Tasty Tuesday: Home Cooked Kong Filling

I usually don't publish recipes for our goodies. Most of it is either very simple or very individual. I think you might enjoy this one, though. I know your dogs will.

I originally started making it as a treat and addition to the home cooked diet but it turns out that it works wonderfully as Kong filling too.

It is also quite simple, though it does require a bit of work. I normally call it a "bone meal" which is not a very inspired name. Maybe you can help me name it too.

So here it goes.

The filling consists of slow cooked meat with small bones, such as chicken necks, backs or wings, pig feet or button bones etc. The smaller the bones, the faster it cooks. Most of these require about 12 hours on high for the bones become tender enough to break up between fingers easily.

Meanwhile, I steam some vegetables. Yeah, I know, I'm kind of anal about these things. Of course you can slow cook the vegetables along with the meat and bones. But I don't like over-cooking anything. All the veggies need is about 20 minutes of steaming (depending on the type of veggies you choose). So why cook them for 12 hours? I just get that way. Same with organ meats. I always cook them separately, because, cut small enough, all they need is up to 5 minutes of cooking. Basically I cook organ meats only long enough for it to change color. The more cooking, the more nutrient loss.

Once I have the ingredients cooked, I run it through a grinder.

I use about a 50/50 ratio of bone and meat with vegetables. Once ground, you end up with a paste, to which I then add a bit of olive oil.

As for vegetables, I use a variety. Cabbage, brussel sprouts, green beans, carrots, cauliflower, mixed veggies ...

Tip: if you pick out and grind the bones and meat just after it cools a little bit, it seems you get just the right amount of fat with it so it's not really fatty but gets the right flavor. If I do this after it cooled and I collected the fat, it ends up a bit bland.

The dogs just love it.

And it is quite tasty. I could live on it if I cared to go through all that work for myself!

So to recap, here are the ingredients:

• chicken wings/chicken necks/chicken backs/pork feet/button bones or anything else with reasonably small bones 
• variety of veggies
• little bit of olive oil

Cook it, grind it up and you're done.

Note: after I pick out the meat and bones I let the liquid cool, pick off the fat and use instead of water to rehydrate food or in meals.

The dogs are always more than happy to help cleaning the pot.