Thai Bone Broth with Kaffir Lime and Lemongrass

Chilis, kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass. And don’t forget the duck necks and beef bones! Sounds so delicious, you would think you are beachside in Phuket, but wait, this aromatic soup is being whipped up in my Big Bear Lake mountain kitchen at just over 6,000 feet! We may be underneath the Jeffrey pines in this alpine hamlet but this Thai-style bone broth should whisk you away to the sultry beaches of Thailand, even if it is late January, snowing sideways and thirty degrees outside.

How about a delicious soup of brewed bones of connective tissues on a chilly winter’s evening? Now doesn’t that sound delicious? Well, it can be with the help of some flavors from Thailand. Are you also craving Thai bone broth for breakfast on this twenty-one-degree morning? If you are embracing intermittent fasting then breaking your fast on a cold winter’s morning with a steaming cup of spicy bone broth might give you that mid-morning energy you have been craving. A spicy cup of Thai soup can be a great reintroduction for your dehydrated body after early morning intermittent energy restrictions.

Maybe I have just begun to embrace this last month of our keto lifestyle way too much and a big cup of fatty soup is sounding great to me on this freezing cold winter morning. Forget about my past life where I might have made banana pancakes or waffles for breakfast! Give me a cup of bone lard Thai bisque!

Quality ingredients make all the difference

The biggest secret to making the most flavorful Thai bone broth is quality ingredients. Using authentic ingredients like kaffir lime leave and lemongrass will really give your Thai bone broth those flavors straight out of Bangkok. As someone with degenerative disk disease bone broth is something I need to introduce into my diet. But I don’t exactly love it. But Thai food, well I could eat a big pile of Pad See Ew any day. (If it wouldn’t kick me right out of ketosis)

I live on a mountaintop at over seven thousand feet. Our mountain hamlet underneath the Sugar Pines is hidden away from Los Angeles. It’s a two-hour drive outside the concrete jungle that is suburbia. It’s such a fantastic place to live. Except there is no Thai food for a hundred-mile radius. Basically, if you live in this high elevation small town you have to learn to get culinary creative at home, especially if you enjoy ethnic foods whatsoever. And if you are on the hunt for healthy foods, well you better buy ingredients like coconut flour and beef bones when you are driving through the cities at a lower elevation because even Whole Foods grocer delivery does not deliver to our neck of the woods (Literally)

Phuket. Let’s make some Thai Bone Broth

When you are immersed in a keto lifestyle it’s all about healthy fats. Here in our carb-free household in Big Bear Lake, California, we eat lots of omega-three rich grass-fed beef, grass-fed butter, grass-fed every part of lamb you can imagine, and lots of heavy cream. I’m not going to lie, there might be a lot of bacon involved with every meal also. Oh keto, you had me at bacon.

As I’m sipping my Thai bone broth on a chilly November morning and dreaming about a pumpkin spice latte I’m thinking about how this delicious hot fatty beverage is chock full of beneficial amino acids. It might not be #PSL but this bone broth is great for digestion and my overall gut health. Instead of a cup of pumpkin-spiced sugar with some coffee in it that will have me halfway to a diabetic coma by lunchtime.

Why Thai bone broth?

As we get older, the cartilage in the joints tends to wear down or shrink through continual use. (Like when you act like a badass who hikes ten miles a day) This frequent exercise whether from hiking, trail running or just simple household tasks like chopping wood can add more stress to the joints, which may become damaged as a result of the added pressure. Thank God for amino acid-filled Thai bone broth to the rescue.

On a snowy winter morning, I like to take the pup for an early morning snowshoe with this anti-inflammatory treat in my thermos. Thai beef broth tastes the best when coming out of my fourteen-hour fast and I just trekked to the top of a mountain summit. As the bone broth is reducing inflammation in my body it’s also helping with my gut health (Which is great when I have hiked ten miles from civilization and the nearest potty)

Thai Bone Broth

1 pound duck wings

1 pound beef bones

4 cups water

1 stalk lemongrass, peeled and innards beaten

5 kaffir lime leaves

1 teaspoon garlic, minced

1 teaspoon ginger, minced

4 teaspoons fish sauce

First, put the duck wings and beef bones in the pressure cooker with the water. Let steam for an hour until the cartilage and collagen have been reduced from the bones. Now let the pressure cooker cool down. Release the steam after ten minutes. Fifteen-minute after that, you should be able to remove the pressure cooker lid. Add to the bone broth, one more cup of water, the lemongrass. lime leaves, garlic, ginger and fish sauce. Return to heat for fifteen more minutes with the lid closed.

Your delicious high in vitamin E, Zinc and Selenium Thai Bone Broth is now ready to consume on a snowy mountain top! Add sriracha or sliced Thai chilis if you like your Thai bone broth spicy.