Powdered Stock

I have a tricky time with powdered stock. While there is a definite place for them, for when you need to add flavour but not liquid, most of the ones you find are so artificial that I struggle to deliberately put them in my food. In large font they shout “CHICKEN” OR “BEEF” but then, deliberately in tiny font underneath, is the word “style”. That lets the manufacturers call their products beef or chicken, even when there is no actual beef or chicken in them. The ingredients are enough to make you weep into your 80’s green lime cordial (which naturally contained no lime either). I grew up on Space Food Sticks as a delicacy, so you’d think it wouldn’t bother me at all, but my hipster influenced adult years seem to have taken over my decision making process.

It came to a head over meatloaf. I hazard a guess that this is not the first time a crisis has happened over what is essentially a giant rissole cooked in a bread tin (who thought of that? Seriously, meat that looks like bread??). I’m slightly obsessed with the website Recipe Tin Eats and there is a fabulous looking recipe for meatloaf on it, but it specifies adding a couple of stock cubes for flavour. I’ve tried making it with plain salt, but I’m sure it’s not the same. Still good, but not the same because most of the recipes on that site are AMAZING.

So I went on the hunt for a better stock in powdered form. It wasn’t easy! The same Massel stock cubes are everywhere, which have never met a real chicken. It’s also not the sort of artisianal product that people whip up in the kitchen, like jam or relish. I don’t think you can even make it in a Thermomix, though not having one I might be wrong on that.

But the good new is that I did find a very tasty stock powder, San Elk,  which as all natural, mostly organic ingredients and comes in Vegetable, low FODMAP Vegetable and Beef. There was nothing that I didn’t recognise as a food. I’ve added it to gravy and white sauces, particularly macaroni cheese sauce, where it is sensational. It’s not super expensive at around $10 and can be found at a number of easily accessible locations, which are listed on the website. Win!