grahm]

Gail,

I'm sorry you are so terribly sick....When I first started I made beef broth and then put potatoes and carrots in that, it was pretty mushy but tasted wonderful and it didn't go through me. I remember craving salt, lots of it.

Hope you can tolerate it.

Love,
Connie

[twirlitgirl]

Judy, I like the idea of bone broth in a slow cooker, will have to try it and see how it goes, thanks for the suggestion and recipe ,
Gail I hope you feel better soon. take care and keep healing.

[gac]

I crave salt also. Will be adding potatoes and carrots when I think my poor sick gut can handle it. Right now, I feel so terrible again that just the broth would be a welcome soothing drink.

[tex]

Gail,

Just to be on the safe side, it might be a good idea to cook the bone broth and freeze most of it (maybe in individual serving sizes) and then if it seems to work OK, try using some of the bone broth to to cook the vegetables (and then strain out the vegetables). Or you could do as you suggested, cook the vegetables without the broth, and try the juice from that.

A number of members here have tried "juicing" without much success, but they used raw vegetables (IOW, they used a conventional juicing process). Cooking the vegetables and straining out all the fiber might be more likely to work OK. If you can tolerate the juice from vegetables cooked in bone broth it would be much more nutritious than vegetable juice alone.

Good luck with this, and keep us posted.

Tex

[gac]

If I could tolerate the vegetable broth alone, I would mix it in with the bone broth but did not want to contaminate the bone broth. Last time I cooked wonderful beef and stock and added vegetables and cooked them and pureed the vegetables and I couldn't eat any of it, just couldn't digest the over-cooked vegetables and had to discard everything. So I gave up on the vegetables. And what is strange is that I was able to eat vegetables soup in the first 2 to 6 months of my diagnosis. Not any longer. It is like I have developed an allergy to all of these cooked vegetables, even pureed. But I was trying to get the nutrition from the cooked vegetables thru the broth, then discard the veggies. If I could tolerate the broth, I'd mix it with beef broth. I don't know if it would also make me sick.

Heck, at this point, everything is making me sick again. So FRUSTRATING!!!!!!!! I'm searching so hard to find any foods that will fill my stomach and not make me sick. I am hungry all the time but afraid to eat anything. I was eating chicken, broth, and white potatoes this week and got violently sick so I froze it and said I'd try it in a couple months.

[hollyweb]

Hi Gail,

I'm so sorry these issues have been continuing with you. I appreciate how hard you've been trying to figure out what it is that is causing such inflammation to your intestines.

I wanted to share just a couple of observations, keeping in mind that I'm still new and figuring out my "safe" foods also. Like you, things that I was able to eat without problem even a few months ago are now definitely "not safe", many of them being greens and fruits, but also other things. Another interesting development for me is that I was doing very well with organic peanut butter (no soy added), but decided I should try the Sunbutter instead to avoid the legume issue associated with peanuts. I've found I don't do well with the Sunbutter, and the main reason I'm thinking may be that it does contain added sugar. I noticed the sweetness right away when I tried it, and realized that I haven't had foods with much sugar in several months.

That brings up a couple of questions. In researching soy allergies (I realize the research isn't directed at people with MC), it often states that people who are allergic/intolerant of soy are not necessarily going to have problems with other legumes. Since we are all so different, is it indeed possible that I can tolerate organic peanut butter even though I am eliminating soy from my diet? (By the way, I purchased a newer version of Sunbutter and it is clearly labeled "NO SOY" in addition to being gluten/dairy/tree nut/8 allergen/GMO free. So I'm thinking unless I'm having a problem with sunflower seeds, the only other culprit could be the sugar.)

Another question is just that ... has anyone else experienced eating a food with sugar and that being enough to cause tummy distress, cramping, and some D?

Anyway, you've stated, Gail, that you feel peanut butter has been one of the few staple foods you really feel safe with, and I'm just adding in my 2 cents that it's certainly been that way for me, too. I realize it may not always stay that way, however.

Another comment for you, Gail, is that if you're craving salt, make sure that you are using sea salt with the minerals in it. According to Dr. Carolyn Dean and others, this is a "good" salt, and not one that is contraindicated in most cases due to health problems. If your body is craving the salt, it may be telling you that it needs help holding on to the good water and broth you've been drinking, and to keep from being dehydrated with all the D episodes.

Really good information on the different methods of cooking bone broth - thanks to everyone for those tips!

~ Holly