Where can I buy bones to make my own stocks?

 Your best bet is a real, old-fashioned butcher. We have one only a few more miles from the Ochef world headquarters than our nearby supermarkets, and it is a blessing. Of course, they are more and more a rarity, these days. (In the yellow pages of our phone book, the entry for "Butchers" says, "see Meat, Retail," and our nearby butcher is the sole listing in a book that covers about 45 miles along the Maine coast. But since no one uses phone books anymore, that may not help you.)

Your next option is the meat department in your local grocery stores. Much of their meat reaches them already butchered or semi-butchered, so they may not have much in the way of bones, but they may be able to order them for you.

There are also specialty farms in our part of the country — at least one selling organic beef. With a phone call to these farms, you could find out where their livestock is butchered, and follow up with those sources to find out about availability of bones.

Finally, a phone call to the Cooperative Extension Service in your state will surely turn up some leads.

We certainly don't need to tell you how proud we are of your resolve to make a real stock. We love all our readers who use canned or boxed or even cube-based stocks, but we are especially fond of those who can make the effort to really cook from scratch!

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