This time chicken soup base question!!

I am home today and decided to make sausage and kale soup. I didn't have chicken broth but I used four chicken bouillion cubes instead. Does anyone know if there is a good substitute for chicken broth or is there a dry soup type base you can use? Again, canned broth sometimes tastes tinny, or at least canned. I know there are those cardboard packages, maybe they are better. It would be nice to be able to have "instant" chicken broth like a bouillion cube type thing but I am looking for something a step up from Wylers or Herb Ox. Pls advise.

Nothing's as good as home made but I think the boxed organic low sodium comes in a very close second

I've used Penzey's soup base and seasoning instead of boullion and have been generally satisfied. It's not as good as homemade stock/broth, but I think it's better than a cube. A jar of it lasts a long time too.

www.penzeys.com

Thanks. I think Penzeys is in Naperville which is down the road a piece. I'll check it out.

I always have Stock in my freezer but I do love Minor's Soup Bases for small amounts. The roasted Chicken is awesome and I use the demi and Cream base allot...www.soupbase.com

for the price of a couple of those boxes of stock you can buy a chicken, take off the breast meat to feed to your 3-year old (or pet), and use the rest to make a good stock. very cost effective.

Better Than Bouillon makes a whole bunch of bottled pastes. All of them are way better than the cubes, and some are even better than the boxed liquid products.

http://www.nationalimporters.com/produc ... dCode=BETT

Geo

I second that. Better than Bouillon is delicious enough to drink the broth straight (I've tried beef, organic chicken, and vegetable).

Riffhard wrote:I always have Stock in my freezer but I do love Minor's Soup Bases for small amounts. The roasted Chicken is awesome and I use the demi and Cream base allot...www.soupbase.com

I generally use Minor's or Major's (two different brands) when I need small quantities of stock or when a stock (especially chicken) turns out to be especially weak (and yes, that does happen occasionally.

I also use Better than Bouillon frequently. I fell in love with it when I had a tiny apartment fridge/inset freezer with zero space for stock. Their chicken/beef stock concentrates are standbys in my kitchen. I don't love their veggie base, which tasted a little woody when I tried it last.

A scant teaspoon, a 1/4 cup of water (or wine), and some lemon splashed over some sauteed minced shallots can make an amazing pan sauce in a pinch. I've used the stocks in risotto, cream soups, and even in the rice cooker with great results, subbing the water for stock.

The last time I had a cold (or was it a hangover...), all I had to do was boil water and stir in a spoon of concentrate. Instant chicken soup.

I'll cast my vote for the Better Than Boullion jars too. In the past I've made homemade stock sometimes and bought boxed stock or broth at other times, but most times, I've just got to get on with my life. I don't know what Consumer Reports thinks of Better Than Boullion, but it works for me to keep a few jars (beef, chicken, vegetable) in the refrigerator. They're always there; they last a long time.

And sometimes when I just feel awful, some BTB dissolved in hot water is as much a comfort as my mom's dissolving a boullion cube for me ... but better.

I'm now curious about the Better than Boullion brands - I like the idea of having something as a backup, have been less and less pleased with canned stock lately. I'd looked at them a while back, but the ingredients list scared me a bit: (Chicken base, for instance, contains: Chicken Meat Including Natural Chicken Juices, Salt, Sugar, Corn Syrup Solids, Chicken Fat, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Dried Whey (Milk), Flavoring, Disodium Inosinate and Guanylate, Turmeric.) I considered the non-meat ingredients to be a red flag, but after reading here, I might try it out.

I wonder if I could freeze it, it does say it has to be refrigerated after opening and it looks like an awful lot of the stuff.

Hi Mhays-- BTB will freeze. But I just keep it refrigerated after opening. I tasted it before looking at the ingredients list, so didn't have the problem you had... : ) Just give it a taste. The chicken is ALways worth keeping around, IMHO.

