Smoked Piggy Stock

Making Stock, or Bone Broth, is a great way to use an often-discarded part of the animal. It’s very healthy for you and is the starting point of a delicious soup!

Start by roasting or smoking the leg bones of a wild hog or domestic pig. I will usually use my charcoal grill to do this, it gives the stock a wonderful smoky flavor. I’ve use my propane smoker to do this and did not get the flavor I was hoping for, so I stick with my charcoal grill.

Stock Ingredients:

Smoked leg bones from one hog

2ish lbs carrots, peeled and chopped

2ish lbs celery, chopped

2 onions, chopped

6 cloves of garlic

6ish sprigs of rosemary

1/4 package for fresh thyme

3 Tablespoons kosher salt

3 gallons of water

2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Chop it all up and add it to whatever vessel you plan to cook your stock in. I use and electric roaster because I like to let mine go for 24-36 hours. Roasters are perfect for this because they’re fairly safe to walk away from, they’re large enough to accommodate the volume, and I can set the temp (225) and It’ll maintain there so I don’t have to worry about it boiling. Boiling makes your stock cloudy.

Once you stock is finished, strain it through a cheese cloth into a large pot. From there you can pressure can it or allow it to cool and freeze.

To pressure can, follow you pressure canners directions and process at 11lbs of pressure 20 minutes for pints, 25 minutes for quarts. Adjust your pressure to suit your altitude.

To freeze, cool your stock and freeze in vacuum sealer bags or appropriate containers.

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