Stocks, soups, and sauces form the backbone of most cuisines across the world. They elevate dishes in five-star restaurants and humble street-food stalls, proving their versatility and significance in every kitchen.
Mastering these three culinary foundations not only enhances flavors but also elevates your customers’ dining experience. In this guide, discover the unique qualities of each, explore their varieties, and learn how they can transform your dishes into crowd-pleasers.
What Is a Stock?
Stocks are rich, flavorful liquids made by simmering bones from meat, fish, or poultry, along with vegetables and seasonings. The slow-cooking process extracts collagen from the bones, creating a gelatinous texture that gives the stock its body and richness. Depending on the type of bones used, the cooking time can vary from a few hours to an entire day.
Stocks serve as the base for soups, sauces, and stews. The long cooking process allows flavors to develop and intensify, resulting in a versatile liquid that enhances the depth and taste of other dishes.
To streamline kitchen workflow, enhance your stock’s flavor without the extended cooking time by using bouillons and stock bases like Knorr Beef Broth Base or Knorr Chicken Cubes.
Types of stocks in cooking
- Brown stock – Made by roasting beef or veal bones in a lightly oiled pan until browned.
- White stock – Created by simmering un-browned beef or veal bones, resulting in more delicate flavors.
- Chicken stock – Prepared by simmering chicken bones with mirepoix and seasonings; sometimes called white stock.
- Fish stock – Made from the bones, heads, skin, and trimmings of lean, white deep-sea fish.
Average cooking time for stocks
- Brown stock: 4-6 hours
- White stock: 3-4 hours
- Chicken stock: 2-4 hours
- Fish stock: 30-60 minutes
What Is a Soup?
Soups are liquid dishes made by combining ingredients like vegetables, meats, or grains with a flavorful base. The process can vary, from quick preparations to slow simmering, depending on your desired depth and complexity of flavor. A well-made soup begins with high-quality ingredients, often using stock as the foundation. Optionally, you can use thickeners like cream, roux, or pureed vegetables for a richer consistency.
Soups aren’t just starters; they can stand alone as hearty mains or complement other dishes, making them a vital component of any menu. There are two categories of soups:
1. Clear soups
Clear soups are simple and transparent, lacking solid ingredients. Some examples are:
- Broth – A flavor-packed liquid produced by simmering meat or vegetables; often used as a base for more complex soups or consumed on its own.
- Vegetable soup – A soup made from clear, seasoned stock or broth with one or two types of prepared vegetables.
- Consommé – A clarified broth that is rich in flavor and typically served as an elegant first course; it requires careful preparation to achieve its clarity.
2. Thick soups
Thick soups are denser, thanks to thickening agents such as roux. For a heavier consistency, you can also add a combination of one or more pureed ingredients to the mix. It creates the following:
- Cream soup – A liquid thickened with roux or other thickening agents like milk or cream.
- Purée – A soup that is naturally thickened by blending one or more ingredients.
- Chowder – A hearty, chunky American soup made with fish, shellfish, or vegetables; often includes cream or milk.
- Potage – A thick stew usually comprised of meats or vegetables simmered in liquid.
Average cooking time for soups
- Clear soups: 30-45 minutes
- Thick soups: 1-2 hours
What Is a Sauce?
Sauces are liquids used to enhance the flavor, appearance, moisture, and nutritional value of any dish. They elevate simple menu items, adding complexity and richness. Fried, grilled, roasted, and steamed dishes benefit from different types of sauces.
Creating sauces from scratch requires precision and a thorough understanding of ingredients interactions. Most sauces begin with a liquid base, such as stock, milk, or cream, and are thickened through various methods. For kitchens aiming to deliver exceptional flavors while streamlining preparation, products like Knorr Demi-Glace Sauce Mix or Knorr Gravy Mix offer flavorful shortcuts without compromising quality.
Types of sauces
Sauces can be categorized into many types, but these five French mother sauces serve as the foundation for countless variations.
- Béchamel sauce – Made by whisking flour, butter, and milk to create a creamy white sauce.
- Velouté sauce – Crafted from a light stock and a lean roux to create a base for cream soups and vegetarian sauces.
- Espagnole sauce (brown sauce) – Prepared with mirepoix, fat, and flour, resulting in a rich, tan sauce.
- Tomato Sauce – Made from tomatoes, vegetables, and seasonings, forming a flavorful base for many dishes.
- Hollandaise Sauce – Made by emulsifying egg yolks, butter, and lemon juice to create a rich, thick sauce.
Average cooking time for sauces
- Basic sauces: 15-30 minutes
- Complex sauces: 1-2 hours
Sauce thickeners
Enhancing sauces with the right thickeners can significantly improve their texture. Here are some options:
- Slack or brown roux – Made with more fat than flour, this roux is ideal for thickening demi-glace sauces.
- Lean or white roux – Created with more flour than fat, this roux is perfect for blending with milk to make béchamel sauce or with meat stock for velouté.
- Egg – A whole egg contributes to a creamy consistency, with the white providing moisture and the yolk adding thickening power.
- Starch – Use starch from waxy maize, corn, potato, rice, or arrowroot. Dissolve the starch in hot water to achieve gelatinization, effectively thickening your sauce.
Stocks serve as the flavorful foundation for soups and sauces, with varying cooking times and ingredients tailored to each type. Soups can be categorized into clear and thick, depending on the other components used. Meanwhile, sauces elevate the meal with enhanced taste and moisture, often utilizing thickeners to achieve the desired consistency.
Mastering stocks, soups, and sauces takes practice, but the rewards are worth the effort. Don’t be discouraged if your first attempts aren’t perfect; refine your technique over time. For a shortcut without sacrificing flavor, consider using Knorr Chicken Cubes or Knorr Beef Broth Base, which deliver taste comparable to slowly simmered stocks and sauces.
