A few months ago, I learned how to field dress and butcher a caribou. I kept a few choice caribou leg bones and the heart in the freezer, and I’ve finally made broth.

Making a hearty broth is surprisingly simple.

It doesn’t take much preparation, and it’s fairly low maintenance. The hardest part about making a bone and heart broth is just having a few days at home with one stove burner and giant pot dedicated solely to simmering all of your ingredients.

If you’ve never seen a caribou heart before, it can be hard to picture the size of the organ and what it looks like. On bigger animals, the heart is actually a lot of meat!

I made a 46-second video (here) just holding the caribou heart and turning it.

Caribou Bone & Heart Broth Ingredients

• 3 big onions, peeled and cut in half
• 20 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 caribou heart, thickly sliced
• 5 lbs caribou leg bones
• 3 gallons water
• salt and pepper, to taste

Yield: I filled about 12 quart jars with this recipe.

There’s no need to cut the onions up more than just halving them, and there’s no need to dice the garlic cloves. Everything will cook down enough and turn to mush, so it doesn’t matter.

Thick slices on the caribou heart work just fine, too.

Put everything into a giant pot, and simmer on low heat (covered) for about 2 days, stirring from time to time and flipping the bones.

If it simmers for an extra 12-24 hours, no biggie. Make the broth work around your schedule, not vice versa.

Wait for it to cool down until it’s a manageable temperature, then strain the caribou broth a few times, so you get out all of the solids and are just left with smooth liquid.

Add salt and pepper to taste, then you’re done.

Enjoy!