What a nightmare it is here in Zurich trying to find bones to make your own stock and soup bases. Most butchers don't have any, and those that do want to sell you the stuff for around 8 CHF a kilo. A litre or two of stock shouldnt cost one over 20 Francs to make!!

I've on occasion seen Migros selling bits of bone (what they call "saucenknochen" or "markenknochen") but they stock like 2 or 3 packs of around 250 g and thats it. Hardly enough to make a small pot of mild soup. And these are bones that contain virtually no meat on them.

Anyone who loves to cook, make soups, make their own sauces etc. will know how important it is to have a good stock base.

Anyone know where one can get bones in bulk at appropriate prices (should be next to nothing - in most other countries the butchers are happy for you to take them away...), without having to trek too far away from Zurich and easily accessible with public transport??

My friends in the hospitality industry say they get them bulk at under 50 rappen a kilo, but they cant get me any (likely havent kissed the managers ass enough... :P )

The solution seems obvious enough ...

Simple answer. Order it in advance. Any butcher will be glad to order it at the slaughterhouse. I tell my butcher two days in advance that I will need some bones and get it without any difficulties. Normally I make a demi glace, which you have to make in a decent quantity.

Butchers charge for "soup bones" because they`ve paid the carcass price for them, and try to recoup their loss - not many customers want bones in their meat.

Are you talking about beef shin bones? those with the big piece of marrow in the bone and meat on the outside? That would never be cheap - it`s a "cut" of meat. Most times you can order just marrow bones which would be cheaper, but you`d pay for meat attached.

When I buy soup meat, and tell the butcher it`s for soup, he throws in a couple marrow bones for free.

I'm not the most adventurous of cooks and just make chicken stock with whatever I have in, but I simply freeze whatever bones I have left over to make sure there is always a supply - could you not do the same?

develop a good relationship with the butcher.. perhaps without kissing his ass.
buy from him time to time and I'm sure you'll find stock bones much more readily available and often free

walk in off the street and even if he does have any ( probably he does in the back freezer kept for his regulars ) he's going to charge you.

I agree, I haven't been here long but use the butcher regularly (I don't intend to kiss him), now he knows me he is very helpful and patient with my bad german. We all got colds recently and needed life-giving soup so off I went to the butcher, not only did he bring out beef bones he also had his own hausgemachte beef jelly. So, get to know your butcher.

Defnitely get a butcher and get to know him/her. I've been going to the same butcher here for the past few years. I don't go regularly but I do go enough that he knows me and is more than happy to order anything for me. He even makes my Christmas ham for me - unsmoked, the way I like it. He is quick to offer free stock bones any time I buy stewing beef and will happily order larger quantities if I ask.

@OP: I see that you're in Küsnacht. There's a great butcher in Zollikerberg (Metzgerei Kratzer). It's a truly family-run business, they have a superb selection and they're extremely friendly. He'll prepare any cut of meat you want, as long as you tell him a bit in advance (English style roast pork WITH the fat left on for crackling or well-hung beef for a superb Sunday roast). He'd probably be more than happy to supply you with all the bones you want.

For example I would like Veal neck bones. You think they would get them in if i asked in advance and not charge me an arm and a leg for it? Like I said, stock shouldnt cost as much as eating out to make lol

From what ive now read online in various sources, it seems like there are very few butchers left in CH which still dismantle the animal themselves. They all order the cuts ready to go from the limited number of slaughterhouses and just slice off a piece or two for Mavis when she walks into the butcher shop.

I've already had a butcher throw in some bones after purchasing other items, just as some of you have said. but thats a small handful enough for 1 bowl of soup lol (at most 300 - 500g). When i asked for more he wasnt willing to give more.

To make a good stock takes nearly a full day so if Im gonna go through the effort, i would make it in bulk.

besides, developing a good relationship with a butcher seems to be great lengths to go to just to get hold of some crummy bones... comical to be honest...

*shrug* .. I don't know many people that enjoy cooking that don't have a good relationship with their local butcher.

option 2 : any abattoirs near you?


EDIT... http://maps.google.ch/maps?q=abattoi...Zurich&t=m&z=9

I have faced the same problem. No butcher has ever had the right bones, like veal knuckles. They are not a delicacy, there is no precious meat around them. So, I've resorted to making chicken stock and don't bother asking the butcher for chicken carcasses, he's probably never seen one before. Chicken comes from the chicken tree.

I buy chicken wings and make a delicious chicken stock a la Heston.

And I agree, why the fluck should you have to develop a relationship with your butcher to get some crummy old bones? Whether the butcher works in Coop, Migros or is my local fleischhacker, I spend my money there, they have my patronage. Isn't that enough or do I have to bring him a bottle of wine and enquire as to the health of his wife?

I order beef from a farmer on a regular basis, not only do I get free stock bones, I get free oxtail, kidneys, liver and heart too.

I've never had a problem asking a butcher for any of these things either, they were always happy to help.

Logical really. Same with anything else that's slightly special.

You could also just go to France where meat grows on bones and not trees. I'll go and ask my boucherie across the border next time I'm there and I'll feed back.

We dont all live near farmers. Im probably not going to trek via public transport to my nearest farmer just to buy some bones.

That being said, how much stock bones do u get get from him, and which bones?

I keep pulling the young feisty Louix back, but I can let the leash go if you are really that desperate. Cat bones suffice do they?

I'd imagine that visiting an abattoir would put anyone off cooking meat for life.

hannahs' auntie .. do not read this....

back when I was just a lil grynch ( teenage ) my brother and myself used to visit a local abatoir to get bones for our Malamute. As we lived on a corner plot it was quite funny to see people do double takes driving past as his area of the yard was littered with these huge bones