August 5, 2015 marks the moment the bone broth diet hit Portland for real. Sisters Tressa and Katie Yellig opened Broth Bar on NE 6th Avenue, and ever since, readers have reached out with questions about what bone broth is and what they should do about. To help you get a handle on how to respond to a $9 cup of broth, here are five things Eater learned after visiting.
1. Stir: When ordering bone broth, you have the option of drinking it straight or adding ingredients. These adds include finely grated turmeric, grated ginger, and red miso—things that can sink. To make your broth taste like more than just broth, and to avoid a potent, all-in-one glug at the bottom, stir regularly.
2. WTF - Bone Broth And Chocolate Actually Go Together?!: You can add cocoa butter to the bone broths at Broth Bar, and the Cocoa Butter/Ghee & Medicinal Mushroom with chicken broth actually smells and tastes like chocolate and mushrooms. Chocolate, mushrooms, and bone broth—yes, things are definitely weird in Portland right now.
3. You Can Put An Egg On It: Just like with ramen, bone broth gets as rich as Donald Trump with the addition of a soft-boiled egg.
4. Drink What You Like: The Broth Bar menu includes a lot of offal, from chicken hearts to beef tongue. If you're new to bone broth and curious about how to order, the golden rule remains the same: Order what sounds good to you. With something this alien, it's really for the best.
5. Season Your Broth: Broth Bar doesn't season its broth, so it's up to you to add the right amount of seasoning. Fortunately, it does have a variety of complimentary seasonings, including tamari, smoked salt, Hawaiian red salt, hot sauce, and house-made gomashio, Japanese sesame salt.
Chicken Broth With Chicken Hearts