Cooking & Baking
Related: About this forumJust a simple soup tip
When making beef soup (beef barley, in my case, but it applies to any vegetable beef sort of soup) from canned stock, we usually use our favorite brand of canned beef stock (or the cheapest brand we can find).
I've been using a can of condensed consomme to fortify the flavor of the ordinary stock. I've done this a few times and it seems to be best to use one can of consomme for every two cans of stock. I also add a quarter can of water to cut the cloying nature of the fully condensed consomme down to a wonderfully unctuous taste and mouth.
For stew I go one step further and add an envelope of unflavored gelatine to the stew liquid as it is thickening. Being unflavored, it adds only one thing - a luxurious mouth feel.
housewolf
(7,252 posts)and I love the idea of adding some gelatin to stew broth to thicken it.
Good tips! Thank you!
kas125
(2,472 posts)it makes so much sense. Thanks!
grasswire
(50,130 posts)And you know, this may explain the consistency of some good beef soups I've had. Gelatin. Interesting. Would it also work in chicken soup? Not beef stock, of course, but gelatin.
Stinky The Clown
(67,798 posts)You ever notice when you cool the pan juices from a roast chicken they are loaded with natural gelatin? That shows up in chicken soup from natural stock but lacks in a lot of commercial stocks.
grasswire
(50,130 posts)But homemade chicken broth that has inherent chicken gelatin doesn't have a real unctious mouth feel, in my experience. I might try it.
Catherina
(35,568 posts)Your gelatin tip is excellent. I never thought of that.
Have you tried Knorrs? I swear by it.
I use their bouillon (http://www.knorr.com/Products/Bouillon.aspx) as a flavoring in a lot of things, and for quick stock if I don't have time to make my own.
For fancier dishes, I use their concentrated stock which is a little bit pricier but lasts forever, http://www.knorr.com/Products/Homestyle-Stock.aspx
Both are excellent products and don't take up a lot of room. I don't know what the prices are in the states now, but it they were actually cheaper than using canned or boxed.
Irishonly
(3,344 posts)I would have never thought of it.
pipoman
(16,038 posts)my mother used fine tapioca in her stew for a similar effect, I have done this. I have some tapioca flour I use for thickening specifically for gluten free diets. I'll try the gelatin sometime.
I use Minor's concentrated bases for most soups. With these bases you can set the strength where you want it. It is somewhat cheaper than canned stock, not paying for as much packaging or shipping of water. On some of the more upscale dinners I have used Custom Culinary demi-glace, it's expensive but contains the natural collagen (gelatin) found in homemade stocks.
EFerrari
(163,986 posts)the sauce silky. Will have to try this for my advanced beef stew project.
ETA: they also threw in some anchovies & tomato paste to make the flavor more beefy -- before the wine, stock.)