Ingredients
- About 2 lbs. deer bones (I like knucklebones, they’re nice and gelatin-rich)
- 2 onions, halved*
- 1 garlic bulb, halved
- 3 celery stalks, roughly chopped
- 2 carrots, roughly chopped
- 2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. peppercorns
- 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
- optional herbs: thyme, parsley, bay leaves – about 2-3 sprigs of each
- water
- Add all of the ingredients to the bottom of your slow cooker and fill with water to the top, until everything is basically covered.
- Turn the slow cooker to low for 8-12 hours and let it simmer away.
- Once cooked, turn the slow cooker off and let it cool a bit before ladling all of the liquid through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl with a lid.
- Chill the stock in the fridge until the fat rises to the top in a hard layer.
- If desired, remove the fat once it’s hard, I usually do.
- To store the stock, keep it in quart-sized jars in the fridge for about a week or freeze. I like to freeze mine in silicone muffin tin cups (1/2 cup portions), pop them out, and then store them in freezer-safe bags. It’s best to use it within 6 months for flavor, but you could really go at least a year.
Notes
- In place of the vegetables above, you can use about 3-4 cups of veggie scraps. I keep mine frozen in a bag in the freezer.