Well by larissa

The forgotten rules of traditional broth making. Part two.

Because there were too many rules to fit in one reel and your great grandmother knew all of them without ever writing them down.

**Keep the lid slightly ajar**
A partially covered pot controls evaporation and maintains a gentle simmer. Replenish with hot water when necessary to prevent the broth from becoming too concentrated.

**Save the fat**
That golden layer of chicken or beef fat was never discarded. Once separated it cooked potatoes, sautéed vegetables, and added richness to everything else that week. The most nourishing cooking fat in the kitchen and it came completely free from the broth.

**Cool before removing the fat**
Chilling allows the fat to solidify on the surface making it easy to lift off and save separately. Cool broth promptly in an ice bath rather than leaving a large pot sitting out at room temperature.

**Longer is not always better**
A few hours produces deeply flavorful chicken broth. Tougher beef cuts benefit from longer cooking. The goal is flavor and body, not the longest cooking time. Traditional cooks knew when it was done by taste and smell, not a timer.

**The best broth was never wasted**
It became the foundation for soups, sauces, stews, grains, and dumplings. A single pot nourished a family through several meals. Nothing was ever discarded and nothing was ever without a purpose.

Traditional broth making was never about extracting collagen. It was about making the most of what you had, respecting every ingredient, and creating something deeply comforting from the simplest foods. The secret was never learning something new. It was remembering what generations before us already knew.

Comment BROTH below and I’ll send you my Bone Broth Bible straight to your DMs, every traditional broth making secret written down so you never have to figure it out alone.

European broth making secrets. Part one.

Long before bone broth became a wellness trend, a pot of broth was a staple in kitchens across Europe. From Czech vývar to Polish rosół, generations understood that making a beautiful broth required patience, intention, and a few simple techniques. Here are the forgotten rules worth bringing back.

**Always begin with cold water**
Bones and meat covered with cold water and slowly brought to a simmer. This gradual heating encourages proteins to rise to the surface making them easier to skim away.

**A proper broth should barely move**
Forget the rolling boil. Traditional clear broths were cooked at the gentlest simmer with just an occasional bubble breaking the surface. This keeps the broth beautifully clear and prevents fat from emulsifying into the liquid.

**Roast your onion with the skin on**
An old trick used in Czech and Polish kitchens. Cut an onion in half and char the cut side in a dry pan before adding it to the pot. The caramelized surface lends a beautiful amber color and deeper flavor.

**Use the parts modern kitchens throw away**
Chicken backs, necks, feet, beef knuckles, and joints were prized for their ability to create a rich gelatinous broth. Traditional cooks understood that the most nourishing parts were not always the most expensive.

**Don’t peel everything**
Clean carrot peels, parsley roots, celery root, and vegetable trimmings all contribute flavor. In European broths root vegetables are essential to that characteristic earthy sweetness.

Part two coming soon with five more forgotten rules including how traditional kitchens saved the fat, cooled the broth, and made sure nothing was ever wasted.

Comment BROTH below and I’ll send you my Bone Broth Bible straight to your DMs, every traditional broth making secret written down so you never have to figure it out alone.

The warm breakfast your digestion has been asking for and it is just lentils, bone broth, butter, and kale.

Red lentils soaked overnight and slow cooked in bone broth with kale stirred in at the end and finished with a generous pat of cultured butter. Warm, silky, deeply nourishing, and asking almost nothing of your digestion before the day has even started.

Here is what this bowl is actually doing:

Soaking the lentils overnight breaks down the phytic acid making the iron, folate, and magnesium actually available to absorb.
Bone broth cooked directly into the lentils means every bite absorbs collagen, glycine, and minerals that plain water simply cannot deliver. The gelatin soothes the gut lining with every bite.
Kale stirred in at the very end adds vitamin K, calcium, and iron in a form the butter carries directly into your cells.
Ghee adds butyrate that feeds the cells lining your gut and fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K that make everything else absorb more efficiently.

Warm food first thing meets your digestive fire exactly where it is rather than suppressing it with something cold. Your stomach acid stays at full strength. Your enzymes stay active. Your nervous system receives a safety signal before the day has asked anything of you.

Four ingredients, one pot, fifteen minutes. The breakfast your digestion has always been asking for without knowing what to call it.

Comment WARM below and I’ll send you my Warm Mornings Cookbook straight to your DMs, over 30 warm nourishing breakfast recipes both savory and sweet built around exactly this philosophy.

