Where have all the bones gone? And what the heck did I just buy? Flanken-style ribs??

M

marilynfl

Moderator
I've been at Mom's for almost 4 months and she has NEVER asked for any specific food in all that time. I know because I constantly begged her to tell me what she would like to eat. And she would always...ALWAYS say "whatever you make is fine with me."

Until yesterday, that is.

Then she said in a total aside to nothing that had anything to do with food "I really like onion soup. My mother made onion soup all the time. Could you make some?"

So there it was...her first request for a specific food. And if it was my grandmother's recipe, that mean it was poor people food. Mom said she just cooked it a long time so the broth thickens a bit and the onions are very very soft. So we're not going french style with demi-glace or gruyere or even toasted bread on top. Well...I'll do the bread and the cheese because, well, just because.

But there were NO BEEF BONES to be found. I went to Whole Foods. I went to Giant Eagle. I went to Walmart and there was NONE. All the meats were boneless hunks with the exception of a 4-inch thick $30 "cowboy chop" and I wasn't desperate enough to go that route.

I found the very thin flanken-style beef ribs with more meat than bones and I'm going to use it because it will be the only beef bones I have. And I've two remaining steaks to add more beefy flavor, but alas they are also boneless. Who ever thought I'd complain about a Delmonico and a New York strip as being found wanting?

Any suggestions on how to bring out as much beefy flavor as possible would be greatly appreciated. My track record for meat is pretty poor.

And where HAVE all the bones gone?

 
I think everyone is barbequing/smoking them. Lotsa people still home. Try:

The flanken ribs should add some beefy flavor as there is a lot of connective stuff around the bones, even though the bones are sliced thinly. And the interior of the bone will add flavor as well. Make sure you brown it really, really well before soup-ifying it--you'll add more flavor that way!

For even more flavor, try getting some chuck roast or chuck steak; even boneless will work. Pan-brown the meat really well, get a really good brown crust on it, then make sure all that good brown fond and drippings on the bottom of the pan are dissolved in broth/water and add this to your soup. There will be good beefy flavor there.

I also like to take my water for the soup and add Beef Better Than Bouillion paste, but decrease the paste by half. Like if I am using a quart of water, I would add 2 teaspoons of beef paste instead of 4. Gives extra flavor and will not make it too salty. You could also add this at the end of your cook before you salt to taste as well.

 
Oh flanken ribs. I would marinate those in some soy mix and grill those babies. I actually

prefer and have always used a rich chicken broth for onion soup--one made by boiling a whole chicken for the broth. OR using a carcass of a roast chicken that I have browned before using it for making the broth.
I use Jilia's recipe that uses some red wine also and of course, the long cooking of the onions is the real flavor.
But I can't answer about the bones. Maybe it is part of the cutback in processing plants and delivery.

 
Not wings for sure. Just whole chicken or leg quarters which are often cheap. Then use the

Beef Better than Bouillon for any salt if you want.

 
I noticed this a long time ago, that bones were dissapearing. When I inquired,

I'd get answers like, "no one wants bones in their meat anymore," etc. What!
Then I noticed all the bone broth coming out on the market, and read how good bone broth is for us and more hype. I refuse to buy bone broth. We already have good beef stock on the market, why do we need bone broth? I complain when my meat cutting shop has specific roasts without bones and I ask for one with bones. I want them to know that there is a need for bones in my cooking.

 
Welcome to my world with no bones

When I lived in Minnesota I had a wonderful butcher shop that made huge bags of bones available to me. So when we moved to Kauai I was surprised to find NO BONES! Almost everything we consume is shipped to Kauai- so most all meat is shipped in without bones because of the extra shipping cost. Chicken parts with bones and skin are even very hard to find. There is local beef and pork but most bones go to a commercial place called "Bone Broth" that makes and ships broth for nutritional and health outlets.

Shipping fruits and veggies seems ridiculous in a way because you can grow most everything here and organic farmers are trying to change that but the cost of leasing land is outrageous so the price of organic Kauai-raised food is also outrageous.

Every Christmas Eve dinner is traditionally Julia's French Onion Soup at my house. It is a labor of love and takes me a few days as I brown bones and veggies, make the stock, cook it down then make the soup. I scavenge bones wherever I can- I have been known to buy a standing rib roast just for the bones (freeze the meat) if I can find one. Lamb chops from Costco too. And I often end up using cheaper cuts of meat too. Bones are hard to find! Since I make my own "liquid gold" stock I keep a "bone bag" in the freezer and add roasted chicken carcasses, etc. until I have a 2 gallon Zip Lock full then I make stock.

 
One more stock/ broth comment- depth of flavor tip

I have a big stand-alone freezer so I have the luxury of having a lot of room for broth. I realize this is not possible for everyone but homemade "liquid gold" is the most important thing I have in my kitchen. I try to keep two or three 10-cup rectangular Ziplock plastic containers of homemade stock/ broth at all times. Right now I have three. When my "bone bag" is full and I dump it all (still frozen) into a big pot I also take a container of homemade broth from the freezer and add it to the bones. Then I add at least 2 qt of good purchased chicken broth (I like Kirkland) and some water- to come up to at least 3/4 the height of the frozen bones. Then it all simmers for many hours. First covered then uncovered to cook down a bit. Then I let it all come to room temp because there is still bone goodness going into the liquid. Out go the bones, off goes the grease and into more containers goes the broth. Amazing broth. Right now I am eyeing a frozen turkey in the freezer, thinking about all those wonderful turkey bones.....stop me! I'm obsessed!

 
wow I'm jealous

I collect bones too but my collection is not as vast as yours. What do we call ourselves? Boners? No that would be a mistake...

 
Excellent advice...thank you. One last question: once the marrow is out and there's hardly any meat

on the bone, should I keep it in the simmering broth? In other words, does the bone keep adding to the flavor or it is the marrow and meat that adds the flavor.

So far, it's tasting pretty good.

 
I would leave it and yes

As you cook down the broth some liquid evaporates and the broth gets richer. The meat does help. I do imagine that at some point the meat has rendered all its flavor though.

If you are not intending to use the meat for anything except something like shredded with BBQ sauce later- or whatever disguise you can give overcooked meat then yes, leave it in.

 
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