Reducing Meat Stock’s Histamine

As discussed in Meat Stock vs. Bone Broth, one benefit of short-cooked meat stock is that it contains dramatically less histamine than long-cooked bone broth. Yet, for some folks, they need to take extra precautions to prevent excess histamine in their meat stock. Excess histamine, gut permeability and low levels of the digestive enzyme DAO work synergistically (with many other factors, of course) to inflame the body and create a hostile environment that can result in symptoms like itchy skin, hives, diarrhea, bloating, sensitivity to the sun, extreme reactions to bug bites, anxiety and depression, to just name a few.

If you are battling with the symptoms listed above, I suggest taking additional steps to reduce your meat stock’s histamine load if you are not seeing improvement while drinking properly prepared meat stock. Most people will find that short-cooking and freezing after cooling is the only histamine mitigation they need but some sensitive folks will need to follow extra precautions. The following is a comprehensive list of ways to further reduce histamine in meat stock:

• Cook your meat stock on the stove top rather than using a slow cooker or pressure cooker. This provides more temperature control to ensure your stock is simmering, rather than boiling.

• Reduce cooking time even further. Typically, chicken stock calls for 2 hours of simmering and beef stock calls for 3 hours of simmering. Meat stock is “done” when the meat is tender and slides off the bone. Try checking meat tenderness earlier than recommended to see if you can pull your stock off the heat earlier to reduce cooking time.

• Cook small batches of meat stock. Smaller batches can require less cooking time and storing leftovers in the fridge is a quick way to increase histamine.

• Cool your stock down quickly after removing from the stove. One technique is to fill your sink with ice and place your stock pot directly into the ice to cool. If it’s winter and freezing outside, place your stock pot outside in the snow to cool. Distributing hot meat stock into smaller bowls/pots brings cooling much faster than waiting for a big pot of stock to cool.

• After cooling, freeze stock in small portions in the freezer as freezing halts histamine production. Freeze small portions so you can gently heat the exact amount you need on the stove top. If you freeze in glass jars, be sure to leave at least one inch of empty head space to avoid the risk of the freezing stock expanding and breaking your jar. Silicon muffin trays are excellent for very small portions — freeze in the silicon tray and then pop out and store in a ziploc bag.

• Do not blend chicken skin into your “cream” as described in Making Meat Stock. Chicken skin is naturally high in histamine. It is fine to include cartilage and gooey connective tissues for increased nutrition and healing though.

• Purchase your meat directly from a butcher or farmer who can ensure your meat is as fresh as possible.

Making Meat Stock

In it’s most simple form, meat stock is a short cooked stock using bony cuts of meat.  I will not share a “recipe” as everyone’s needs are unique and there is no one right way to make meat stock.  Rather, I will share guidelines and general directions for you to customize to fit your taste buds and your health needs. If high histamine levels are on your radar, there are many ways to reduce the histamine found in your meat stock.  Remember: healing meat stock only requires bony cuts of meat, water and salt — everything else is optional!

1. Choose your bony cuts of meat.  For chicken stock - legs, leg quarters, thighs and wings are great choices. When in doubt, choose dark meat because dark meat is closest to the bone. Chicken backs, necks and feet are perfect for adding even more healing collagen but should be in addition to meatier cuts and make up no more than half of your chicken for a batch of stock.   For beef/lamb/bison stock, again, the key is to choose bony cuts of meat — shanks, ribs, oxtail, knuckles, head meat, neck bones, etc. Many butchers sell “soup bones” that make great additions to your beef stock but cuts with plenty of meat near the bone should make up at least half of your cuts for red meat stock.  These bony cuts of meat are not considered “choice” cuts of meat and are typically the cheapest cuts available which is an added bonus!

2. Add your meat to your largest stock pot.  The amount of meat you are cooking dictates the amount of water you will use for your stock.  Only add enough water to cover your meat, plus about an inch.  Do not add too much water or your stock will not gel and will have less flavor.  Knowing how much water to add is a practiced art but my suggestion is to remember that less water always makes tastier stock. 

3. Add salt. Since this is not a recipe, I do not provide exact measurements but you can always add more salt to taste after your stock is cooked, so start small until you find how much salt works for you. Table salt is highly refined and contains additives so table salt is not recommended for your meat stock. Focus on high quality mineral salts like Celtic sea salt and Himalayan salt.  Natural salts contains necessary minerals for supporting overall health and is naturally delicious. 