You only need three ingredients and five minutes for the most nourishing sweet breakfast you can make.

A grain, coconut milk and fruit.

That is the whole formula and it works with whatever you have! Quinoa soaked overnight and cooked in coconut milk with berries simmered in. Millet in coconut milk with dates and blueberries. Cream of wheat in coconut milk with mango and honey. The grain changes, the fruit changes, the bowl is always warm, always creamy, always deeply satisfying, and always doing something your cold breakfast simply cannot.

Here is why this formula works every single time:

Any grain cooked low and slow in coconut milk rather than water absorbs medium chain fatty acids that are some of the most easily digested fats available, producing a naturally creamy base that is significantly more nourishing than grain cooked in water alone.

Fruit simmered directly into the warm grain releases its natural sweetness, vitamin C, and antioxidants into every bite rather than sitting cold on top.

The warmth signals safety to the nervous system and meets your digestive fire exactly where it is before the day has asked anything of you.

Warm, sweet ingredients, five minutes. The foundational sweet breakfast recipe your mornings have been missing.

Comment WARM below and I’ll send you my Warm Mornings Cookbook straight to your DMs, over 30 warm nourishing breakfast recipes both savory and sweet built around exactly this kind of simple intentional nourishing cooking.

POV you want a sweet breakfast that is actually good for your digestion.

Quinoa soaked overnight and slow cooked in full fat coconut milk with berries simmered directly in, topped with fresh berries and pumpkin seeds. Sweet, creamy, warm, and asking almost nothing of your digestion before 9am.

Most sweet breakfasts, cold cereal, overnight oats from the fridge, a smoothie bowl packed with frozen fruit, arrive at a digestive system that is just waking up and ask it to work harder than it is ready to. This does the opposite. Warm food first thing signals safety to the nervous system, meets your digestive fire where it is, and arrives already softened by heat so your gut barely has to work.

Soaking the quinoa overnight breaks down the phytic acid making the minerals actually available to absorb. Coconut milk adds medium chain fatty acids that are some of the most easily digested fats available. Berries simmered directly in add antioxidants and vitamin C that increases mineral absorption at the same meal. Pumpkin seeds on top add magnesium and zinc, two of the most important minerals for hormonal health and sleep quality.

Sweet, warm, deeply satisfying, and built around the same principle every traditional medicine system has always prescribed. Eat warm first thing and your digestion will tell you everything you need to know.

Comment WARM below and I’ll send you my Warm Mornings Cookbook straight to your DMs, over 30 warm nourishing breakfast recipes both savory and sweet that make the switch from cold breakfast completely effortless.

The easiest congee recipe and it takes two ingredients and twenty minutes.

Rice and water. That is it. That is the whole recipe and it is the most digestible breakfast you will make all week.

Rinse half a cup of jasmine rice until the water runs clear. Add to a small pot with four to five cups of water or bone broth if you have it. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium low heat. Cook uncovered on the lowest possible heat for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring occasionally, until the rice has completely broken down into something silky and porridge-like. Season generously with good sea salt.

Top with whatever you have. A soft poached egg and sesame oil is the classic. Scallion and soy sauce. Leftover roasted chicken and fresh ginger. Kimchi and a drizzle of chili oil. Butter and flaky salt if you want something simple. The congee is the base and the toppings are entirely yours.

The only rules are low heat, enough liquid, and enough time. Everything else is optional.

Traditional Chinese medicine has prescribed this as the first food for the sick, the postpartum, and the depleted for thousands of years not because of any special ingredient but because of what happens to rice when you cook it this way. It pre-digests itself. It arrives at your gut already broken down and your digestive system barely has to work to absorb everything it is delivering.

Two ingredients. One pot. The most digestible breakfast on earth.

Comment WARM below and I’ll send you my Warm Mornings Cookbook straight to your DMs, the full congee recipe is inside along with over 30 warm nourishing breakfast recipes both savory and sweet.

The most digestible breakfast you can eat and it is not what most people expect.

Bone broth congee. Rice cooked low and slow directly in bone broth until it completely breaks down into something silky, warm, and porridge-like that your gut barely has to work to absorb. Fresh grated ginger, a soft poached egg, sesame oil, scallion, and flaky sea salt to finish.

