Go to the Recipe: Ultimate Beef Bouillon Cubes
Is there a place we can download the packaging design? It would be cool to make the little box to put them in aswell. Also the same deal with the chocolate bar
Hi Baxter! That box is done up in Photo Shop... The chocolate bar is the same way as well.. that was just white paper in the photo.
When you say “depressurize cooker”, by which method? Under running cool water, allow to sit on the counter until it naturally depressurizes, or does it not matter? I know in some cases it does matter and influences how cloudy the finished product is.
For this application it doesn't really matter, what ever you want to do works.
Pressure cooker, then 4qt dutch oven, then 3qt saucepan. Is that right? Needs to be a 4qt? I have a 3 and a 7 lol
Really you can leave it in the 4 qt dutch oven, I swapped to the sauce pan for safety. It can go from not reduced enough to scorched pretty quick. But like in the video I stuck with 4 qt.
Ahhh I see thanks Kyl.
How long would you cook this on the stove if you don't have a pressure cooker?
I've got a standard pressure cooker I can use, but also an Instant Pot which is much easier to deal with. Same 30 min at High Pressure in Instant Pot?
Correct.
No pressure cooker? No problem
You can make this stock easily without using a pressure cooker; it just takes more time.
After you add the water and aromatics, bring the liquid to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low to maintain a simmer, and cook for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Strain and proceed with the recipe as written.
What silicon cube tray do you use, do you weigh out 35g portions?
Any suggestions for Japanese, Vietnamese or Chinese variations? for example if you used soy sauce and/or fish sauce along with lemongrass or ginger substituting for some of the Mirepoix (maybe Szechuan peppercorns) how much would you reduce the salt?
For modifications like that I would just recommend leaving the salt out completely, then adjusting seasoning from use to use.
It's a 1 inch cube, it ends up being right around 35-37g. which is perfect to reconstitute 2 cups of stock.
That makes sense, will post how it goes
Thanks. Will it not fit in a 3qt dutch oven? I’m realizinf I have either that, a 5qt saute, or 8qt stockpot. Maybe the 5 quart saute will be perfect. Will probably help it reduce quicker.
Could I use ground veal and basically make a veal stock for all of those French recipes that call for veal stock? Or would ground veal impart too much flavor?
I would say that you would not tell the difference between the veal and beef. Veal bones are simply used more commonly because beef bones are not as readily available commercially.
Something I've used to prevent scorching at end stages of reductions where I don't want to risk ruining anything is to put the product in a jar without a lid, then the jar in a sous vide bath with the opening above the water; cover all the water with plastic wrap and run the sous vide at ~85c. Takes longer but you know you're not scorching that way.
Almost done reducing. Looks like it’s split with the fat on top? When I pour it into my glass purex to pour into the molds I’ll first take an immersion blender to it?
Really? But us normal people can’t find veal bones anywhere! Lol
Well things were going smoothly until the last half hour of reducing. It separated and I got a really thick and sticky caramel like texture. I did a double batch and ended up with basically a normal yield. Wtf. (Pictures not posting?)
Took 35g and stirred it into 2 cups of boiling/simmering water. Took over 5 minutes to dissolve and even then there was a little at the bottom of the pot when I poured it into the bowl. The 35 grams reacted like taffy when I pulled it. Very weird. Feels like I make something against God or nature hahahaMilky looking stock.
Maybe I shouldn’t double a recipe the first time I do it? Lol
Well I mean, this came out perfectly apparently. And I misjudged my mold so I got exactly 16 cubes at 35g. Who knew.
I think you've just reduced it too much, I'd rely on looks and feel rather than time as the wattage and power of your hob or the width of your pan will greatly change how fast the stock reduces, the wider the pan, the faster it'll reduce as there is more surface area for the steam to escape. This is why they recommend changing to a smaller pot later on in the reducing process so you can better adjust and manipulate your reducing stock.. That explains why it got thick and you got less yield. There's no added sugar in this recipe so it's more likely its just scorched rather than caramelized.
Not caramelized, the consistency of caramel.
I actually ended up with exactly double the yield. I thought my molds were a different size.
All that said, I’m doing the chicken version in my 3qt dutch oven instead of my 5qt saute and it is going much better. Taking just as long to reduce the normal, non-doubled amount, but going well. I think I let the heat go on my first batch and it split on me. Fortunately it looks like it didn’t matter in the end.
I agree! I can usually get beef bones for free at my local Butcher, but they never even have veal bones 😅
I did a half batch two days ago and broke it at the end. I was reducing to shoot for 150 g and it broke around 155 g. I used a 4 qt saucepan and I think I should have moved it to something with less surface area. I whisked it before pouring it into the ice cube tray, but it separated again. It’s about 2/3 “stock” and 1/3 fat in the cubes. That said, today I made the beef sipping broth and it was fantastic. Dissolved in 30-60 seconds, made a velvety broth, and I drank all three cups. Which, according to my math, is over 1,500 mg sodium… speaking of, it was perfectly seasoned to my taste. I’ll see how it is with the 2 cups water for regular stock. I was thinking this might just taste like hamburger soup but now I think this will be a game-changer and free up a lot of freezer space between bone bags and deli containers of stock.
