I went to graduate school with a woman who worked with the forensic Anthropologist who did the autopsies for the Gainesville (FL) mass murders back in the early '90s, which involved some gruesome decapitations. One night we were all out drinking and she started saying in a really loud voice “do you all know how fucking hard it is to cut off a head? You really have to work that thing back and forth and cut away at the ligaments” etc. etc. Needless to say everyone else in the bar was pretty horrified.
She also mentioned that in Florida, whenever they go out looking for a missing and presumed murdered person, they always find a bunch of other bodies before they find the particular one they’re looking for.
As a life long vegetarian, bone disposal has never been high on my list of necessities. I think I’d also probably think human bones. Somehow it doesn’t feel that absurd until you start really thinking about it.
That was where I went as well, but the better option for both is pressure cooking. It softens the bones considerably and you get delicious high calcium broth.
Do you know if the taste is different if it’s from a pressure cooker or just boiling ?
Broths i make are always bitter …but those from restaurants are good and if I buy it (in tin metal cans) in the store it is good. So, I am making something wrong, I don’t know what. I believe boiling for a long time makes it lose volatile perfumes and maybe there is oxidation from trapped oxygen ?
Most of my broths are the result of a complete refusal to throw away anything without using it, so I can’t give a definitive answer, but I rarely get a bitter broth. Definitely gamey, depending on the bones, but rarely bitter.
Methodwise, are you bringing it to a boil and setting it just a notch past simmering or are you strongly boiling it for the duration? Are you scooping off the floating protein foam which can otherwise stick and burn? Are you certain your ingredients are fresh enough? which veggies do you use? And how long are you boiling for? There are a lot of variables!
