For many years I heard people on CH and then HO rave about BTB. So I finally tried the chicken BTB. I was expecting a rich chickeny taste. Instead what I got was basically a chicken cube bouillon flavor. To me it’s Not much better than bouillon.
So I guess I’ll have to be the dissenting opinion on chicken BTB. Maybe the beef or seafood versions are better. And I don’t think that disagreeing about a food product is yucking someone’s yum.
A variety.
Knorr chicken bouillon powder mostly for asian applications esp where msg would be helpful, but also as a flavor boost in other things.
Indian maggi cubes for a vegetarian flavor boost.
Oxo cubes of various “unusual” (in the US) varieties (lamb, seafood).
Bovril stock concentrate in the squeeze bottle when I can bring in back from Canada (ie when I’m checking a bag, which is rare).
Dashi powder for seafoody things.
I like BTB mushroom for vegetarian applications or when I want meaty flavor without meat (eg for vegetarian french onion soup). I have the roasted chicken version but haven’t had reason to open it yet (see chicken powder above).
I have been eyeing mushroom powder at asian grocery stores for a while now, interested to know if anyone here uses it regularly and for what.
I’ve used TJ’s mushroom powder, although I can’t recall how. I do recall I was glad to have it, perhaps because husband doesn’t like the texture of mushrooms, but I can still have the flavor when called for.
At turkey time I make quarts of turkey stock with roasted turkey legs and thighs.
I use most of it in a one week gravy binge.
I freeze shrimp shellls, and crab shells, etc during Dungeness crab season, and make seafood stock, but just once a year. I use it in gumbo and jambalaya.
I have a seafood base from Penzey’s, but haven’t used it much.
I make and freeze reduced chicken stock in ice cube trays when I accumulate enough raw skin, bones, and trimmings. I use it often for chicken stock, until it’s gone.
I’ve used several Better Than Gourmet products,
…but I didn’t find it better enough to deal with having to order online, or store teeny bits of leftovers.
I use BTB chicken often ( sometimes with gelatin, sometimes with Wondra!) , when the stock is not the principle ingredient, and beef occasionally. So easy to use, seems to keep forever.
Anyone tried the new ones; adobo, sofrito, etc?
I keep some Better than Bullion and a pack of either Knorr or Maggi cubes for when I need a small amount of broth for a recipe. Easier to store and less wasteful than opening a box of broth/stock that I may not use all of.
I make homemade when I can, and that’s great for soup where it’s a big component of the dish.
Homemade stock (chicken, beef, pork, and corn); jarred Better Than Bouillon OR Penzeys low-salt soup bases; mushroom/porcini bouillon cubes when I want a concentration for a mushroom sauce. It’s whatever I’ve had time for, the latter two being the easiest/quickest. Homemade requires defrosting and is often not at a depth of flavor that the bouillon or cube bases give.
I have a lot of homemade, but it’s in quart bags frozen. I guess my breakpoint is about 2 cups. If I need 2 cups or more, I’ll thaw one of those (and probably salt & drink remainder).
If I only need a cup or cup and a half, I’m fine using bouillon instead. I have BTB on hand most of the time, but prefer Minors by a bit, maybe only because of long time prior use. So if I stop in somewhere having Minors, I’ll usually grab a tub of beef, chicken, and veggie. Someone here a few months back pointed out that I could get Minors for about the same price on Amazon but I haven’t done that yet.
I do have some of the chicken Knorr rectangles. I got them when my son and I were trying to replicate some goat stew we’d had in a Haitian place in South Florida. He’s a bit of a nerd (wonder where he gets that??) and wanted it as real as possible, and all the recipes we found said to use Knorr, so we did. Not that it would have made any difference in that dish.
There was also a fairly recent thread here on making/using stock that may have some discussion of interest. [Edit - I see that OP/Ernie already knows that other thread but I’ll leave it up in case future readers do not.]
Homemade all the way, frozen in an assortment of flavors , mostly vegetable, and in various portions.
I was looking into Japanese soup bases for ramen. The local Japanese products store (Tokyo Fish in Berkeley) has a few, and this one caught my eye because of the ingredients list. I haven’t found one that I like yet.
(All this in about a tablespoon of concentrate)
I like and use BTB a lot, but all versions are too salty for me–I have to be careful not to salt anything else in building a dish. Even then, it can end up plenty salty.
Speaking of BTB, I really liked their clam base for chowders. Sadly, it’s been d/c’d, and the lobster base, while excellent, imparts an oragnge color and just doesn’t taste the same in clam chowder.
They have several reduced sodium offerings… is that what you are using?
Yes, that’s what I meant by “all versions”.
I think prepared bouillon could benefit from some method of shelf and reefer preservation other than salt. Irradiation, maybe.
Yes, but one must realize that after about the first 5 or 6 ingredients (water, salt, mirin, sugar, soy sauce), everything else probably accounts for less than 5% of the product (by weight), so it’s literally a dusting considering the weight of a liquid (like water) versus a dry ingredient like MSG or Bonito extract.
While working in a commercial kitchen, I was able to sample many bouillon and bases.
I like Minor Bases.
I picked up some more of the reduced sodium BtB chicken base, and took a second to read the ingredients in the Knorr cubes. Sugar! Palm oil! I’ll stick with the BtB.
Minors still makes a clam base that’s available on Amazon. I really like Minors’ bases but have never tried the clam.
Amazon results are decent (87% 5- or 4-star) and of the 1-star reviews, 9/14 were complaints against the shipper sending them poorly packaged goods or stuff nearly expired (the remainder of the 1-star reviews were “too salty”).
I’ve always used Penzey’s bases but they’ve priced themselves out of my budget. I did get a turkey base recently for Thanksgiving when they had a 20% off special. To the poster that has their Seafood base, it makes a great Shrimp Etouffee and kept in the freezer seemingly lasts indefinitely. Costco has a good price on BTB, chicken and beef, and I’ve been using it to enrich homemade stocks.
Thanks. I’ll try it.
I use BTB beef for a hot roast beef sandwich gravy if I do not have beef stock in the freezer. I amp it up with a browned buttery roux and a bit of Sherry. My Thanksgiving gravy is same roux, sliced oyster mushrooms in lieu of giblets, vegetable broth, and more Sherry (vegetarians in the family).
If you need a vegan gravy then I thoroughly recommend trying this excellent recipe:
Despite what the title page says, it’s not Jamie Oliver.
