msminnamouse
Assistant Cook
What is the difference between stock, broth and soup? In simple terms please!
Stock, broth and soup
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
Traditionally, broth is made from meat while stock must be made from bones and meat. However, the two words are often used interchangeably.
Soup is stock or broth that has other things added in, such as pieces of meat and/or vegetables and a starch. Herbs and spices may also be used.
Soup is stock or broth that has other things added in, such as pieces of meat and/or vegetables and a starch. Herbs and spices may also be used.
Andy, would you say that stock is more likely to turn gelatinous after it cools (because of the bones) whereas broth is more likely to have a layer of fat? That seems to be something I notice when I pressure cook something and reuse the "juice". If it was chicken I cooked, it turns to jelly when it cools, if it was something with a heavier bone (country style ribs or chuck roast) I get a layer of fat. I suppose I could always put the heavier bones back in and continue to cook....
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
pacanis, the two are not connected.
Only a stock made with bones will gelatinize when chilled.
Either stock or broth can chill with a layer of fat on top depending on the amount of fat put into the pot to start with.
Only a stock made with bones will gelatinize when chilled.
Either stock or broth can chill with a layer of fat on top depending on the amount of fat put into the pot to start with.
Bilby
Executive Chef
Bones in vegetables??? (Vegetable stock) LOL ;-)
GB
Chief Eating Officer
Technically there really is no such thing as vegetable stock. It would be vegetable broth. But like any mentioned, the terms stock and broth have now become synonymous.
Chief Longwind Of The North
Certified/Certifiable
I don't believe it! Wait, I have to sit down. This is a time when I dont' completely agree with everything that Andy said.
I did some research about the terms stock and broth the last time this topic came up. The word stock refers to the basic liquid derived from simmering bones, skins, and or meat in water. It is the basic liquid from which broths are made. Broths are stocks that have flavorings, and other componants added to the stock. The stock is just what the name implies, an ingredient stored for later use, as in stocking the shelves.
The gelatine found when stock is cooled is the result of collagens dissolved into the liquid. These collagens are cousins to protien and are found in the cartillage, bone marrow, and connecting tissues between muscles. I have taken grond beef and cooked it in a covered pan, to save the liquid, poured it off and refrigerated it, and the result was a meat-flavored gelatine with a layer of fat on top. I removed the hardened fat and was left with a wonderfully flavored stock from which to make gravies, soups, or whatever I wanted. Bones are not required to create gel from the cooled stock.
But that being said, the bone marrow contains other valuable nutrients and flavors that will enhance the quality of the stock. With poultry, the bones should be broken to let the liquid leach the marrow flavors and nutrients from them. The addition of slightly acidic veggies, such as celery or tomato will also aid in this process.
Espanole (sp), one of the mother sauces, is actually a broth, usually made from veal or beef stock, that has been combined with a browned roux, and clelery, onion, and carrot. It is reduced and strained to remove the veggie solids. This mother sauce can them be served as is, or made into one of many derivative sauces.
Soups are merely broths that have some kind of veggies, and or pasta/grains, and or meats added to them. There are also stocks made from nothing but veggies. But they won't gell.
The Jello you purchace in the store is the same colligen that gells your stock.
Also, the stock gelatine, when served cold, and sometimes flavored with herbs and spices, is called an aspic.
You can also make aspic by dissolving unflavored gelatine in hot water, and adding shrimp, or crab, or clambs, or poultry, etc. The gelatine around canned hams is the same substance as well.
Hope that helps clear things up a bit. And sorry Andy. You are still one of the most knowledgeable food guys I've had the pleasue of knowing.
Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North
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Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
GW:
What do you call the result of simmering either vegetables or meats (without bones) in water?
What do you call the result of simmering either vegetables or meats (without bones) in water?
Bilby
Executive Chef
Either way it wouldn't have fit your original definition. But I wasn't trying to have a go, just noting an omission within the definition wherever it sat.
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GB
Chief Eating Officer
I am confused. I never defined anything. But you are right that what i said does not fit Andy's definition of broth.
Chief Longwind Of The North
Certified/Certifiable
If the liquid is made with meat, and or skins, it is technically a stock. If it is made purely with Veggies, as GB stated, it is a broth.
And as a point of information, you can make a stock from nothing but skins and ofal, such as fish stock, or turkey stock, using only the skins and innards. Historically, stocks were often made from the parts of critters that no one eats, the heads, carcases, even feet. Of course all feathers, scales, and furn were removed first.
If you google the terms, you can find the origins of both terms. If I recall, they are both derived from European definitions, espcecially British and Doiche.
Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
I guess I could argue that when I said meat I included vegetable meats. But, in fact, you can make a broth from lots of different food items. Lemon grass broth, broccoli broth, etc.
GB
Chief Eating Officer
So would it be fair to say that broth is just a savory flavored water?
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
GB
Chief Eating Officer
I originally did not include the word savory, but then I started thinking about things like lemonade. Would that be considered broth?
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
Not an easy question to answer.
I was thinking of something like a cold strawberry and mint soup for a summer meal. Is it strawberry juice in the bowl or is it strawberry broth? Does it have to be cooked to be a broth?
GB
Chief Eating Officer
According to Websters, broth is:
liquid in which meat, fish, cereal grains, or vegetables have been cooked
liquid in which meat, fish, cereal grains, or vegetables have been cooked
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
So, according to that definition, you can't have a tomato broth?
