What is chicken/beef stock really?

[AlanS2323]

I was wondering this the other day...what exactly is chicken stock? I mean, given the name, you would think there's a chicken involved, but I have a feeling there isn't. Is the origin of chicken stock the juice that remained from cooking a chicken? What is the "chicken flavor" now?

 

[jabbur]

You make chicken stock from chicken. I usually boil a whole chicken in water until the meat is literally falling off the bone. Stock usually has veggies in it too like celery and onions to add to the flavor broth doesn't have the added veggies. Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pot and what is left is your chicken stock. The water is flavored from the chicken cooking in it and the veggies if you add them. Let it cool and store it or freeze it for your next pot of soup or whatever recipe you have that calls for chicken stock. I tend to shred the chicken meat and package it up for recipes like chicken tacos or chicken salad. So with one whole chicken you get several meals and nothing but the bones to throw away.

 

[AlanS2323]

You make chicken stock from chicken. I usually boil a whole chicken in water until the meat is literally falling off the bone. Stock usually has veggies in it too like celery and onions to add to the flavor broth doesn't have the added veggies. Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pot and what is left is your chicken stock. The water is flavored from the chicken cooking in it and the veggies if you add them. Let it cool and store it or freeze it for your next pot of soup or whatever recipe you have that calls for chicken stock. I tend to shred the chicken meat and package it up for recipes like chicken tacos or chicken salad. So with one whole chicken you get several meals and nothing but the bones to throw away.

So do you think that the canned chicken stock or chicken bullion you can buy at grocery stores actually involves chickens?

 

[sparrowgrass]

I do my stock a little differently. I simmer the meat until it is just done, take it off the bone, and return the bones and skin to the stock pot for an additional hour (or however long it takes me to remember that I have stock simmering.)

That way, the meat is tastier than if it boils forever.

Or I make stock with backs and neck and wingtips, things that don't have much meat anyhow.

 

[sparrowgrass]

Alan, I missed your question. Yeah, I think they involve chicken, but not too much chicken. Bouillon cubes and broth in a can are mostly salt and MSG.

Try making your own--you will be amazed.

 

[Norai]

Read the ingredient list at the store next time you're there? The cans are usually real chicken (though really, really watered down, and probably using misc. chicken parts). The little tubs of chicken concentrate paste tend to be real chicken, with lots of salt and in some cases msg.

The boullion cubes and packets, not so much.

Homemade chicken stock is hugely superior - it usually has 10x the flavor, you can control the salt, and actually has gelatin - when it cools in the fridge, it gets jello-like in consistency and gives better mouthfeel to sauces and soups. Really easy to make in the slow cooker, just take a leftover roasted chicken with most the meat cleaned off and drop cover it in water with an onion, celery, carrots, salt for 2-4 hrs or so. I put it in ice cube trays in the freezer.

 

[themonkeytree]

The difference between stock and broth are very simple. Broth is made using the meat of the chicken, while stock is made using the bones. As for veal and chicken stock, there is not only a big difference in taste, but color also. That is because when making a veal stock the bones are browned before being used, so that you get that nice flavor, which also gives veal stock its darker color.

There are also fish stock and vegetable stock. I mean really you can make a stock out of anything, Rabbit stock, shrimp stock, the list could go on forever.

When making a simple chicken stock add the bones, cold water, and mirepoix. Mirepoix is just a fancy french word for a mixture of carrots, celeray, and onions. The most common ratio for mirepoix in a stock is 50% onions, 25% carrots, and 25% celeary. Along with the mirepoix and bones, a sachet is added. A sachet usally consists of bay leaf, whole pepper corn, cloves, garlic, and parsley stems. They are tied together in a cheese cloth and added to the stock. The stock is then simmered, strained, and then done.

I hope that answered a few of your questions. If you have any more questions I will be glad to answer them.

 

[B'sgirl]

I highly recommend making your own stock as well. You can freeze it or if you have a pressure canner you can can it. I have canned vegetable and turkey stock in my pantry right now and beef stock in the freezer. It is so much better for you and tastes so much better, and it really isn't as much work as it sounds. You don't even have to chop everything. Just throw it in a pot with some water and leave it all day. I use a slow cooker so I don't have to worry about burning and boiling over.

Speaking of, I actually cooked a turkey on Saturday and I need to go get the carcass boiling to make some stock out of it.

 

[mike in brooklyn]

I do my stock a little differently. I simmer the meat until it is just done, take it off the bone, and return the bones and skin to the stock pot for an additional hour (or however long it takes me to remember that I have stock simmering.)

That way, the meat is tastier than if it boils forever.

Or I make stock with backs and neck and wingtips, things that don't have much meat anyhow.

I'm with you Sparrowgrass and Monkeytree.

Stock, as opposed to broth, must have a gelatinous quality to it which requires long cooking of bones.

I freeze all wing tips, giblets (except liver) and bones of chicken which I have cooked along with defatted drippings of the chicken. When I have
about 1 1/2 gallons of frozen fixings I boil them with an onion and carrot
for up to 6 hours - defat the liquid and freeze the stock.
If making beef stock I would roast the bones first and boil them for
5-6 hours with onion and carrot.

 

[themonkeytree]

alans2323 just remeber when making stocks, not all of them need to simmer for the same ammount of time. For example a fish stock only needs to simmer for about 35 to 45 minutes, while a chicken stock is 3 to 4 hours, and a veal stock is 6 to 8 hours. So if you do decide to make your own homemade stocks, just know how long to cook each one fore.

 

[Robo410]

the demand for wings, skinless boneless breasts, etc is so great both in groceries and restaurants, that there is a lot of the chicken left over...backs necks feet, skin, carcass etc...all of which can be simmered for stock and broth. The demand for commercial stocks etc is a good thing in helping the food industry waste very little.

You can make stock at home from leftovers. Buy whole chicken and roast, making stock from the carcass after a meal or two from the bird. Cut your own chicken parts and make stock from the trimmings and carcass not used. etc.

Nothing in my kitchen goes to waste.

 

[B'sgirl]

I'm with you Sparrowgrass and Monkeytree.

Stock, as opposed to broth, must have a gelatinous quality to it which requires long cooking of bones.

I freeze all wing tips, giblets (except liver) and bones of chicken which I have cooked along with defatted drippings of the chicken. When I have
about 1 1/2 gallons of frozen fixings I boil them with an onion and carrot
for up to 6 hours - defat the liquid and freeze the stock.
If making beef stock I would roast the bones first and boil them for
5-6 hours with onion and carrot.

Why do you roast the bones first, and how?

 

[themonkeytree]

In most chicken stocks, they are white and you do not roast the bones first. In a veal stock you roast the bones to develope the flavor and give the stock color. You not now only brown the bones in a veal stock, but you also brown the mirepoix. It is just like when you brown meat in a pan.