Bone broth, last year’s health craze, is turning into this year’s cookbook trend.
The ingredient--a liquid made from simmering animal bones and vegetables in water for hours and hours--caught the attention of the health and food worlds when New York chef Marco Canora opened Brodo, a bone-broth takeout window connected to his restaurant Hearth in Manhattan’s East Village. The item soon became, as the New York Post put it, “the new black for health- and beauty-conscious types across the city.” Celebrities caught on, too: Shailene Woodley, Kobe Bryant, and Salma Hayek attested to bone broth’s appeal.
Now, the ingredient seems set to ride a wave of popularity into the winter. Over the next few months, several new books, including one from Canora, promise to show readers the continuing wonders of bone broth.
Brodo: A Bone Broth Cookbook, by Marco Canora (Pam Krauss Books, Dec.)
In Brodo, Canora, who’s authored two preview cookbooks—Salt to Taste (Rodale, 2009), with Cathy Young, and A Good Food Day (Clarkson Potter, 2014), with Tammy Walker—explains that he became interested in bone broth while trying to turn around his health. “Twenty years of eating bread, drinking booze, smoking cigarettes, and working in kitchens really f*cked me up in a big way,” he told Grub Street last October. Brodo features a slew of broth-centric or broth-inclusive recipes (such as risottos) that aims to put readers on a similar path.
Bone Deep Broth: Healing Recipes with Bone Broth, by Lya Mojica and Taylor Chen (Sterling Epicure, Jan.)
Lya Mojica and Taylor Chen are co-owners of Bone Deep and Harmony, an online broth store that bills itself as “New York City’s First Bone Broth Subscription Service.” In their book, they provide recipes for broth as well as more substantial dishes, such as borscht and pho, to which bone broth can be added.
Bone Broth Secret: A Culinary Adventure in Health, Beauty, and Longevity, by Louise Hay and Heather Dane (Hay House, Jan. 2016)
Louise Hay, a bestselling author (You Can Heal Your Life) and the founder of Hay House, along with co-author Heather Dane, lends her considerable influence to the bone-broth trend with this cookbook. Focusing on broth’s putative health benefits, the authors deliver more than 100 broth-centric recipes, including ones for cocktails and desserts.
The Bare Bones Broth Cookbook: 125 Gut-Friendly Recipes to Heal, Strengthen, and Nourish the Body, by Katherine and Ryan Harvey (Harper Wave, Jan.)
Katherine and Ryan Harvey are co-founders of the Bare Bones Broth Company, an online broth retailer based in Medford, Ore. Their book includes recipes for straightforward bone broths as well as more developed dishes (frittata, short-rib stew, collared greens) that feature the ingredient. Such culinary versatility reflects the authors’—as well as many other bone broth backers’—view that the stuff can be worked into almost any recipe. “You can use it in soups, stews, braising, sautéing,” Ryan Harvey told Fast Company. “It’s a versatile and powerful ingredient.”
