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BUILDING FLAVOR, BODY AND TEXTURE: PART 5

© Andrew A. Orr

A stock's shelf life is no more than three to five days in the cooler. Stocks can be frozen without loss of quality. However, it is safest and most practical to make no more than you will use in a few days. The soups and sauces on your menu and the number of people that you expect to serve will determine the amounts and kinds of stock you make.

Convenience bases and bouillons

Today's convenience-food industry has developed a number of products that are often used in lieu of stocks. These convenience products travel under many names—soup base, meat base, bouillon (bull'-yon) cubes, bouillon powder, and others. In view of the time and labor required in making stocks, convenience products are widely used in making soups and sauces, and the stockpot is seen in fewer and fewer kitchens.

The results vary widely, partly because of the bewildering variety of products on the market and partly because they are often misused.

Few of them can function as instant stocks. They must be used with great restraint and understanding. In making use of them you will find it very helpful to compare the different products to a stock made from scratch. Then use each product accordingly.

Bases, for instance, are stocks cooked down to thick gelatin concentrates, to which salt has been added as a preservative with probably other additives as well. Bases have a very respectable ancestry in the meat glazes of classical European cookery, which were added in small quantities to enrich a stock or soup or sauce that needed additional flavor and texture.

Today's soup bases and meat bases are widely used to make stocks, soups, and sauces. However, most of them do not make good substitutes for stock. They are more successful as flavor boosters. Compare the taste of a suitably diluted base with the taste of a stock made from scratch and you will see why. Many have a high salt content and other seasonings and preservatives. This gives them strong and definite tastes that are difficult to work with in building subtle flavors for soups and sauces. Among the many bases available, take care to choose the highest-quality products, though these are expensive. Look for those that list beef, chicken, or fish extract as the first ingredient. If you must use a base as a stock, try simmering with a mirepoix and stock herbs and spices to improve flavor. Strain before using in a recipe.