It’s March and winter is beginning to ebb in most places. Still, the days and evenings are yet cold enough that a hot bowl of ultra rich, unctuous broth is like the best warm hug. There are a TON of soup diaries that discuss all the many goodies to add to make some water or pre-made broth into a full and hearty meal.
But, there are not a lot of diaries about the broth itself. Which, if done properly, can be one of the heartiest meals you will ever have.
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Broth is everything. You can have the finest, freshest, most luxurious ingredients, but if the broth is bleh, then all those ingredients are wasted.
This is especially true if only one ingredient is going into the broth as it is served. In Italian cooking this is usually a pasta in brodo. “In Brodo” basically means “in broth”. And the broth has to be exquisite because pasta itself is rather plain.
The most famous pasta in broth is Tortellini in Brodo. Tortellini were developed in Bologna or Modena. The two cities have fought for centuries about it, until a compromise of Castelfranco Emilia, which is in between the cities, was agreed upon. To celebrate, the village holds a tortellini festival every year. While the first recipe appears in Bartolomo Scappi’s Opera in 1570, in the 1800s (Why is it always Victorians?) a legend sprang up that told of an innkeeper in the village in whose place Venus Herself stayed the night. The innkeeper, overcome by her beauty, peeped through the keyhole in the door, but only saw her bellybutton. And he made the pasta shape to honor that.
The key to true tortellini from the region is in the filling. It includes pork, prosciutto, mortadella, and Parmigiano Reggiano. Tortelloni, which are sightly larger, are often filled with ricotta. While Tortelloni are boiled and pan fried in butter and served dry, tortellini are cooked in broth. But nowadays, you see all sorts of fillings in American stores and all sorts of different preparations, enough to make an Italian gasp in horror.
I am hesitant to call what I made Tortellini in brodo because I just used frozen cheese tortellini from the store. If I did that and made a video calling it Italian Tortellini in Brodo, I would be flamed by Italians all over the world. And also, this diary is mainly all about the broth.
In Medieval times, the Italian nobility loved their brodo, which was usually made with capon. While I did see one in one of my stores this past year, I ain’t spending that kind of money. Neither did everyone else who wasn’t nobility. The Great Unwashed used whatever parts they could get their hands on. Nowadays, brodo is made with a combination of beef and chicken.
And I know I’m being maddening switching back and forth between brodo and broth. But here is my recipe for a deep, rich, unctuous nutrition heavy broth that’s good enough that it needs nothing.
So I started with some beef bones. I had those round bones with marrow in the middle—I used to remember they came with every round steak in the supermarket until suppliers realized the money in selling just the bones for marrow and for stock. Whatever. I miss that. I also had a couple of what looked like neck bones, but they had a LOT of fat on them that felt more like suet, so they were probably lower back. Total of maybe like 3 pounds worth. I took those, as well as some carrots and a couple heads of garlic with the tops cut off, rubbed them with oil, and then gave them a quick roast
Then I built my brodo as follows: Diced onion as a base
Then I put in the beef bones, garlic, and carrots, and on top of the bones went a pound and a half of chicken feet.
Then I topped that with two one pound turkey thighs, added water, bay leaves, and peppercorns.
I set my slow cooker on low and went to bed. After 11 hours, it looked like this:
I pulled the turkey and garlic out to cool and let the rest go for around five more hours. Then I took out the bones, feet, carrots, and tried to get as much of the detritus out as I could without losing any broth. Now came the finishing touches. First, I got out as much marrow as I could from the bones and added it to the stock. Then I squeezed out the garlic, which at this time was soft with a nice flavor and added that as well. This was when I seasoned, using salt, pepper, MSG, and a couple shakes of cayenne.
I took the carrots and sliced them, and chopped up the turkey thighs.
Then I added standard supermarket brand cheese tortellini from the freezer section. This is why I decided not to call it Tortellini in Brodo as I originally wanted to put in the diary title. Cause I didn’t want to anger the spirits of the Nonnas. Once the pasta was done, I added the carrots and the turkey back in. And the finished product…
And oh my Goddess it was good. So unctuous. So deep in flavor. Seasoned perfectly. And after I had portioned and put everything in the fridge, full jellification. So I know that the broth alone has 7-10g protein in every 8oz. And you know that all that good nutrition stuff is in there, cause that’s what makes your lips sticky when you eat it. This is the kind of broth that doesn’t need anything in order to be a satisfying full meal. And those bursts of meat, carrot, and pasta? They become accents to the real star of the meal.
If you have a large slow cooker, making a deeply rich broth takes almost no effort. In fact, if you have a large enough freezer, you can make several batches for storage. Make sure you strain very well. You can also take some and put it on the stove and really reduce it to a super dense demi-glace. You can even take some and clarify it into consommé. And of course, broth like this is perfect for those cold winter afternoons when you’re blanket burrito-ed up by the fire. Sure as heck beats tea in terms of flavor.
But I don’t need to go on about the uses of such a rich bone broth.
But wait, what about a vegan/vegetarian/Lent-Friendly version?
Carrots, onions, celery, and a poblano and some jalapeños rubbed with a little grapeseed oil and roasted
Add dried mushrooms that have been soaking for hours and hours beforehand, strain the water through cheesecloth and a fine mesh sieve, and add turmeric root and ginger root. Plus a whole bunch of garlic.
After letting things go in the slow cooker for 12 hours, remove the spent veggies. I did my best to keep all the garlic, and I sliced the carrots. Everything else went out. Then I seasoned the stock and added some mushroom tortellini and some shrimp and crab ravioli—Lent friendly. The only fat in this stock besides the pasta is that little bit of oil I roasted the veggies with, plus any that was drawn out of the veggies. That little bit of oil reflected n the flash made it look like my brodo had streaks of gold in it.
After tasting, I did one final trick—I added some grated parmesan into the broth. That was the thing that brought everything together. I also recommend that in this case, when serving, place a pat of butter at the bottom of your bowl as you serve, and stir it into the broth before eating. The soup now had the body I was used to from my mom’s Christmas Eve mushroom soup. So nice.
Anyway, I’m going to be late getting home. I’m singing Brahms tonight (German Requiem) so my WFD will probably be a sammich of some sort. BUT—I will be making clams casino casserole for my weekly meals tomorrow. Can’t wait to check out all the comments with everyone’s WFD.
