I was chatting with my friend Cherrie the other day (she and I spend some time always talking about food – what she’s making, what I’m making, restaurants, etc.) and she was telling me about how she made one of my lamb stew recipes that I’d posted awhile back. Then she said when she tasted it, it was blah. Blah, I thought? How can that be? The stew I made was absolutely fabulous with flavor. She’d made it exactly as written. The lamb was from Costco, just like mine. I had to contemplate that conundrum for a bit. How could two stews be so different in taste? The recipe wasn’t that complicated. Didn’t require any particularly unusual ingredients. Then a light went off in my head. It’s the broth. I’d put a fair slug of turkey broth concentrate in that stew that was almost like a soup.

Hence I’m posting about something that I had begun to take for granted. No longer.

Years ago, I used to buy those little cubes of chicken bouillon to flavor up things. That’s about all there was out there unless you made your own stock (which I’ve done, but don’t choose to make anymore except the day after Thanksgiving). Eventually you could buy loosely packed dry chicken broth granules (still can, I believe). Of course, you could buy canned broth too. But if you were making soup that needed 2 quarts, for instance, that was a heck of a lot of cans to buy and lug home, open and throw out. That’s why I preferred the granules. Then along came the little jars of hydrolyzed protein with a modicum of flavor. And lastly, the sealed, waxed boxes of broth, which I use regularly too. But the underlying problem – to me anyway – was the amount of sodium in all of these products. Even that stuff Better than Bouillon. Have you even looked at how much salt is in them? Salt is cheap – a whole lot cheaper than chicken meat or buying hydrolyzed protein, so of course, the “superior” minds (read: greedy) of American business, always looking out for our better health (right?) would use salt as the overriding flavor. Hey, if they can fool us into thinking it’s chicken broth, then they’ve made another product the unsuspecting homemaker and cook will buy.

Some years ago I read a story about hydrolyzed protein and wasn’t all that thrilled with the process and what products made with it might do to our bodies. So generally I used the cardboard boxes of broth or the loose granules. For a lot of years that’s what I did. And it was only a few months ago that I read about Wolfgang Puck’s own brand of broth that was noticed by either food magazines, or Cook’s Illustrated, or maybe it was Consumer Reports. I don’t remember now, but whatever I read indicated Wolfgang’s was really good. So I’ve been using that too (it’s expensive, so I don’t use it for just anything).

Meanwhile, I decided to try some of Penzey’s soup bases. They do not contain hydrolyzed protein (yea!). The first ingredient on the chicken base (my most used one) is “cooked chicken meat.” Well, it’s about time somebody decided to give us what we want – the main ingredient is chicken! I’ve come to rely on these jars of concentrated broth. I merely dip my small spoons into the chicken goop and pull out a little dab and add to whatever I’m cooking. I never measure – I just use a clean spoon. I use it anytime I need broth and merely add water. They do require you to store them in the refrigerator once opened. That’s about the only down side to these. (And in all fairness, I will state that the second ingredient is salt. At least it’s not the first one.)

At the moment I own three of them (chicken, turkey and seafood). In my next order to Penzey’s, I’m ordering beef and vegetable too. So, if you have come to trust me – may I recommend to you that you click over to PENZEY’S and place an order for these SOUP BASES. DO IT NOW! And while you’re at it, try some of their Korintje or Vietnamese cinnamon too. And cumin. And garlic  (the most recent catalog had a write-up about how the Penzey’s folks finally found a garlic grower willing to do what Penzey’s has wanted forever – somebody to cut OFF the little brown stem part). I use fresh garlic almost all the time, but I may order some of this dry garlic just to try it. And just in case you don’t know me very well – no, I’m not getting paid by Penzey’s to tout their stuff. I simply believe in their products and have been nothing but happy with everything I’ve ordered from them. You likely will be too. And whenever you make anything that requires broth, I think you’ll be amazed at the flavor! In a recent Cook’s Illustrated or Cook’s Country, Penzey’s chili powder did not fare well. Number one winner there was Spice Islands.