Stock

amacca

Where can a person buy good stock?

I'm looking for good beef stock (and indeed vegetable/chicken too), I'd normally use a knorr stockpot or stockcube or maybe the kallo organic ones.....I'm not that willing to go and start saving bones etc and boil up my own!

Just wondering if there are better options available in supermarkets or online....any advice or what have people used.

Im going to use beefstock in a French onion soup so ideally I'd like it to be as good a quality as possible and not to salty.....so if I mess it up I can't blame it on the stock.....but I find myself adding stock to so many dishes I want to get good stuff so I can eliminate that as the factor leading to average dishes in some cases.

LapsypaCork

Honestly, you know what I’m going to say…make your own. You won’t buy anything like home made. It freezes so well that it will be so well worth it. There’s no trouble in making it and you could ask a butcher for bones, it just needs to simmer on a very low heat for a few hours. I have a large freezer so I can freeze the chicken carcass’ for use so costs nothing really.I bought a huge stock pot for €20. You could always use a slow cooker too if you have one.

amacca

I was afraid that would be the answer!

No pain, no gain.

Dial Hard

Chicken stock really isn't a hardship to make; have a bag in your freezer and throw the carcass in every time you roast a chicken. Likewise onion/leek/garlic tops, carrot peelings etc. Lash the whole thing into a stock pot with peppercorns and bay leaves once it's full.

Beef stock is a bit more involved as most households don't generally eat enough beef on the bone to bother saving, so if you're making it you generally have to go to the butchers, get a bag of bones/offcuts and roast them. It is worth it if you have a freezer big enough to take a large batch. Otherwise, a good SuperValu, deli or butchers like Higgins is your best bet, they often have pouches of good-quality stock that can be frozen.

put_the_kettle_on

If you ask your butcher to save you bones from boning out day, he generally will. As previous poster has said, add flavourings and cook for hours. I'd also add, roast bones first and when cooking in the pot keep it to a low simmer. You don't want the water moving vigorously or you'll get very cloudy stock.

That said, if you don't have time to do the whole shebang you can buy concentrates that give a terrific result.

Try Sous Chef for Essential Cuisine stock bases, glace and jus. They're not cheap but a teaspoon goes a long way.

https://www.souschef.co.uk/products/essential-cuisine-beef-glace

Marcusm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119078339#Comment_119078339

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119078339#Comment_119078339

If using the Knorr stockpots, there is a world of difference between the Beef stock pot and the Rich Beef stockpot. I regularly use the latter when making madeira or similar rich sauces to use with beef.

amacca

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119078621#Comment_119078621

Thank you, it was something like this I was thinking of but I do take people's point about it being better to make yourself...its just time and freezer space are the limitations there, the latter is an easy fix but the former.......

amacca

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119090731#Comment_119090731

I'll give them a go too, thank you.