The mushroom is quite good, the ham not so good. Clam is *excellent*--I use it for clam chowder frequently. I'm not a big fan of the beef, but then, nobody makes a decent beef. (Altho' Cook's Illustrated finally found a beef base they liked, but I haven't ever found it in stores.)

Wish BTB made pork and lamb...

Geo

I would be curious in a comparison of the BTB products to the Penzey's bases. They sound like very similar products.

Where do you find BTB in Chicago?

Pretty sure I've seen it at regular grocery stores...Jewel, Dominick's? The nutritional info I found was pulled off the Wal-Mart website, so I'm guessing it won't be hard to find. In spite of its name, it's with the bouillon cubes.

I have seen Better than Bouillon at Whole Foods, although I think it is the organic version. According to a the back of the jar photo at this website, the ingredients on the organic version are: Chicken meat and natural juices; salt; cane sugar; maltodextrin; natural flavor; dried onion; potato starch; dried garlic; turmeric; and spice extractives.

Although I've never tried BTB, I've never had a pre-made/store-bought stock that I liked. So I try to keep frozen stock around.

When I don't have any stock, I generally use one of the following:

1. Plain water (it's better than bad stock)
2. Make a quick vegetable stock by simmering any vegetables (esp carrots, onion, and celery) in water for about 30 minutes.
3. Use wine, beer, vermouth, apple cider, etc., perhaps in combination with water.

Naturally, the best substitute depends on your application.

Hi- Has anybody tried Imagine organic chicken broth? Is it a good substitute for homemade? CI likes it I believe. It comes in a carton, and Whole Foods has it on sale for $2.50 a quart, and there is a $1 store coupon for it in the Whole Deal coupon book, and you are supposed to be able to stack a manufacturer's coupon on top of that, but the Whole Foods in downtown Evanston has their own coupon policy, and they often are really picky about what coupons they will accept. A few times, I tried to buy two cans of the same thing, such as canned tomatoes. I presented them with a separate store coupon from Whole Deal for each of the cans, and I was told that I could only use one of the coupons, even though I was buying two cans of tomatoes. The sale on the broth ends on 11/29. I usually use Swanson Natural Goodness, which CI likes the most. Thanks, Nancy

I just discovered BTB this holiday and I'm pretty happy with it. I've been enriching jus and sauces and whatnot with little blobs of it quite successfully. (Using the organic chicken variety.)

In the non-concentrate category, I'm partial to the "Kitchen Basics" brand. Somewhat lost among the various organic and high-end "broth" entries, their "stock" boasts 5g protein to all the others' 0-1 g., and their sodium is about half. I'd definitely check it out as the thing to have in the pantry when you run out of homemade. When the risotto is not quite done but the stock is gone, or the stew or chili has cooked down a bit too fast, it's great to turn to for a few ounces additional liquid when you don't want to water down or add wine.

i think 'imagine' brand is terrible. and i'm pretty sure that cook's illustrated, when they tested broths, agrees with me. i'm partial to swanson's low sodium broth. costco on clybourn recently stopped carrying it when they added kirkland brand organic broth to the shelves. i'm trying it out; it was fine used as a soup filled with matzo balls and i like the fact that it's organic. justjoan

CI's results, best to worst:
---recommended---
Swanson Organic
Better than Boullion
Swanson Natural
Imagine Organic
---recommended with reservations---
college inn
orrington farms
---not recommended---
kitchen basics
pacific organic

I am surprised Pacific organic was not highly rated. I have since bought Penzeys base and am happy with it. the trick is not to use too much.

I like More than Gourmet.
It's a little pricy though.

Has anyone tried the new Knorr concentrated stock that Marco Pierre White is hawking? I don't generally use Knorr for much but when this thread came up today -- I thought I'd ask...

I actually made my first chicken soup today and I used generic organic chicken broth boiled with 3 breasts on the bone and some veg and seasonings -- it's not bad but I had no celery and put some celery salt in to sub -- and I think it was just a bit too much.