When attempting to cook bone broths, what is the correct technique of breaking up long bones which do not fit inside the crock pot?
I can think of hammering or sawing off hand, but both seem to be rather messy techniques. Is there any good method to break off large bones (relatively) safely?
Best Answer
A normal hammer (one that is used for nails) will not suffice for breaking relatively strong bones, such as the leg bones. Personal experience: I bought a pork knuckle, and attempted to break the bone with a hammer (600g head), and it resisted 5 minutes of straight hammering, despite the fact that the surface was significantly dented, and many bone fragments were scattered about the room.
A few online searches suggested that a sledgehammer would be required to break bones for broth.
In short, get the butcher to do it for you. You probably don't have the necessary equipment needed to smash bones.