4. Add in your bonus ingredients!  My suggestion is to start with a basic meat stock and then try adding different ingredients one at a time with future batches.  Bonus ingredient suggestions: cracked black pepper, whole garlic bulb, onion, fresh herbs, seaweed, dried herbs, medicinal mushrooms, fresh veggies, hot peppers, etc. 

5. Slowly bring to a boil over medium/medium high heat. The meat will scorch and burn if you crank the heat to high so be careful!  Once you have a rolling boil, lower heat to a simmer. Stir occasionally and check if the heat needs adjusting to maintain a slow simmer. Chicken stock should simmer for about 2 hours and red meat should simmer for about 3 hours. Don’t forget to set your timer after you turn down the boiling stock to a simmer. {You can also use a slow cooker or pressure cooker but I suggest cooking your first few batches on the stove so you know what flavor to expect from meat stock. It is easy to over cook stock in a slow cooker or pressure cooker so be aware of that added risk.} Confirm your meat stock is ready by ensuring the meat is tender and slides off the bone. Remove from heat. 

6. Strain meat stock into a large bowl or pot. Set aside to cool. After the meat is cooled, use your fingers to pull the meat from the bone to reserve for later use. 

7. This final step is technically optional but it boosts your meat stock with the healing properties of adding healthy fats and collagen directly back into your stock — and it tastes delicious!  Throw the chicken skin, cartilage, connective tissues and any gooey bits next to the bones into your blender. Add a little stock and blitz on high speed until smooth. Add this “cream” back into your stock and strain your stock again.

Enjoy your beautiful finished product!  You can drink by the cup or use this rick stock as a base for nourishing soups.  If you are drinking meat stock as the foundation of a healing diet, drinking up to 6 cups of stock a day is recommended.  I suggest starting with just one cup a day and checking in to see how it makes you feel and then increasing over the next couple of weeks until you reach your goal. 

Meat Stock vs. Bone Broth

Although bone broth is commonly recommended for gut healing diets, I always recommend healing meat stocks in lieu of bone broth. Although the terms “bone broth” and “meat stock” are often used interchangeably, there are notable differences in their nutritional profiles. Bone broth cooks for a very long time — typically 24 to 48 hours in a slow cooker set on a low setting. Although some people will buy bones specifically to simmer for their bone broth, others will save bones in the freezer from previously cooked chickens or bony beef cuts. This long cooking time is said to extract minerals from the bones and some recipes call for adding apple cider vinegar to help “pull” the minerals from their bones. Some people will also add vegetable scraps, herbs and of course, salt is required for taste. No matter what specific recipe you follow, bone broth is always simmered on low for many, many hours. This cooking method brings ease of compliance for some folks because they can “set it and forget it” but long cooking times also ushers in HIGH HISTAMINE!

Histamine is a hot topic in holistic health circles for good reason. Histamine is an important chemical naturally occurring in the human body. However, some people are susceptible to high levels of histamine in their mast cells which can contribute to a myriad of negative symptoms such as bloating, diarrhea, itching with exercise or sun exposure, severe reactions to bug bites, hives, seasonal allergies, and headaches — just to name a few symptoms. High histamine and histamine intolerance goes hand in hand with poor gut health, which logically brings us back to bone broth. If the goal is to improve gut health, many people find drinking bone broth exacerbates their health issues, rather than bringing relief.

Meat stock is typically cooked on the stove top for much shorter cooking times than bone broth, dramatically reducing histamine exposure as compared to bone broth. Chicken stock simmers for about 2 hours and red meat (beef, lamb, etc.) cooks for about 3 hours. Rather than just using bones, meat stock calls for meaty cuts with the bone included. Choosing cuts of meat next to the bone has the benefit of simmering gelatinous, connective tissues into your stock. Collagen for the win! These gooey connective tissues are very similar in composition to the inner lining of the gut. Given enough time and support from other nutritional interventions, meat stock can play a big role in using food as medicine to heal leaky gut.

For chicken stock, the best cuts to choose are legs, thighs, leg quarters and backs. Adding chicken feet to your bony chicken cuts increases the collagen and guarantees meat stock that will gel beautifully in the fridge. For beef stock - shanks, oxtail, cheek meat, neck bones, joints, etc. are great choices for a rich gelatinous stock. Adding beef marrow bones also increases the nutritional value of your beef stock.

This blog post does not cover the nuances of properly preparing meat stock, rather this post serves to differentiate between meat stock and bone broth — and set my case for recommending meat stock to support gut healing.

Remember: meat stock’s purpose is to bring collagen, healthy fats and delicious (low-histamine) nourishment into our bodies to support healing our ailments from the inside out. Bone broth might be helpful for some folks in their healing journey but meat stock is always my recommendation.