How much gelatin in stock?

[paulraphael]

This is way too broad a question so let me narrow it down.

 

I want to experiment with thickeners, and don't want to waste good stock. So I'm going to use store-bought stock. Brands like Pacific aren't too bad, but seem completely devoid of gelatin. I'd like to add gelatin to simulate the natural viscosity of a stock simmered with meat and bones.

 

Any thoughts on the range of concentrations of gelatin you might encounter with a typical stock? I'm thinking one made for flavor and not primarily for super high concentrations of gelatin.

[Martin Fisher]

Try 1%-2% powdered gelatin.

Edited April 29, 2014 by DiggingDogFarm (log)

[Shel_B]

This is way too broad a question so let me narrow it down.

 

I want to experiment with thickeners, and don't want to waste good stock. So I'm going to use store-bought stock. Brands like Pacific aren't too bad, but seem completely devoid of gelatin. I'd like to add gelatin to simulate the natural viscosity of a stock simmered with meat and bones.

 

Any thoughts on the range of concentrations of gelatin you might encounter with a typical stock? I'm thinking one made for flavor and not primarily for super high concentrations of gelatin.

 

Paul, I find Pacific to be an awful boxed stock.  Coincidentally, I was watching a CI video about tasting various stocks, and Pacific came in dead last.  While I recognize that we all have different palates, you might want to try tasting a few different brands, if you've not already done so.  Maybe you have, and found that Pacific is just fine for you. 

 

FWIW, when looking for a boxed stock, I tested perhaps a half dozen, looking not only for taste but at the ingredient list as well, and settled on Costco's organic chicken stock.  Also, in various taste tests, Swanson's  cooking stock fared well.

 

That said, when making a soup with a full quart of stock, I'll sometimes use one packet of gelatin, and that gives a satisfactory mouth feel and texture.

 

And while this only tangentially addresses your question, when making locro and similar soups/stews, I'll add a pig's foot for the gelatin.  The local Mexican market has 'em for cheap.

Edited April 29, 2014 by Shel_B (log)

[paulraphael]

Thanks Martin, I'll try that.

 

Shel, I'm using the boxed stock for texture experiments. The flavor is beside the point here. I want to add pure gelatin because it's cheap and easy; I'm just trying to approximate the gelatin level of homemade stock so I have a useful starting point.

[Shel_B]

Shel, I'm using the boxed stock for texture experiments. The flavor is beside the point here. I want to add pure gelatin because it's cheap and easy; I'm just trying to approximate the gelatin level of homemade stock so I have a useful starting point.

 

Ahh! ... I get it.

[dcarch]

Pork skin has more gelatin than anything I have tried.

 

Not very expensive here in NY.

 

dcarch

[Paul Bacino]

I'd say pork head parts..lips. Ears ..snout..( just to name a few ) and foot.. Look at Mexican or Asian markets..

Since you asked for flavor. Also

Edited April 29, 2014 by Paul Bacino (log)

[paulraphael]

Thanks all. You're answering a different question though! My regular stocks have plenty of gelatin as is.

[Chris Hennes]

Can you try to characterize how firm your chilled stocks are compared to, say, Jello, and work backwards from there to determine the appropriate ratio?

[nickrey]

While flavour and texture could potentially be artificially separated, taste is really an interaction of the two. I love stocks that are really solid when cold as they have a more unctuous mouth feel when heated. I'd go higher and work backwards.

Edited April 30, 2014 by nickrey (log)

[haresfur]

FWW, isn't your home-made stock less expensive than boxed stock?  Seems to me it would be less expensive to waste good stock with a bonus that you might end up with something nice.

[paulraphael]

FWW, isn't your home-made stock less expensive than boxed stock?  Seems to me it would be less expensive to waste good stock with a bonus that you might end up with something nice.

No way! Just by ingredients alone the stocks I make cost more than the boxed stock. If I consider the value of my time (a dubious proposition, but I still try ...) the homemade stock seems very expensive. Ingredients for my chicken stock are around $8 to $10 / liter, depending on how many bones I've accumulated in the freezer. Beef stock is more, and veal stock more still.