Pork stock (or broth) ... why isn't it more commercially available?

[ipsedixit]

Chicken, beef and vegetable broth ... that's all you see on market shelves.

Where's the pork?

[The Professor]

I love the stuff...and since it takes virtually no effort to make, the lack of commercial availability isn't even an issue. I can't imagine any commercial version beig very worthwhile anyway.
When I make it, I make enough to go into containers for the freezer.

[Chemicalkinetics]

Dude,

Isn't pork stock more of an Asian thing? Those crazy Asians :) Honesty, that is probably why it is not commercially available. Not enough consumers.

[chowser]

I start off split pea soup w/ making stock from ham hocks. That's not Asian at all.

[Chemicalkinetics]

Oh yes, ham hocks are frequently used in Southern cookings.

[chef chicklet]

no not at all, it is so flavorful, I wouldn't think to use it in Asian cooking unless for a certain meal, normally chicken and fish stock rule. I use it in Mexican,and some home style cooking.

[Chemicalkinetics]

I see. Thanks. I didn't know Mexican dishes use pork stock.

[ipsedixit]

Well, then ... I go back to the question I posed originally.

Why aren't there (more) commercially available pork stock?

[Chemicalkinetics]

Not enough Mexicans and Asians? :P

[babette feasts]

Or, you just have to shop in stores catering to this clientele. Earlier today I was shopping in an area of town with concentrated hispanic and asian populations, there on the shelf were Knorr pork boullion cubes, right next to the chicken and beef.

[Chemicalkinetics]

Babette:

:) True, but I don't like those cubes things. They are full of MSG and seem very artificial.

[ipsedixit]

Yeah, I'd like to find a good commercial pork stock in either a can or box carton.

Boullion cubes are ok, but only in a pinch.

[Vetter]

I've wondered the same thing and decided Americans must just be boring. The best, best, best meal I've made lately was posole based on the leftover frozen broth from a pork roast that I'd cooked with some dried chiles. It was pork-tastic. It would never have been the same with chicken broth, no matter how good.

[AreBe]

When I make a pork roast and store the saved juices in the fridge, my wife gets all skeeved out at the thought of pig juice contaminating her food. Perhaps others have the same irrational response.

[divadmas]

just made some broth from pork bones,carrots, celery, onions, little balsalmic vinegar. extremely sweet, thinking of adding some cider vinegar.

[chef chicklet]

No becuase the broth one gets from a pork butt that's been slowly cooked for hours, is perfect when making some of the red sauces in Mexican cooking. I do, I freeze it if there's extra.

[FoodFuser]

Your question about recipe-strength pork broth is a good one. As a fellow bouilllon avoider, it would be nice to have it in the 50 cent can like chicken or beef. I've settled for Penzeys base. Penzey's has it at 8 oz.

Looks like Knorr makes it for food service customers only, and you can get 3 one pounders via amazon. Amazon is the better price deal if you are loooking to have 3 lbs of base (to make a rated 15 gallons) on hand, refrigerated.

http://www.amazon.com/Knorr-Pork-Soup-16-Ounce-Units/dp/B000YVNL88/ref=sr_1_56?ie=UTF8&s=grocery&qid=1219211758&sr=1-56

Compare the ingredients. Penzey's lists theirs, and here's Knorrs:

http://www.unileverfoodsolutions.us/products/categories/show/1687-4571-0-4800191462.knorr_ultimate_pork_base.html

Also, Minor's has 1 lb for retail:

http://www.soupbase.com/view.asp?cid=2484

Minor's at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Minors-Pork-Bas...

[kronlyn]

ya i dont see that much either but there is a somewhat simple solution. i like to make reinforced stocks when i dont have home made stocks. so take like a beef stock toss it in a pan you can do like half beef and half water then add bones from a pig or whever animal u want. you can roast them first for a darker more flavorful stock. add a few carrots, onion , leek, and celery, peppercorns, bay leaf, thyme, and parsley, maybe even tomatoe paste garlic whatever you like. cook the stock for maybe 2 hours at a low simmer. i like doing this when i make risotto, so if you have a pork risotto use reinforced pork stock to make the risotto.

[ipsedixit]

The issue isn't making stock -- I do it all the time with veal, pork, chicken, beef and even duck and turkey around the holidays.

The issue is when I need pork stock in a pinch, and go hunting for it at the markets and basically all there is chicken or beef, or vegetable broth. (I try to avoid boullion at all costs.).

I think part of the reason for the paucity of pork stock is its strong flavor. I don't think it necessarily suits most Western dishes. Who knows.

[babette feasts]

Yeah, the pork can get a little funky, and anything with more flavor than a chicken Mc Nugget can be a tough sell.

[BJennif]

I think you can buy pork soup base at Penzeys.

www.penzeys.com

I've used their chicken and beef soup bases and they are great, as are all their spices.

[jillp]

I was thinking this exact thing the other evening. Sometimes Jackp and I make pork stock but when I was fixing dinner the other evening I realized we had none. I used chicken stock but I think that dilutes the wonderful flavor of pork.

Perhaps pork stock is considered declasse?

[cstr]

Most recipies call for chic stock in pork dishes.

[panglosspig]

I like to buy a pork bouillion paste from the Asian markets. It's decent for those times when I'm too lazy to make my own stock, or when I'm just looking to quickly parboil some Chinese greens. I've noticed that most of the pork bouillion pastes are from Vietnam, which may explain why they are reminscent of pho broths.

[MikeG]

I've never used it, but Knorr-Swiss I think it is makes pork broth cubes (along with fish and a few others one wouldn't typically expect Americans to be interested in), country of origin varies, I usually see them in Asian or Hispanic/Latino markets.

[chef chicklet]

I've seen ham bouillion made by knorr-swiss, not yet found pork. They're good too.