Stock options

There are chefs who are determined to continue producing cooking stocks in the traditional manner. They are not deterred by the fact that the cost of buying veal bones can be more expensive than what some kitchens pay for meat for the table; or by the 12 hours of slow cooking it takes to produce a classic veal jus. And they probably don't work in one of the many kitchens that now buy pre-portioned chicken cuts rather than whole chickens that would provide leftover carcasses for the stockpot.

Of course they still have the food safety issue to consider: a bubbling overnight stockpot managed properly with a rapid chill-down after simmering is safe; but a stockpot poorly managed with atmospheric cooling is a food-poisoning outbreak waiting to happen.

"Hygiene regulations state that a stock should be made and used on the same day, but this is often not practical, as it takes six hours to make a beef stock," says Bert Good, business development chef at Nestlé, which produces the Chef range of fonds and sauces for use in soups, sauces, rice and pasta dishes, and stews. "This is why many caterers use a convenience stock or bouillion."

Indeed, for all the reasons mentioned, stockpots are not an option for many chefs, and this is why ready-prepared stocks have gained such a dominant share of the catering market. They can deliver flavour redolent of kitchen tradition with the safety and practicality that busy kitchens need.

Circadia is Compass Group's purpose-built cook-chill production unit in south London, with a clientele that ranges from thousands at a major sporting event to fewer than a hundred at an outside wedding. Whatever the size of event or the food expectation of the clientele, recipe development chef Bernie Engelhardt needs absolute precision in fomulating recipes that can be devised originally as one portion and multiplied later hundreds of times in a batch. If there is any slight imbalance or variable in the original recipe - which could easily happen with a traditional stockpot - the whole batch will be spoiled. There is also the food-safety aspect of cooking in huge numbers using a cook-chill system.

Hence Engelhardt's rule that any stocks used in the Circadia production kitchen must be made using prepared stock bases, specifically from Major, which Engelhard says have the most authentic flavours he has come across.

Yet while ready-prepared stocks come with instructions on how to make up to a working strength, Engelhardt says it is wrong to assume that using them puts the chef in a straitjacket. "You can still be as creative with prepared stocks as those a chef would make from scratch," he says. Take a standard risotto recipe, he suggests, and turn it into a mushroom risotto by using mushroom stock and adding finely chopped mushrooms. The same standard risotto recipe becomes a seafood risotto by using a seafood stock base and adding some prawns.

Because some of the ready-prepared stocks he gets from Major are unusual in their flavour, Engelhardt likes to experiment with savoury stocks in desserts, producing such dishes as smoked salmon ice-cream, a blue cheese sorbet, and a cheesecake using a tropical marinade that gives a pineapple and mango-flavoured filling.

Rachel Chambers, senior brand manager at UBF Foodsolutions (makers of the Knorr brand of prepared stocks), is also of the opinion that creativity should not be stifled just because a stock base comes with instructions on how to reconstitute it. "Chefs can be more adventurous with prepared stocks and mix and match them in the same way they would do with home-made stocks," she says. Mixing chicken stock with beef stock, fish with chicken stock or chicken with vegetable stock are just some of the flavour combinations that can work.

And while classic stocks are linked mainly with European cuisine, Chambers says the subtle addition of a few spice flavourings can convert them into bases for Indian or Chinese dishes. Using a beurre mani‚ to thicken sauces is still a widespread practice, but Chambers says working a touch of stock base into the paste can add a new depth of flavour to a dish.

Using ready-prepared stocks as a delicate flavour enhancer is something development chef Colin Capon practises with the ambient-stable Chef's Taste range of liquid stocks produced by Pritchitts. He recommends brushing burgers with a liquid stock to give an extra flavour kick, and he particularly likes to brush oily fish to be grilled, or soft white fish baked in foil, with fish stock.

The guilt complex among chefs over using prepared stocks rather than making their own is fast disappearing, according to Nigel Crane, managing director of stock specialists Essential Cuisine. "They are being used right across the industry now, but there is a growing demand for quality stock," he says. "Chefs who are only just switching from making their own stocks want a product that can match their own, and consequently the market is growing more discerning."

Another trend is for chefs to make a base in a traditional manner, but bulk it out with a prepared stock to meet the quantity needed. "That way the chefs feel they have had a hand in making the stock and not just relied on a tub or a bottle," says Crane.

Read the label
Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is widely used in prepared stocks, particularly some of the cheaper ones. If MSG is an issue for your kitchen - such as in a hospital or school, where there is budgetary pressure to buy cheaply - then read the label and the MSG will be declared.

Similarly with salt: salt is used as a preservative, a bulking agent and a flavour enhancer, but reduced-salt and salt-free prepared stocks are now available.

Safety issues While using prepared stock bases can improve food safety in the kitchen, it is not a licence to abandon good food-handling procedures. The stock may be ambient-stable on the larder shelf, but once made up it should be treated exactly like a traditionally prepared stock. The same chilling regime must be used, and even if blast-chilled after mixing and held under refrigeration, the stock should not be used more than five days after preparation.
Contacts

Essential Cuisine 01270 768572
Knorr 0800 783 3728
Major 01933 440711
Nestlé 0800 742 842
Pritchitts 020 8290 7020

Another caveat with cheaper stocks is to check just how cheap they truly are. Do some simple calculations based on the weight of stock needed to reconstitute a litre and measure that against the purchase price. One way stock manufacturers can offer an apparent price advantage over competitors is to require more product to achieve a litre of stock - which wipes out any perceived cost saving.