I’m doing it again with the normal amount and I eventually skimmed the fat off. There is so much fat. It isn’t emulsifying. I think it’s an issue with this recipe. The chicken worked flawlessly (haven’t tried the pork yet).
Did the beef again. You need to strain the fat at some point (I did it around 1000g). That much fat won’t emulsify and then when you weigh it, you end up reducing the stock WAY past where you want to. I strained the fat and then took it down to 280 and it seems to be perfect. Definitely more involved than the chicken one. Used an additional strainer to remove any clumps while straining it to a pyrex that I used to pour it into the molds.
Could probably go with a 90/10 ground beef as well?
Yep. Much better. Not milky at all.
I made the chicken bouillon last night and had no issue with it breaking, but I used store-bought ground chicken with 8% fat versus the 20% beef. I also did 1.5x recipe since the chicken was a 3-lb pack. I thought the extra liquid relative to pan surface area might have been the difference, but the fat is certainly a variable as well.
Hi Robert, for the most part every store is going to label their 80-20 ground meat and it won't be super consistent from store to store or really day to day. I made many many batches of this one from a couple of different locations and didn't have a breaking issue. But I do aim for closer to a 300g final weight so you might have to adjust a slight amount of water. Going to the 90/10 could be a safe bet for the product you are getting, I can just say that I never trialed it. Thank you for the feed back and glad you are trying it out. And since you are having this issue with your product I would certainly suggest a skim or pour off after the rendering bit.
Glad you liked it, it is looking like the 80-20 we developed with might have been leaner than the products the majority of you all are getting. I'll run a trial this week with 90-10 and see if that makes a big difference. If you keep having this issue I would personally add 10-20g of water after letting the pot cool down slightly, while whisking to see if that helps the emulsion. Then cast.
Thanks for your reply! So some fat emulsified, but never all of it so as it reduced the stock part got smaller, but the fat remained the same so when I reduced it to 300g, the stock was reduced to 200g and the fat made up the other 100g. That 200g of stock though was SO reduced it was like taffy and unusable. I thought I split it the first time around but on my second time around I noticed that there was a layer of fat just sitting on top and it became more noticeable as it reduced. Hence I skimmed it off and was able to get a proper 280g stock reduction that worked perfectly. Really great technique though and if you check the chicken recipe you’ll see that one works flawlessly!
I ground my own chicken thighs so no idea about the fat content, but it was absolutely less than the beef. I think the fat is the factor here.
Yea that must be from the ground beef being fattier than what we developed, I never had a layer form during my reduction. Super excited that you're enjoying the package though. It was a fun one.
I sauted some mushrooms tonight, deglazed with some red wine, and a quarter cube of the bouillon. Stirred in a little butter off heat and it was incredible.
Thinking about the fat in this and trying to come up with the nutritional info in my food app has been interesting/confusing.
300g total - 40g salt & MSG - 40g gelatin - 28g oil = 192g absorbed water + beef fat.
Gelatin can absorb about 5x its weight of water but is not fat soluble, so 200g of water could be retained (maximum and at cool temps). Clearly we evaporate a good part of that.
I'm no food scientist so I could be totally off with this. I think some percentage of the fat will remain in the meat and be discarded, but I'll assume it all gets into the mix from the pressure cooker. If we drove off enough water to make room in the 192g for all of the available beef fat (up to the full 176g in 2 lb of 80/20 meat), we only have 16g of water "wiggle room". If we drive that last bit off, is that when it breaks? Less fat, like with the 8% chicken I also used, leaves a lot more water in the 300g target. Since there is only 72 g of meat fat in the first place, we are left with 120g of water in the cubes to bond with the gelatin (which is within the 200g max so they are completely gelled at room temp). And if we overcook that a little there is still water in the mix. If this is directionally correct, 85/15 beef will offer up a max of 132 g of fat, leaving 60g water in the 300g mix, enough for a factor of safety to not break, and still contribute a good amount of fat/flavor.
TLDR: 20% fat meat should work in theory for max fat/flavor retention, but leaves little room for error and risks driving off all the water to reach the 280-300g target. 15% fat might offer more of a factor of safety, while still imparting a lot of fat and flavor.
Love it. I've been doing a pasta dish at home with spicy Italian sausage, white wine, and butter with half a cube added in and it's amazing. These things are pretty darn useful. I have personally replaced box stock at my house with it.
Absolutely replaces boxed stock for me and probably homemade beef stock. I only ever reduced beef stock to a demi anyway. This is cheaper and quicker. Chicken stock I’ll still do in the pressure cooker for soups and gravys and whatever.
