Bouillon/Stock

[flyinglentris]

Bouillon, as I have come to know it, comes as cubes, powder, stock base and something new I recently discovered.

To be sure, the best way to generate a soup base is by baking, boiling or steaming meats, - chicken, duck, turkey, beef, pork, vegetables and even things, like lobster. This is the same formulation step for generating the beginning stage for gravies too.

Bouillon cubes or powders have perhaps, unwanted sodium and saltiness. Store bought stock bases are often flat and watery. These are the reasons why I have not favored cubes, powders and stock bases and will typically generate my own base directly from meats or vegetables. Of course, that takes a bit more work and appropriate seasoning.

That something new I recently discovered is a line of products call "Better Than Bouillon." I have yet to try it, but have it on my shelf. There are low sodium variants. It has some good reviews. If any Cooking Bites members have used "Better Than Bouillon", share your experiences, please.

I plan for my first use of BTB to be a simple 13 Bean Soup with Chicken BTB (Low Sodium) and Black Mustard Seed, diced Chicken, Onions and Serrano Pepper.

 

[mjd]

Yes. I prefer it over the other options because of the sodium issue. It also seems to meld better than the regular cubes. I end up having to crush them in a mortar before I try to dissolve them in hot liquid.

 

[flyinglentris]

Yes. I prefer it over the other options because of the sodium issue. It also seems to meld better than the regular cubes. I end up having to crush them in a mortar before I try to dissolve them in hot liquid.

Does 'it' mean BTB?

 

[TastyReuben]

Yep, that's what I use. I go even further and say I prefer it over my own homemade broths. The few times I've done that, they tasted bland and flavorless.

 

[mjd]

Does 'it' mean BTB?

Yes.

 

[flyinglentris]

Yep, that's what I use. I go even further and say I prefer it over my own homemade broths. The few times I've done that, they tasted bland and flavorless.

It sounds like you needed to do some reducing to thicken the homemade broths and then, add some seasoning.

 

[TastyReuben]

It sounds like you needed to do some reducing to thicken the homemade broths and then, add some seasoning.

I've done it a few times and tried different recipes, but I think my tastebuds are attuned to commercial ones (IOW, salt and more of it).

 

[Mountain Cat]

A foodie friend of mine swears by Better than Boullion. I finally broke down and bought a jar of the stuff. I went with "mushroom base", as I am not apt to make my own mushroom stock - other than shiitake dashi - (unlike making chicken or beef or outright veggie stock). This was about 3 weeks ago and I have yet to use it. I'm not really fond of some of the ingredients (TVP, corn syrup, maltodextrin), but I figure I will give it a try.

Said meal is not immediately planned...

 

[Mountain Cat]

I've done it a few times and tried different recipes, but I think my tastebuds are attuned to commercial ones (IOW, salt and more of it).

You can always add more of your own salt while cooking?

 

[Morning Glory]

We don't have BTB in the UK but we do have very good ready made stocks with no additives. Here is an example - chicken stock:

Here are the ingredients for the ready made beef stock:

I looked at the chicken BTB ingredients. What I find worrying is the corn syrup which is, I presume, a form of sugar? This is as well as the added sugar. No decent chicken stock should need sugar added IMHO.

Ingredients: Chicken Meat including Natural Chicken Juices, Salt, Sugar, Corn Syrup Solids, Chicken Fat, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Dried Whey (Milk), Flavoring, Disodium Inosinate and Guanylate, Turmeric.

 

[TastyReuben]

You can always add more of your own salt while cooking?

I suppose so, but with acceptable ready-made available, there comes a point of diminishing returns, I think, especially as when I cook, I rarely need more than two or three cups at a time, it's just easier to pop open a can, carton, or use the paste than it is to make it and store it in portions. It's more trouble than it's worth, especially since I have a lot more cupboard space than I do freezer space.


It's like pie dough - dead easy to make, but the ready-made stuff is about 90% as good as homemade, so I rarely bother any more. A couple of times a year I will, just to make sure I can still do it, but other than that, it's Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts all the way

One other side benefit - I rarely need to salt anything when I use the paste. It's got all the salt I need, usually.

 

[CookieMonster]

even the low / less sodium Better Than Bouillon stuff has way way too much salt for our tastes.
it works in dishes that do need salt, but I often go with a carton stock prep for dishes where salt is not the main ingredient.
I should add, we're not big salt users. I put the date on a box of Morton's when I open it - doing the math when it's empty.....

 

[caseydog]

I have been using Better Than Bouillon for a long time. I'm very happy with it.

As for the sodium, I don't add salt to anything I make until near the end of cooking. Taste, and adjust. When using stocks like Better Than Bouillon, I find that I often don't need to add any salt to my finished cook.

CD

 

[Burt Blank]

As I have posted before we make our own. For fish stock we collect the detritus from eating seafood and freeze. That is the first building block, The poaching liquid from cooking shrimps is also stored.

 

[Burt Blank]

Fowl stock all ways starts with Turkey necks and gizzard.Beef stock is rarely made up until now. The butcher we invested in has got his dry ageing machine up and running. We picked a half metre piece 7 days ago, another 25 days and we should have some good bones.