Here is why nothing else comes close:

When rice cooks low and slow in a generous amount of liquid the starch granules rupture and gelatinize completely, pre-digesting itself during cooking so your digestive system gets everything without doing any of the work. Bone broth means every grain absorbs collagen, glycine, and minerals rather than plain water that adds nothing. The gelatin soothes the gut lining with every bite. Fresh ginger warms the stomach and stimulates digestive secretions from the first spoonful. The soft egg adds complete protein and choline that carries every nutrient in this bowl into your cells more efficiently.

Traditional Chinese medicine prescribes this before it is considered food. The first thing given to the sick, the postpartum, and the depleted because it delivers everything the body needs without asking anything of digestion in return.

Your digestive fire is at its lowest when you wake up. This is the breakfast that meets it exactly where it is.

Comment WARM below and I’ll send you my Warm Mornings Cookbook straight to your DMs, over 30 warm nourishing breakfast recipes both savory and sweet including my full bone broth congee recipe with every traditional addition worth knowing about.

Roast a chicken every Sunday and your week is already half done before it even starts!

This week it is lemon roasted chicken thighs over arugula and it is the kind of dinner that earns its place at the table every single time. Crispy skin, juicy meat, the lemon caramelizing into the pan drippings, and the bitterness of the arugula wilting slightly under the warm chicken in a way that makes the whole plate taste significantly more considered than the effort it took.

Here is the system:
Sunday roast the chicken thighs in good fat, lemon, fresh herbs, and generous salt. Eat them for dinner over arugula with the pan drippings poured over the top. Save every bone and every scrap of skin.

Monday pull any remaining meat and eat it cold over warm grain, in a quick salad, or tucked into a bowl with whatever is in the fridge. Ten minutes and zero cooking.

Tuesday the bones go in the pot. Cold filtered water, a splash of apple c***r vinegar, whatever vegetable scraps you have been saving. Simmer low and slow overnight and by Wednesday morning you have a jar of homemade bone broth that cost you nothing because it came entirely from what was already in your kitchen.

One cook, three days of food, one pot of broth. Nothing wasted and nothing complicated!

Comment TABLE below and I’ll send you my Warm Table guide straight to your DMs, 36 warm nourishing recipes built around exactly this kind of simple intentional traditional cooking where nothing is ever wasted and everything has a purpose.

Eat this instead of your cold breakfast and watch your digestion improve.

Bone broth congee with steamed bok choy, sesame oil, scallion, and flaky sea salt. Warm, deeply savory, and asking almost nothing of your digestion before the day has even started.

Your digestive fire is at its lowest when you wake up and cold food suppresses it further, diluting your stomach acid and slowing your enzymes before the day has even started. Warm food meets your body where it is, signals safety to the nervous system, and arrives already softened by heat so your gut barely has to work.

Rice cooked low and slow in bone broth gelatinizes completely, pre-digesting itself so your digestive system gets everything without doing any of the work. Every grain absorbs collagen, glycine, and minerals from the broth. The gelatin soothes the gut lining with every bite. Bok choy stirred in adds vitamin K, calcium, and iron in a form the sesame oil carries directly into your cells. Fresh ginger warms the stomach and stimulates digestive secretions from the first spoonful.

One pot. Twenty minutes. Try it for one week and pay attention to what changes.

Comment WARM below and I’ll send you my Warm Mornings Cookbook straight to your DMs, over 30 warm nourishing breakfast recipes both savory and sweet including my full bone broth congee recipe with every traditional addition worth knowing about.

Another day another warm breakfast and today it is congee.

Bone broth congee with a soft poached egg, sesame oil, scallion, fresh grated ginger, and flaky sea salt. This is the breakfast I come back to more than anything else and every single time my gut feels the difference before 9am.

Rice cooked low and slow directly in bone broth until it completely breaks down into something silky and warm that your gut barely has to work to absorb. Every grain absorbs collagen, glycine, and minerals from the broth. The gelatin soothes the gut lining with every bite. Fresh ginger warms the stomach and stimulates digestive secretions from the first spoonful. The soft egg adds complete protein and choline that carries every nutrient in this bowl into your cells more efficiently.

Traditional Chinese medicine prescribes this before it is considered food. The first thing given to the sick, the postpartum, and the depleted because it delivers everything the body needs without asking anything of digestion in return.

One pot. Twenty minutes. The breakfast I will never stop making.

Comment WARM below and I’ll send you my Warm Mornings Cookbook straight to your DMs, over 30 warm nourishing breakfast recipes both savory and sweet including my full bone broth congee recipe with every traditional addition worth knowing about.