Yep, me too-- I make a pretty killer chicken piccata by reducing my homemade bone broth down into a glace de viande for the sauce.
Another reason why I had a bone to pick (heh) with the Kettle & Fire brand bone broth-- it didn’t offer an unsalted or low-sodium version. So it can’t be reduced at all. Also, I often make soups with added soy sauce, fish sauce or other flavorings with added sodium. For that reason I never add salt to the stock / bone broth I make, and I only ever buy low-sodium or unsalted commercial stock / broth.
I was speaking about the stuff that comes in a box. If I use Swanson Chicken in a pot of soup, nobody is going to say “Hey! This wasn’t made with beef stock!”
So, grocery shopping the other day, I noticed a new brand of bone broth — ‘Butcher’s Bone Broth’, kept in the refrigerated meat section and advertising itself as the real thing, “so good, it jiggles”. At $5.99 for a pint of it, not cheap, and that was a sale price.
I just tried a half cup of it. It is indeed highly gelatinized at refrig temps, to the point one has to either warm it up in the plastic bottle it comes in, or squeeze it out in blobs (I did the latter). So it seems I did find real bone broth. It only came in a version flavored with ginger and turmeric, at least what was offered in the store, which was disappointing. I like ginger and turmeric, but those flavors kind of limit what type of dish I’d want to use the bone broth for. How about letting the cook decide what flavors they want to add?
And when I tasted it, it does have a very ginger-forward flavor. Less so on the ‘chickeniness’. The chicken flavor or essence was kind of thin and subtle; surprising seeing as how it’s so full of collagen. I wondered if it had gelatin added to it to ‘fake’ bone broth consistency. Not if the ingredient list can be believed: organic chicken, carrots, ginger, turmeric, sea salt, water. The color was a very pale yellow- surprising since it has added turmeric. My homemade bone broth is a much deeper golden yellow, without any added turmeric.
Final verdict: not terrible, but it’s definitely not going to get me to stop making my own bone broth anytime soon.
In my personal stock making, the intensity of the chicken flavor varies a great deal depending on home much meat was left on the carcass of the bird, the time spent gently roasting the bones (depending on application), and if I added any additional meat to enhance the flavor (especially thighs or drumsticks).
Not much on their website - just sourced from carefully chosen farms, “choice cuts” and a 24-48 hour process. Maybe the long cook with careful fine straining means that they’ve lost a lot of subtlety. I can absolutely taste the difference in my stocks and broths between an 8-12 hour rendering in a slow cooker and a 12-24 hour (post-Turkey day runs in the 8qt pot).
I see on their website they do have a ‘chicken only’ flavor; I wish that had been offered at the store. The ‘ginger and turmeric’ version really mucks up my taste-test perception of exactly what chicken flavor there is or is not.
I suspect they’re prizing collagen-packed richness over ‘chickeniness’, in any case. The brand I mentioned in my OP, that I use if I need to fall back on a commercial product, is: Pacific Foods Organic Unsalted Chicken Bone Broth. Still liquid at refrigerator temps, but a lot more ‘chickeny’ tasting, with a deep golden yellow color and fairly opaque. The Butcher’s Broth brand is a very pale yellow (even with the added turmeric, making me wonder how pale the chicken-only version is), and as clear as water.
There is a difference between broth and stock. My understanding is that broth is liquid. It may well have included a meaty bone and vegetables but not collagen and is the usual basis for soup. Stock is made mainly from bone and cartilage and should set to a jelly in the fridge.
I did say birthday treat. It’s also fantastic to bring to my sometimes-hectic job, cuz I can just grab a quick sip here & there, the protein is a big non-caffeine energy boost, and I don’t really have time/energy to make my own AND hand-wash the cleanup in a tiny sink in my current home.
Given the prices, I just find it easier to buy drumsticks/thighs/whole chicken, one of which is almost always cheap/on sale and do a catch-up batch with the slow or pressure cooker.
Granted, that’s because I have the house/storage space and a full sized (not huge, but full sized) kitchen to keep slow cookers, pressure cookers, stock pots, etc.
I actually had this argument with someone elsewhere, that why do people buy ready-made / premade foods rather than just cook it all from scratch because it’s cheaper?
Because it is expensive in time, energy, up-front costs, storage (both tools and finished products) which is far easier for those of us who are more affluent and/or don’t have kids. Though I’m pretty sure I’ve said all of the above in this or a related thread before.
Yeah, that was mentioned upthread-- ‘bone broth’ is a bit of a misnomer-- it’s really stock. It was probably named that way since it’s alliterative. Also ‘bone stock’ sounds like something a cannibal would brew up.
Sure, sorry, I didn’t mean to sound critical of your life choices. I got a birthday coming up in a couple months – maybe I’ll order me some
Yeah, I do a mix of leftover carcasses from cooked chickens, and raw chicken pieces I get on sale.
We have a roast chicken every three or four weeks. The carcass, onions, garlic and any wilting veg in the fridge go in the pot to simmer for five or six hours. We do have chicken legs sometimes, and I suppose I should freeze the remains to add that.
We had roast lamb last week, and I did nothing with the bone. Maybe I should use that next time.
