Stock is a flavoured water preparation. It forms the basis of many sauces and is traditionally made by simmering various ingredients in water.

In my opinion all stock should include mirepoix. In fact, many regard the mirepoix as one of the most important “secrets” of fine cuisine, and even more important for the sauce cook! Mirepoix is fine cut onions, carrots, celery, and sometimes other vegetables. Cutoffs that may not otherwise be eaten, such as carrot skins, are just fine.

What “other vegetables” that goes into the stock – and if any at all – is your decision. Actually this is some of the grate chef and sauce cook’s signatures.

The herbs and spices used depend on local traditions and some let the season play a part. The “bouquet garni” is a bouquet of herbs usually consisting of parsley, bay leaves and a sprig of thyme. This is often placed in a perforated container or sachet to makes it easy to remove after the simmering.

Stock may also contain animal ingredients like bones of beef, veal, fish and chicken. The connective tissue that is left on the bones contains collagen. When cooked, the collagen plays part as thickening agent, as gelatin. Leftover cooked meat and cutoffs from fresh meat, bird and fish can be used. Pork is popular in some eastern cuisine, like the Chinese, but not allowed in other cultures.

In daily cooking you may resort to readymade stock in form of stock cubes. It can’t replace your real stock craftsmanship, but it comes handy and self-made sauces based on bouillon cubes are absolutely preferable to readymade sauces. Stock cubes consist of dried compressed stock ingredients. In different parts of the world, bouillon cubes referred to as cooking base Oxo cubes and more.

It is not unusual to talk of broth and stock as the same, but it’s not. The biggest difference is that stock is just the intense flavored strained liquid, free of solid substances from the ingredients. Broth is more like a soup where the solids like fragments of meat, fish and vegetables remain. In ethnical cuisine other ingredients like rice, corn or barley are added.

Here are some stock and broth types, with their “professional” names. For the Sauce Cook, French terms are often used.

Common name	French cousin	Ingredients	Simmer for…
Brown stock	Fond brun or Estouffade	Basic stock in French cuisine, but often quite complex, containing marrow bones, beef, poultry carcasses, carrots, turnips, leeks, celery, parsnips and onion	4 or more hours
Chicken stock		Chicken	3-4 hours
Fish stock, in the East		Mainly for use in soups, a broth is made from special tuna flakes
Fish stock, in the West		Made with fish bones and fish heads and finely chopped mirepoix	Less than 20 minutes. Caution: If left simmering for longer time, the taste is spoiled.
Ham stock		Pork ham, used in creole, Cajun and Chinese cooking.
Jus		Typically made by deglazing the roasting pan, and lightly reduced.
Lamb stock		Jus from chicken stock and roasted lamb necks and bones	5 hours or more
Meat bone stock	Glace viande	From bones. Usually from veal.	4+ hours or more
Prawn stock		Boiled prawn shells
Veal stock			8 hours or more
Vegetable stock		Vegetable stock is made of vegetables only
White stock	Fond blanc	Raw bones – usually from chicken – and white mirepoix	3 hours
	Remouillage	Remouillage is a second stock made from the same set of bones.	4 hours or more