GAME OF BONES

There is an old wives tale that goes something like this… the closer the bone, the sweeter the meat. So it came as quite a surprise to my children one day when the daily inquiry of “what’s for dinner” was met with “bones”.

Bones? We are eating bones? Sometimes, I just had to play them to see the expression on their faces.

Actually, there was a serving of pasta to go along with the bones so it wasn’t just a plate of bones. To be exact, they were pork neck bones. The butcher would have thrown them out as waste. Wisely, he placed them on Styrofoam, wrapped them in cellophane, weighed them and slapped a price sticker on several packages and sold them. When roasted, pork bones are delicious.

These types of pork bones serve two purposes for me. When I am not roasting them in the oven for dinner, I will add them to a pot of Italian red sauce (or gravy, depending on how you were raised). They are a flavorful and frugal addition to my sauce; much less expensive than sausage. Pork bones are meaty and they marinate my red sauce to give it a dark red, robust flavor.

Another type of “bones” that I use often for cooking are chicken backs. If you don’t see them in the display case, you should ask the butcher if he has any available. If you shop at the grocery store where the butcher cuts chicken into parts, he just may have them.

Chicken back portions make for a starter stock that you can later use for gravies or the base for soup. The amount of meat that will flake off will astound you.  The “game of bones” is to see how inexpensively you can purchase them and see what phenomenal meal comes from it! 

SOUND THE BUGLE: Today’s tip: If you debone your own whole chickens, save the breast rib cages and chicken backs in your freezer. Gather them up when you have time and make stock with them. It will make for a healthier stock because you control the salt content and it costs you nothing extra to use what you already have on hand.

Below is a sampling of chicken backs that have been roasted or which can be used without roasting to create a chicken stock.