Hey Kyl I was just wondering if there was a particular reason that the recipe didn't call for tomato paste with how it was mentioned to be used in stocks or broths in the description above or was it just personal choice?
It was really just a choice to leave the base as neutral as possible. I wouldn't say that if we added tomato paste that it would be ideal for some dishes such as Pho, or other asian inspired dishes. But it is super easy to add a little into what ever dish you are wanting that flavor profile in.
Makes sense. Thanks for the feedback 😁👍
Made Red Wine Braised Short Ribs in the pressure cooker. Reduced 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar, then reduced 2 cups of red wine to 1 cup, then added 4 cups of water and 1.5 cubes of bouillon, threw the top on and cooked at 2 bars for 45 minutes. After cooking I strained the liquid, defatted it, and reduced down to 1.5/2 cups. Taste is awesome.
Kyl for the Not Your Grandmas’s Pot Roast, should I just dissolve a cube in 300g of water, add the pepper the recipe calls for to it, and then it’s good to go?
Does Chef Steps sell the bouillon cubes?
We do not.
Well, the reduced stock is really very delicious and has a superb mouthfeel. BUT, I have a hard time envisioning how a stock made with 2 qts of water can end up as 2 gallons of broth (8 cubes, each making 2 cups of broth). And mine never did emulsify…no clue why. 1 ended up skimming off most of the fat that rose to the surface.
1 gallon
Sorry I missed this one! I would stick with 2 quarts of liquid, but only use 3 cubes instead of 4. To cut back on the salt. Unless you have modified your cubes to be less salty I think the combination of them and the ranch powder will be too much. You could probably also drop the added gelatin in the pot roast recipe as well.
Ready for ramen
Duh. Yes, 1 gallon. But still. How does bouillon made with 2 qts of water reconstitute to 4 qts of stock? After pressure cooking the stock, it doesn’t have enough flavor, and thus would have to be reduced to use as stock in soup or sauce or whatever. After reducing, how can it be flavorful enough when adding twice as much water as we started with? Just can’t get my brain around that.
Give it a try Kristie. I developed this with the correct amount of ingredients if you started with 1 gallon of water. Then reduced the whole thing. I then cut the water volume in half, since you are going to reduce the entire pot down any way and wanted to cut the reduction time in half. We tested both versions side by side and there was no noticeable difference so went with the 2kg as the starting point The pressure cooking is extracting all of the flavor you can get out of those ingredients, regardless of the water volume. Then reduction is just concentrating them into a smaller package.
For a pho application, at what scale would you prefer to go essential oils of the aromatic spices for an "instant" route, rather than steep whole spice in hot water before reconstituting the bouillon cube (assuming would be the proportions of the beef sipping broth)?
Thanks Kyl! Was thinking you were sick of me with all of my posting! Haha
I'm excited to make this. Thanks for the recipe, especially as it uses ground meat and gelatin to streamline the process. I've done something similar by cooking veal bones, water and aromatics for hours and reducing it down until it was essentially glue - then chilling and cutting up the pieces for the freezer. One question I have is - what is the rationale of using oil, along with beef with 10% fat as opposed to just starting with no oil and beef with 20% fat?
What a waste of time.
A long process that uses left over scraps of beef with a definite reward. Not a waste of time.
Made 3L of stock. After I reduced it by a third I strained it through a sieve, big tea strainer and finally on a old gold coffee filter. Cleared up the stock pretty well collecting the finer bits of swarf. Thing I was aware of was how quickly the last 15% (or so) of water left the reduction. The bubbles became much finer at the end with the pot temp raising quickly though not scorching (it got to about 217F).
This was fun, actually. Searching around town to find MSG, the look on peoples faces when i asked where it was (at a whole-istic market...) "Sir we don't have those kind of ingredients," "You mean next to the pink salt, xyla or was it oreo's?"
do i have to use Knox gelatin? I don't have it in my country.
What you recommend for vegetarian version of this? Would be cool to have vegetarian/vegan recipe
One of the key components of these cubes is gelatin, and there is just not a great replacement that would work well with a vegetable stock.
nope. use what you can get ahold of.
When will you make bullion that I can Purchase? It would be fantastic.
Following up on this, if you are vegetarian and okay with gelatin, then Impossible Meat should be a perfect sub for the ground beef. Only real issue is that it's 80/20 vs 90/10, like the recipe is now, so I am guessing that the added oil needs to be reduced or removed.
Your math isn’t mathing.
Kyl, just noticed the body of your verbiage still says 80/20 while the recipe says 90/10. I bought 80/20, but will only use 1/2 the fat that comes off (edit, never mind, you put that in a note at the bottom…maybe direct the reader to the note** at the first mention?)
Thanks for the feedback, Greg; I'll pass the message to our editor.
When asked about where the MSG was located, a Kroger helper said that she wasn’t sure but recommended that I try their over-the-counter pharmacy area - got a good laugh out of that response.
