What's the difference between stock and broth?

Question

Planning my Christmas dinner. I have a recipe that calls for chicken stock. What's the difference between that and chicken broth? If it just the salt then can I use no sodium broth? Thoughts?

Answer 1

Culinarily, both stock and broth have been used to describe several things, and have been used interchangeably.

Although usage varies, the generally accepted difference (and what's taught at most culinary academies) is in the bones. A stock is a concentrated reduction of water, bones (either with or without meat, usually pre-roasted) , and aromatics (herbs, occasionally vegetables), where a broth is a reduction of water and meat, but not bones, and occasionally aromatics. The distinction has never been vegetables or herbs, and certainly salt does not enter into the distinction.

A stock is most typically used by chefs for a huge variety of uses from sauce making to a braise foundation, where broth is more typically a soup foundation, and somewhat less concentrated. These are guidelines of what's typical - there are large variations in usage.

Answer 2

If you look at the ingredients of canned stock and canned broth, they are almost identical, so it seems like the two terms have become interchangeable, at least to lay people. To a chef or professional cook, however, the two terms remain distinct. A stock is made from vegetables and bones and other "throw-away" animal bits, like feet, lips, cheeks, skin, etc., all sorts of things that are particularly high in connective tissue and collagen, which is what gelatin is made up of. Broth is typically made with vegetables and meat. If you refrigerate a good home-made stock, it should gel and solidify. A broth typically would not be expected to gel or solidify in most cases. If a recipe calls for homemade stock, and all you have is canned broth, you can heat up the broth in a separate pan, and add a couple of envelopes of unflavored gelatin and stir until it is dissolved, then add that to your recipe. You will get more of the rich mouth-feel in your final recipe that a gelatinous home-made stock would give you.

Answer 3

Stock is made with bones, aromatic veggies, etc... broth is similar, but you add salt. Stock has no salt added at all. I usually substitute low sodium broth for stock, there's no big deal, it might be if you were making a really delicate sauce or something but in general cooking, shouldn't be a problem. Just go with low sodium so you can adjust the saltiness yourself.

Answer 4

Someone in my local Waitrose asked me where she could find the 'broth' - after a conversation on soup I twigged she was looking for 'stock' as we call it on this side of the pond!

No sodium broth - or vegetable or chicken broth will be fine.

Answer 5

Broth usually means just the meat 'juice' with fat removed.
Stock is usually broth flavoured with vegetables as well.
But many people use the terms interchangeably.
Reducing the salt is a separate option, to taste.

Answer 6

Stock is made with bones. Broth is with meat. You can always substitute broth for stock.

Answer 7

Essentially the same. Usually however a stock is a blend of flavors along with the meat, poultry or fish (eg onions, carrots, celery and spices), Broth is usually "clear", unflavored a purer distillation of the meat, poultry or fish.