Made to restore.
The word restaurant comes from the French for "to restore." The original ones were little Paris shops that sold one thing: a slow-made bone broth, concentrated enough to bring a person back.
I started making broth for my kids.
I'm Devin. I live in Toronto with my wife and three kids. I started making broth to get nutrients into my kids. In a sea of edible garbage, I was trying to find ways to sneak nutrients onto their plates.
I became obsessed with making broth, slowly then all at once. Reading about the history, trying every technique and recipe I could get my hands on. Tweaking, iterating, taking notes on each batch.
The foundation for Brodo House bone broth is a technique from the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. Brodo is one of the innumerable gifts they've given the world.
My neighbour and his brother, who's a chef, tried the Brodo I was making and convinced me we needed to sell it. We started basically at the lemonade stand level, selling it to neighbours out of my kitchen, and slowly built it as a side hustle to what it is today.
If you know broth, you know it should be clear.
Michelin chefs pride themselves on it. A clear broth is the marker of a properly made one. Escoffier used consommé clarity as the test of a serious kitchen over a hundred years ago. The test hasn't changed.
Not a sign of richness.
It's a sign of agitated fat, bone fragments, and that gamey taste you can't get rid of. It happens when a broth is rushed and boiled hard.
The fat stayed on top.
Clarity means the fat stayed on top instead of emulsifying into the water. The impurities rose and were skimmed. No ingredients boiled hard enough to break apart.
A cloudy broth is not a sign of richness or nutrients. Clarity is the visible proof of patience.
A true slow simmer over 24 hours.
No stirring, and whole cuts of grass-fed beef and bones, free-range turkey and chicken, organic vegetables, and water. That is the entire recipe. The clarity follows from the patience.
Wait. This is actually bone broth?
There's a pause. Something registers. That reaction is the only proof point I really care about.
A simple thing that makes people feel good.
I make this because it's a simple thing that makes people feel good. I spent too many years in marketing putting my energy into perfecting ads that nobody would care about.
This is a simple and direct way to give people a little comfort.