Live data from Hacker News

Lost in the Stock

eater.com

11–20 of 99 posts

Re: Lost in the Stock

#12

With ready access to bones/carcasses (either direct from the store or from saving them when cooking) I've found making stock just-in-time via electric pressure cooker to be very convenient as the pressure cuts down the time so I don't need to make anything ahead and freeze, and it's legitimately I-can-leave-home levels of set-it-and-forget-it. The only part I haven't yet figured out is a more convenient way of strain…

Buy a pasta straining spoon. It’s basically a large spoon with holes in it that replaces a full size pasta strainer. Is it better than a pasta strainer? No. Is it easier to clean, absolutely. I use mine all the time.

Re: Lost in the Stock

#13
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, if you throw away all the nutritional concerns...

Does well-made stock actually have significant nutrition in it? Serious question.

Yes, per the article -- the reason store-bought stock (minimum water-to-protein ratio 1:135) never reduces to a gelatin (like homemade) is that the homemade has Much higher protein content.

It's hard to know what other dimensions of healthiness apply to homemade over store bought.

Re: Lost in the Stock

#14
Eater is making an interesting choice with its cookie policy. It doesn't matter if you click Accept (the only option!) or not, it will still load the TikTok video, a platform that's well-known for its notorious tracking.

"By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies."

Is Eater able to make an exception for TikTok in this context? At least for the news sites that I consume, they will typically overlay TikTok/Facebook/Instagram content with a form that asks you to reveal the said content in exchange for that platform getting data on you.

Here it looks like Eater just doesn't care at all.

Sorry for being so off-topic, but I just couldn't help to notice it.

Re: Lost in the Stock

#15
post #13
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does well-made stock actually have significant nutrition in it? Serious question.

Yes, per the article -- the reason store-bought stock (minimum water-to-protein ratio 1:135) never reduces to a gelatin (like homemade) is that the homemade has Much higher protein content. It's hard to know what other dimensions of healthiness apply to homemade over store bought.

The reason you care about the protein is completely unrelated to nutrition, though. Rather, it's because of the flavour and mouth feel.

Re: Lost in the Stock

#16
They sell demiglace in boxes and bags too about 10g per 100ml. If it's a matter of reduction of water, that'll make it 3x to 10x more expensive for the same amount of bones/carcass, if we use the 1-3g per 100 numbers in the article.

I was curious and went to check and this actually tracks based on Waitroses (UK) house brand stock and demiglace. Their stock is 2.5g and 48p per 100ml and demiglace is 10g and £1.9 per 100ml, 4x the protein content and around 5x the price

Re: Lost in the Stock

#17
post #8

These stocks are just yeast extract water for taste with chicken residues for marketing. Yeast extract (or MSG, or e621) is the cornerstone of modern processed food. It replaces expensive processes and products aimed at improving taste with a cheap additive that attempts to approximate the traditional taste. Soups, meat products, stocks, potato chips, snacks, sauces, anything that's supposed to have an extravagant ta…

Of your last line, this sounds like an absolute win-win, right?

You can achieve that effect with salt, msg and/or marmite (depending on what sort of flavour you're going for). Inversely, there's things you can achieve with actual stock that you can't with any of those, mostly related to the texture.

If you don't know what's going on, it can be quite dispiriting to read about restaurant-style sauces, learn that one of the key ingredients is stock, and then fail to replicate the effect because the stock you're getting isn't the real deal. These days I just make my own stock (it's dead easy) and freeze it in ice cube trays for easy portioning.

Re: Lost in the Stock

#18
post #13
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does well-made stock actually have significant nutrition in it? Serious question.

Yes, per the article -- the reason store-bought stock (minimum water-to-protein ratio 1:135) never reduces to a gelatin (like homemade) is that the homemade has Much higher protein content. It's hard to know what other dimensions of healthiness apply to homemade over store bought.

> Yes, per the article -- the reason store-bought stock (minimum water-to-protein ratio 1:135) never reduces to a gelatin (like homemade) is that the homemade has Much higher protein content.

How much of an effect on my nutrition will replacing the stock part of my typical recipe with water have?

I'd be highly surprised if it were at all meaningful. I don't add stock for nutrition, I add it for the taste.

Re: Lost in the Stock

#19

These stocks are just yeast extract water for taste with chicken residues for marketing. Yeast extract (or MSG, or e621) is the cornerstone of modern processed food. It replaces expensive processes and products aimed at improving taste with a cheap additive that attempts to approximate the traditional taste. Soups, meat products, stocks, potato chips, snacks, sauces, anything that's supposed to have an extravagant ta…

I despise yeast extract. It leaves a noticeable aftertaste in my mouth that won't go away for hours. I'd much prefer if brands just stuck with MSG but for some reason every single type of chips other than plain salt is adding yeast extract around here.

Re: Lost in the Stock

#20
post #9

I've found a strategy that works well for home use: Freeze meat offcuts etc over time. Nuke accumulated stuff in pressure cooker every couple weeks, pour into a ice cube tray & freeze. Especially useful for a flexitarian diet. The days where the main protein is say beans adding one of the above beef based cube helps give it a bit more complexity

I've normally found that you want to strain and cool it first, as otherwise you end up with a layer of fat in your stock, which tends to not be as nice.
Post reply on HN