Boullion or bought stock?

As I'm a young cook cooking for two, I haven't endeavored to make my own stock yet and have resorted to using premade organic chicken stock.

However, my Nigella Lawson cookbooks keep referring to boullion. I'm interested in not having stock go bad (which it sometimes does in the fridge), but I have never used boullion and don't know about the taste/quality difference.

What do you use?

[EclecticEater]

Repeating what I wrote before, because I like it so much and it tastes so rich as chicken stock, here is the name and website:

The name of the producer of the powdered bouillon with the white chicken outlined in red on it is Lee Kum Kee. They have a website at http://usa.lkk.com/Common/Consumer/Co...

I just used it with tomatillos, diced yams, breast meat chickwen, carrots, corn, red and green peppers, white wine, sala verde. It made a lip smacking great stew that my wife and I devoured at lunch. Our dog Mocha Java, a brown full size poodle, who thinks he's one of the family adults, also had a couple of teaspoons on his grubbles and loved it.

[DanaB]

My order of preference is homemade stock, then frozen stock you can purchase at gourmet markets, then "Better than Boullion," and last, canned stock. Even the natural canned broths, taste chemically and artificial to me. I think the depth of flavor in Better than Boullion is far superior to canned broths. As to the level of salt in BTB, I use a little less than 1 tsp per cup of boiling water, and I mix it separately and allow the "sediment" to settle, and don't add that to the soup or whatever I'm making.

[Boythefoodtalksto]

I have the chicken, mushroom, beef, and lobster Better Than Bullion pastes in my fridge, as well as Williams Sonoma's veal demi-glace and a couple of jars of things from Fatted Calf, but my old standby which never fails to please is Telma Mushroom cubes. A kosher brand from Israel I came across in London maybe five years ago. Hard to find here (SF Bay Area); used to be available at a small Israeli store on Geary but they don't always have it; I did find it at a newish market in Oakland called Farmer Joe's and bought a whole box. Very unsalty, unfatty. Good strong mushroom flavor, with mushroom bits even, but not so strong you can't use it for just about anything... They make vegetable and beef cubes too, which I have used, but I prefer the mushroom...

the thing that bothers me about boullion is the fat and excess salt, and often preservatives.

I second the much-reduced stock frozen as cubes. I freeze my stock (not reduced terrribly much) in short 1 cup plastic tubs I get at Smart & Final. They stack really easily in the door of my freezer. I do beef and chicken. They come in soooo handy!

Bouillon, but only kosher or foreign brands. Knorr is terrible.

Actually, if you can find an international or kosher grocery, or if they sell bouillon in the international section of the supermarket you are going to end up with a better broth than the canned stuff.
Reasons: w/bouillon you can control the concentration and effectively the salt. it is easier to store, it doesn't go bad once opened. it has a deeper flavor than canned broth. people in europe use this and do not use canned broth. it's just that for the american market there is such terrible bouillon available.
yes, knorr makes international versions that taste better. a note: stay away from goya even, not good.
good luck!

I use a brand called Maggi or something like that that I get at my local grocery. First time I used it for a quick chicken soup my husband said 'Oh - did you make this stock? It really tastes like fresh chicken broth!'. I use it in everything and love it. One cube for two cups of this brand and it's SUPER cheap and not crazy salty.

Personally I find the bouillon powder or cubes really nasty stuff. I always use homemade stock which I make in bulk and freeze, but it does take up a lot of space. I tasted the Swanson's brand and some other organic boxed stock recently and found them both pleasant. America's Test Kitchen also recommended the boxed stocks over canned for best flavor. I'm sure the high heat processing affects canned stocks and gives them the strange off-flavors I dislike.

Just regarding your point about space, I reduce my stock quite a lot, so it doesn't take up so much space--I have a tiny freezer. It works well for me.

Try to find Better Than Bouillon. It comes in a jar and is actually a paste you dilute with water. It certainly isn't homemade, but it really has a depth of flavor not found in canned or cubes of bouillon.

Nigella recommends Marigold boullion in one of her books, though I forget which one. It's widely available in the UK, where I am, but I'm not sure if you have it in the States. I like it in a pinch, or for robust soups, but I prefer store-bought stock for things like risotto, where I want a more delicate flavor. Usually I make my own chicken stock, though.

Otherwise, I can only recommend that you try different types of stock to see what you prefer.

And I'd urge you to try making stock! It's so easy. It requires a lot of time, but it's very hands-off. You can reduce it and freeze in small quantities to have at your disposal when you need it.

You have to read between the lines when a non-American says "bouillon", since that's simply what the French call the broth from boiled meat, and it's not always plain on the face of it whether they're talking about something from a can or just plain old broth. St. Julia is quite cavalier about using canned bouillon, as long as you remember it's really salty; my favorite store-bought beef-stock substitute is Knorr's liquid concentrate and water. For chicken, you can hardly beat Swanson's, and those boxes are the pussy's PJs, aren't they?

I do make my own a lot, mostly just with leftover/unused chicken parts plus onion and celery etc. in the crockpot. My wife refers to this as my "shrine to Our Lady of the Perpetual Broth". Then I strain it through a clean cotton knit cloth and freeze it, or use it within a week, or a bit of both.

I love your wife's name for the broth shrine. :-)

And I never even thought about making stock in a crockpot. Don't know why, as it would keep it at the "non-boil" stage you need for real stock. I tend to get way too impatient with the stovetop method and end up with cloudy broth, which is fine for what I use it for.

Will have to try the crockpot method next time I need it. How long do you let it sit in the crockpot "stocking away"?

My hierarchy:
1. Homemade stock (no comparison)
2. Low-sodium store bought (just fine for things that don't have stock as a star...ie. soup, stew, risotto, etc.)
3. Boulion (as mentioned, Better than Boulion is the best, but even that I wouldn't consider a substitute for stock in any way...a good but salty broth for sick people)

I'd also like to encourage you to spend the time, at least once, to make stock. Since it's just for the two of you, the process will yield long-lasting results. Just freeze unused amount in different quantities for an easy defrost and use.

I like the bullion cubes or powder bought in the Asian stores. They don't have the fake parsley taste, as to the ones you buy at the regular grocery store.

I will use boullion powder once in awhile due to time constraints. I don't use a lot, if recipe calls for 1 tsp I'll add maybe 1/2 of tsp due to salt and msg.

Same here. I use Knorr Chicken Boullion powder that is sold in Asian markets with Chinese characters on the can. The list of ingridients is different than tthe boullion meant for the Latin and American market.

i've been using ""better than bouillon" with great success. stays on shelf until opened, then in the fridge. comes in many flavors -- chicken, beef, fish, lobster, vegetable.

1 teaspoon + 1 cup water = 1 cup stock. each 8-ounce jar yields about 38 cups. not bad for the $5 or so cost (though i find it on sale in stop&shop fairly often).

i try not to be without "better than bouillon," but if the canned stocks, i love swanson's roasted garlic, which adds some much flavor. even one can added to other stock makes a real difference.

Agreed on Better than Bouillion however I find that 1 tsp to 1 cup of water is way too salty for me, and instead do 1/2 tsp.

I use homemade stock (either my own or from my butcher). Second choice would be purchased low sodium stock. If I have leftovers I freeze different amounts of it (1/2 cup, 1/4 cup, 1 cup, etc.) in plastic containers so that I have it available for dishes where I need just a small amount. I find boullion to be too salty with strange flavors and I don't use it at all.