# What do cooking schools do with bones for making stock? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 22, 2015, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-cooking-schools-do-with-bones-for-making-stock/715716 "2015-03-22T21:22:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-cooking-schools-do-with-bones-for-making-stock/715716/1 "2015-03-22T21:22:14Z")
Reading about making stock from bones in the crockpot reminded me of a n.f. book about a chef at the CIA. All the students had to learn to make stock from boiling bones for hours, and there were a lot of students simmering a lot of bones. What did they do with all those bones? Bury them? Send them to a dog food company? Maybe a fertllizer factory? Because that’s a lot of stuff to get rid of. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-cooking-schools-do-with-bones-for-making-stock/715716/2 "2015-03-22T21:46:45Z")
Probably the same thing I do with meat bones when I’m done with them: throw them in the garbage. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-cooking-schools-do-with-bones-for-making-stock/715716/3 "2015-03-22T22:01:57Z")
Ideally, they’d be composted, but I agree that they probably end up in the landfill. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-cooking-schools-do-with-bones-for-making-stock/715716/4 "2015-03-22T22:04:14Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Probably the same thing I do with meat bones when I’m done with them: throw them in the garbage. I happen to know a big dog with sad, begging eyes who would like to partner with your garbage. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-cooking-schools-do-with-bones-for-making-stock/715716/5 "2015-03-22T22:35:57Z")
I thought you weren’t supposed to give dogs cooked bones. Is that old information? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-cooking-schools-do-with-bones-for-making-stock/715716/6 "2015-03-22T22:40:36Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > I thought you weren’t supposed to give dogs cooked bones. Is that old information? Why not? Perhaps you are thinking of chicken bones, which can be splintery and break into sharp shards. Beef bones do not. Yummy, or so I’ve heard. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2015, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-cooking-schools-do-with-bones-for-making-stock/715716/7 "2015-03-22T23:32:21Z")
Boiled out beef bones are rather fragile. One good chomp and they are gone. Toss them and give Duke a fresh bone with some meat on it. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-cooking-schools-do-with-bones-for-making-stock/715716/8 "2015-03-23T00:04:47Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > I thought you weren’t supposed to give dogs cooked bones. Is that old information? No, but there’s a difference between bones from cooked chicken (which are still fairly strong and will snap and splinter) and bones simmered for hours to make stock, which will just crumble. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-cooking-schools-do-with-bones-for-making-stock/715716/9 "2015-03-23T00:15:43Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > I thought you weren’t supposed to give dogs cooked bones. Is that old information? > [@Musicat](#): > > Why not? Perhaps you are thinking of chicken bones, which can be splintery and break into sharp shards. Beef bones do not. Yummy, or so I’ve heard. Cooked bones are particularly dangerous, because cooking makes bones more brittle, increasing the likelihood they might splinter and cause internal injury. In any event, a lot of vets and the [FDA](http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm208365.htm) are strongly recommending against _any_ bones for dogs, even raw bones. > [@FDA](#): > > The idea that it’s natural for dogs to chew on bones is a popular one. However, it’s a dangerous practice and can cause serious injury to your pet. > > “Some people think it’s safe to give dogs large bones, like those from a ham or a roast,” says Carmela Stamper, D.V.M., a veterinarian in the Center for Veterinary Medicine at the Food and Drug Administration. “Bones are unsafe no matter what their size. Giving your dog a bone may make your pet a candidate for a trip to your veterinarian’s office later, possible emergency surgery, or even death.” (Yes, dogs and wolves eat raw bones in the wild. It also surely kills them now and again. Also, I’m not responsible for vet bills for a wild dog; I am responsible for the vet bills if my own dog gets an intestinal blockage. This actually happened to an acquaintance at work, which led to a $3,000 vet bill.) See cites here: [http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm208365.htm](http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm208365.htm) > **[Can Dogs Eat Bones?](https://www.petmd.com/dog/nutrition/can-dogs-eat-bones)** > > Can dogs eat bones, or is it a recipe for disaster? Some are safe, while others can be dangerous. Learn which bones are OK for your dog and how to serve them safely. ---
**Author:** ![Saturn\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Saturn\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saturn_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2015, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-cooking-schools-do-with-bones-for-making-stock/715716/10 "2015-03-23T06:08:41Z")
My wife used to work for a culinary school, and they had a contract with a company that would take all their organic waste (including animal bones) and turn them into organic compost. Apparently, by law, (this is in Japan), they cannot throw it out with regular garbage even if they wanted to because of the danger of methane with rotting food. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-cooking-schools-do-with-bones-for-making-stock/715716/11 "2015-03-26T13:58:11Z")
> [@Saturn\_Dreams](#): > > My wife used to work for a culinary school, and they had a contract with a company that would take all their organic waste (including animal bones) and turn them into organic compost. . . This needs to become commonplace. ---
**Author:** ![Jimbabweosu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85f322/32.png) [@Jimbabweosu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimbabweosu)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2015, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-cooking-schools-do-with-bones-for-making-stock/715716/12 "2015-03-27T15:38:00Z")
Making stock from bones is about transforming the connective tissues holding them together into gelatin and dissolving that gelatin in the water. This takes hours for thick bones. (see the stock-making episodes of Alton Brown’s _Good Eats_ or Harold McGee’s opus, _On Food and Cooking_. Brown even shows how he knows this process has completed in chicken stock, and that you can stop the simmering and strain the stock: you grab one of the thick long limb bones and bend it. If it breaks easily, it’s done (I do this test, and the bone just sorta falls apart, the smallest bones just crumble away). Beef bones are more resistant, but can produce (with minimal effort, easily exceeded by dogs’ mouths) some nasty sharp chunks that I’d never want seen given to any of my dogs, even the one who is only mostly house-trained! When I’m done with the bones and vegetables from stock making, I throw them out, as I presume chefs making demi-glace and culinary students learning how do also. I don’t have a compost pile that gets anywhere near hot enough to even attempt to compost meat by-products. I suppose if I was really concerned I could burn them, but why? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-cooking-schools-do-with-bones-for-making-stock/715716/13 "2015-03-28T02:47:41Z")
The ones I have are so soft that you could even eat them if you were so inclined. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-cooking-schools-do-with-bones-for-making-stock/715716/14 "2015-03-28T04:32:39Z")
That strange enrollee, the one whom everyone is shy of talking to because he stares so intently and barely speaks, volunteered to take them to the dump with a note from the school explaining all the bones. He generally adds a bag of his own to the waste.