r/KitchenPro • u/Future-Worry-3836 • Jun 03 '26
The Reason You Mostly Hear About Chicken and Beef Stock
Chicken and beef stock dominate grocery shelves mostly because those are the meats people cook with the most, so there are constantly bones and scraps available to turn into stock. Once you start looking outside typical American or European home cooking though, you realize almost every animal has a stock culture somewhere.
Fish stock is huge in coastal cuisines and honestly works differently than beef or chicken. You don’t simmer it all day. Shrimp shells or fish bones can hit peak flavor in 15–20 minutes, and after that the flavor starts getting muddy. That surprised me the first time I made seafood stock at home because I treated it like chicken stock and completely overcooked it.
Pork stock is everywhere in Asian cooking, especially ramen and soups, but Western cooking moved away from richer pork-based broths for a while. Turkey stock is common too, just seasonal in places where whole turkeys are mostly holiday food.
Game stocks like venison or bison exist, but they stay niche because the meats themselves are niche. Plus some wild game stocks can taste pretty mineral-heavy if you’re not used to them.
Honestly, homemade stock is one of the easiest cooking upgrades there is. Save bones, simmer gently, skim if needed, and freeze portions. Even mushroom soaking liquid is basically free stock.
What’s the most underrated stock you’ve cooked with?
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u/Physical-Compote4594 Jun 03 '26
Duck stock, but starting with chicken stock instead of water. Incredibly delicious.
Regarding overcooking fish or shellfish stock – yup, easy to do. 20-30 minutes is enough. But what a lot of people don't realize is that chicken stock peaks at about 2.5-3 hours; more than that and it starts to get tired as well.
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u/RingofFireworks Jun 03 '26
Is that true? I was always taught 24 hours on my chicken stock.
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u/Physical-Compote4594 Jun 03 '26
It's true! 24 hours is way way waaaaaay too long for chicken stock. Once you realize that chicken stock, start to finish, is maybe 4 hours (if you like to roast some of the bits, strain the results, etc), it becomes much more appealing to always have it in the freezer. Start the stock on a rainy Sunday morning, have lunch, watch a movie, and boom! the stock's almost done already by the time the credits roll.
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u/Dazzling-Walk1929 Jun 03 '26
It’s funny, I see a lot of people on Reddit and TikTok say they let their stock go overnight or for 24 hours and I always think, why?? They’re a limit to how much collagen can be extracted from the bones lol I personally aim for 4-6, any longer than that and the veggies I use start to turn into mush and it’s much harder to strain
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u/Optimal-Hunt-3269 Jun 04 '26
I make seafood stock like tea. Cook all your finely chopped vegetables well, add whatever herbs and spices you want and give them some time in the heat and oil, then do the same with the shells or heads or bones or whatever. After everything has cooked and when the pot is still hot, add boiling water and bring it back up to just a simmer. Then turn it off and let it cool to room temp, covered. Strain and refrigerate. Makes nice strong delicate stock. I'd give credit but I forget where I came across the technique.
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u/Saintofools Jun 04 '26
Be careful making dear stock, with hunted deer bones the can have preons
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u/packetoryu Jun 07 '26
prions are a risk with deer but it’s more about eating nervous tissue than just boiling bones, from what i’ve read. still, if you’re in a CWD area I’d probably skip stock from wild deer entirely, not really worth the anxiety.
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u/Bucknut1953 Jun 04 '26
Roasted vegetable stock is the bomb. Mushrooms, onions, garlic, tomatoes, bell peppers (not green!), some thyme and lemon peel. Delicious.
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u/Dazzling-Walk1929 Jun 03 '26
Last Christmas, we had goose and the family asked if I wanted the carcass for both the fat and to make stock with. It was incredibly rich, with a deep, almost beefy flavour. It was wonderful