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We at GQ Fitness have been skeptical about how amazing bone broth is. It’s just stock, right? That you drink? And that restaurants sell at crazily inflated prices?

But then we heard that bone broth could be used as a sports drink, and we became intrigued. Our current cover guy Kobe Bryant has testified to the meat tea’s magical powers. The Twin Cities Marathon actually passes it out at the finish line every year. Advocates have been saying it’ll improve joint function, boost the immune system, and help prevent osteoarthritis. We are pretty sure Powerade can’t do all of that.

"Broth goes back to the Stone Age before people even had pots to cook in," says Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD and co-author of the new book Nourishing Broth: An Old-Fashioned Remedy for the Modern World. "The first soups were ’stone soups,’ in which hot stones from nearby fires were added to the abdominal pouches of butchered animals in order to simmer up mixtures of meat, fat, bones, herbs, wild grains and water." To make it today, minus the abdominal pouches, you throw the roasted bones of your preferred meat into a big pot and then add vegetables, cover with water, bring to a boil, and let it simmer for hours.

Or you do as we did and pay a professional to serve you a cup, so you can finally see what the fuss is about. Our dispensary was the New York brothery Brodo, where a 16-ounce cup costs $8.50—roughly the going price for a cold-pressed juice. We arrived at Brodo after a long, freezing run over the Manhattan Bridge and discovered a menu of different flavors, from gingered grass-fed beef broth to regular-ass chicken broth. We opted for a cup of "hearth broth"—a combination of chicken, turkey, and beef—which was salty, cozy, and reminiscent of our mother’s pot roast.

We found the broth to be surprisingly rejuvenating and blissfully free of the artificial junk that makes conventional sports drinks such a bad idea. We would not bet our life that we’ll never have osteoarthritis now, but we do think broth is more legitimate (and for sure has a better pedigree) than health fads like oxygen bars. We also like that you can make your own at home, for a substantial savings from the store-bought stuff. Brodo chef Marco Canora even graciously provided his broth recipe, as a welcome elixir for thirsty, thrifty athletes training while it’s still ungodly cold outside. Our advice: Stock up.

Marco Canora’s Chicken & Beef Broth, adapted from his new cookbook A Good Food Day

4 lbs. chicken bones (any combination of backs, necks, and feet)

2 lbs. beef bones (shin or neck)

2 small onions, peeled and quartered

4 small carrots, cut into 1-inch pieces

4 stalks celery, cut into 1-inch pieces

1/2 bunch flat-leaf parsley

1 bunch fresh thyme

12 oz. can tomatoes, drained

1 head garlic, halved crosswise

1 tsp. black peppercorns

2 bay leaves

Combine bones in a deep 8-quart pot. Rinse with cold water, scrubbing with your hands. Drain and pack bones in pot. Cover with 4 inches of cold water and cook over medium-high heat for about 45 minutes until liquid boils. Reduce heat to medium and move pot so burner is off to one side. (This helps broth to circulate.) Simmer until broth looks clear, about 1 hour, occasionally using a ladle to skim off surface fats and foamy impurities. When broth looks clear, add remaining ingredients and simmer for an additional 2 hours. Use a spider skimmer to remove and discard bits of meat. Put a fine-mesh strainer over another large pot and pour broth through it; discard solids. Drink immediately, or let cool before storing. Makes 2 1/2 quarts.

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