I can imagine the advantages of using chicken broth. It could be cheaper and many would feel it’s lighter than beef. But if you’re making a beef dish, why not use beef broth?
I’m a bit weird diet-wise in that I eat beef and pork but eschew chicken, turkey, and all seafood (the reverse of most people who eat some meat, but not much). When it comes to broths though, there isn’t as much difference for me between broths as there are between actual cuts of meat (it’s a largely psychological quirk anyway). What are the issues with using beef instead of chicken broth in beef chili?
Pros? Cons?
ETA: One could consider vegetable broth, too, but I don’t even grok veggie broth.
I’ve seen chefs substitute chicken broth for beef in many dishes. It doesn’t affect the flavor that much, especially in well-seasoned things like chili. The main idea is to add a liquid, and even water will do in a pinch.
FWIW, I use neither beef nor chicken broth in my award-winning (honest!) chili. The only liquids in it are tomato sauce and whatever brand of malty beer I can find.
On the other hand, I also make a rice and pepper dish with a mixture of chicken and beef broth. Those to whom I’ve served it say it’s delicious.
The type of broth doesn’t affect the flavour of a spicy final product that much. It takes a lot of beef bones to make a beefy broth, but chicken has a stronger flavour and can be done with far fewer bones.
It’s not like I imagine that beef both would actually be bad taste-wise, or otherwise, in beef chili. I already figure it’s ok to use, but why is chicken broth in most recipes (that include broth)?
A side thought I had that’s half in jest: should different broths be “paired” with different meats the way wines are?
ETA: Ahhh… thanks, Dr_Paprika. (BTW, it’s only in typing out your user name that I realized it’s (probably) a play on ‘Dr. Pepper’. Obvious, I know!
I used to make beef broth at home to feed my dog in the last year of her life. I would first bake the bones at high heat and then boil them for hours to get all the marrow and gelatin out of them. This makes a really strong, flavorful broth.
When I was competing in chili cookoffs, the philosophy the judges tended to apply was that chili should have a “blended” flavor, with no one particular ingredient being too dominant. Chicken broth has a light flavor and adds salt and umami, so it’s a good way to boost the flavor without the broth being too beefy or tomato-ey.
FWIW, my chili recipe, which once won 3rd place in the state championship, uses a broth made of equal parts beef broth, chicken broth, and tomato sauce.
If you’re using the stuff out of the box, I also find that chicken has a much more neutral flavor than the beef. Boxed beef broth just tastes weird to me. I mean, the chicken stuff also doesn’t remind me all that much of homemade broth, but the beef is particularly odd (if you’ve ever had homemade/restaurant-made beef broth.)
Chicken broth neutral enough that the flavors of the beef already in the chili meld well.
That said, I’ve seen plenty of recipes that call for beef broth. (In fact, with Google, I just checked the first six recipes for Texas chili and all except one called for beef broth. The last called for beer. But maybe that’s because I specifically asked for Texas chili.) I’d bet you’d get a perfectly decent chili just using water as your liquid, as you have so much beef in there to let the flavors meld. When I make something like Hungarian goulash soup (with beef), I only use water for the liquid, and it’s plenty beefy enough just like that.
A few years back, I tried making Cincinnati chili with beef broth instead of water. It didn’t taste bad, just different. It had a much stronger, saltier flavor.
Comparing the two, I’d have to say it’s better with plain water, like most recipes I’ve read recommend.
Thanks for the responses so far. Good thoughts here. Since the choice between chicken and beef broth isn’t going to completely make or break the chili, and I think most here concur, it’s nice to hear the “little” factors people think about that go in to making a choice.
What about using powdered beef bouillon, like Knorr? I already have a bunch of that but it’s probably a year old. That age is ok for powder bouillon, isn’t it?
The powdered stuff can be stirred in to add flavor, but I’d use it sparingly because it’s quite salty. Stock cubes can also be crumbled up before adding them to the stew. I would also use them to make broth for dishes with, e.g., ramen noodles, if nothing else is available.
I’ve definitely used stock cubes before to amp up a stew or chili, but these days I just go for straight salt and MSG if I want to amplify the flavors without adding other ones into the mix. But, yes, that’s a perfectly fine use for stock cubes, powder, Better than Bouillon, etc. Add and taste as you go along so as not to over salt them, and remember to take into account evaporation which may occur over a long cook time (in concentrating the salt levels.)
Herb-Ox’s “powdered stuff” is available in a no sodium version (0%) which can be added as you like to the water. I use it with a heavy hand, which wouldn’t happen with the regular powdered, cubed, or boxed. I also make my own stock, and I add some to that as an enhancer. Don’t have to worry about the salt level going critical. I like salt in it’s place, and please go crazy with popcorn, pretzels, and so on, but I want to taste other flavors beside salt.
Most boxed stocks/broths taste of little more than salt. Beef stock, in particular, is either tasteless or awful. Some chicken stocks are actually pretty good, as this recent NYT Wircutter article can attest.
If you can’t read it, it rates the following as the best.
Good & Gather Organic Chicken Bone Broth, low sodium (Target), tied with Costco’s Culinary Treasures bone broth, low sodium
Imagine Chicken Broth (low sodium)
Swanson chicken stock was rated middle of the pack, but is the easiest to find. I use it all the time. Note that it’s stock, not their broth, which is terrible.
I believe America’s Test Kitchen made the same comment. I think they said it was “metallic” or something. Their recommendation was to combine beef and chicken broth in beef dishes. (This whole paragraph qualified with if I remember correctly.)
May favorite broth for chili or beans is made from smoked chicken. Never throw away those barbecue chicken scraps, they will make an amazing broth.
Was glad that you finally expressly stated beef chili near the end. Growing up in southern NM, chili is normally pork and green chilis, and no one would use beef broth for it all. Chicken broth / stock and beer, sure, but not beef.
Repeated for emphasis. While the major producers put in some effort (not a lot) in the products labeled ‘stock’ most of the mass market broths are little more than salt and colored water.
These days with the preponderance of pressure cookers and instapots (or slow cookers if you want slower but easier) it’s just so easy to make a decent stock or broth that I encourage anyone to do so who has the storage space for freezing some.
On the extremely rare occasions I’m out though, I almost always sub in beer rather than water. Sometimes with a light cornstarch slurry if I’m trying to make up for a missing true gelatinous stock.
For the record though, I never make beef and bean chili, but have made a steakhouse style chili (optional beans were omitted):
And even that one said if you were using store bought beef bone broth to add (not instead of, but ADD) beef better than bouillion - which tells anyone that is paying attention what most think of the beefiness of said option.
Not in my experience. The commercial brands, in my experience in the US, are largely interchangeable and both taste mostly like salty water to me. I, in fact, prefer the broths to the stocks if I have to use something out of a box (although the Swanson Chicken Stock is pretty decent for what it is.)
I have no idea what makes them “stocks” as they don’t gel up like a proper stock will.
I’m sure there’s a huge variance between the various broth, stocks, ‘brews’ and other terms that seem to used without a great deal of consistency in the commercial products. Apparently my and Chefguy’s experience was different from yours, which given the first point, is not surprising.
Which brings us back to homemade broth, in that you’re going to have (after you’ve done it a few times) a very good idea of what to expect in terms of flavor and gelatin, which means you’ll know how it’s going to work out in your final dish. Otherwise, you’ll need to evaluate each commercial product and try to figure out which one works for you intended dish (if at all).
