Shin Bone Soup....

After reading Dom's (Belleau Kitchen) post awhile back about his grandmother's soup, I decided to do a post on my own grandmothers soup.  Growing up my mother made this soup (which was her mother's recipe) all winter long.  This traditions is still going strong at my home.   I have been making this simple and delicious soup for more than twenty five years.  My kids have always liked the fact that every Halloween before they went trick or treating they could count on having big steaming bowls of this old fashioned family favorite.  Having never measured ingredients when making this soup,  I made an effort to measure and write everything down this time around.  Here's the recipe.

• 2 large beef shin bone
• 1 large onion,  diced
• 5 stalks of celery, chopped
• 5 carrots chopped
• 3 bay leaves
• 3 heaping tbsp. beef base
• 1 cup uncooked white rice
• 15 oz. can tomato sauce
• 7 quarts of water water
• 3/4 of a box of elbow macaroni

Into a large soup pot, add the shin bones, bay leaves, beef base and water.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.  Shin bone meat is delicious, but tough and it takes a long time in the soup pot to get it tender.

Next add onion, celery, carrots, tomato sauce, rice and simmer for another hour.

Just before serving remove shin bones from the pot and chop up the beef from the bones.  Put chopped beef back in the soup pot.  I also mash the marrow from the bones into the pot.  The beef marrow adds a ton of flavor to the soup.


Cook the elbows separately and add them to your own individual bowl of soup.  Season with salt, pepper, fresh chopped parsley and Parmesan cheese.  Enjoy!!