"They" say Penzey's is the best...I've never tried it.
I am currently using LB Jameson's, and while as good as any I have found and better than most...it's decidely "Eh?"....said with a shrug. But a little red wine and some dried mushroom broth fixes it right up.
Linda C

I've been using Trader Joe's Savory Broth in the beef version. There is also chicken and vegetable. It comes in little foil packets of liquid. It's pretty good and not overly salty.

I had trouble withteh Penzey's disolving, to the point i called them and they sent me a new one. Slightly better, but I was not Wowed.

While it is a bit on the salty side, I like Minor's or if you have them near you, the Gordon Foods Service brand. If you are expecting a true homemade beef stock, you will not find it in concentrate. Only homemade will give you that.

I use Better than Bouillon, but I mix it 50% chicken and 50% beef when I want a beef flavor (and 100% chicken when I want chicken).

Just in case you ever do have the time and inclination (it costs less money):

BASIC BEEF STOCK

Makes 8 cups

Ingredients

6 pounds beef soup bones (or a combination of veal and beef bones)
1 large onion, sliced
3 large carrots, quartered
½ cup water
2 stalks celery, including some leaves, coarsely chopped
1 large tomato, quartered
½ cup parsnip, chopped
½ cup potatoes, cubed
8 whole black peppercorns
4 sprigs fresh parsley
1 whole bay leaf
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 cloves garlic
12 cups water

Directions

Preheat oven to 450° F.

In a large shallow roasting pan place soup bones, onion, and carrots. Bake, uncovered, about 30 minutes or until the bones are well browned, turning occasionally.
Drain off fat.

Place the browned bones, onion, and carrots in a large soup pot or Dutch oven. Pour ½ cup water into the roasting pan and rinse. Pour this liquid into soup pot.

Add celery, tomato, parsnips, potato parings, peppercorns, parsley, bay leaf, salt, thyme, and garlic. Add the 12 cups water. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer on lowest setting for 5 hours. Strain stock. Discard meat, vegetables, and seasonings.

To clarify stock for clear soup: In order to remove solid flecks that are too small to be strained out with cheesecloth, combine 1/4 cup cold water, 1 egg white, and 1 crushed eggshell. Add to strained stock. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat, and let stand 5 minutes. Strain again through a sieve lined with cheesecloth. It stores better and longer when clarified.

Joe

Thanks all - for now I'll try out Trader Joe's as they are close.

Joe - Thanks for the recipe. I've never made beef stock, and the recipe I was looking at was Cook's Illustrated's which uses 6 pounds of beef shank per two quarts. Granted it leaves you with a bunch of usable meat, but still, at $3.99 a pound... Hopefully bones are cheaper!

You'll be looking for a small box that looks like the pic in the link. I think it was near the spices in my TJ. It isn't a big box of broth.

It's not homemade but I think it's better then "Knorr" and "Better than Bouillon." Penzey'z I haven't used.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pic of package.

Eileen, I've walked right by that a few times...I'll have to check it out..
Although I do have the time to make my own...Hmmmmmmm...

I have neither time nor inclination right now to make my own. Some day.

Thanks to Linda C's directions about a year ago, I never buy beef stock anymore. In the pressure cooker it takes no time at all, and I use whatever cut of beef I can find on sale....cheap. It's so easy, not a lot of ingredients, and it's so much better and less expensive than buying bases or canned.

No more store bought chicken broth, either. Had roast chicken for dinner, tossed the cleaned carcass, a couple ribs of celery, a couple carrots, some onion and bay in the PC, added some water and voila! 12 cups of golden broth for my freezer!

I only saved a paper copy of Linda's method for beef broth. Did a search, but couldn't find it. Similar to Joe's recipe but fewer ingredients, and I don't bother to clarify.

Linda

Linda - Are you sure it was Linda C? I'm looking for it now, and in a thread from last month she said she hasn't used a pressure cooker in years. I'd be interested in the recipe though.

(I decided to spring for the shanks and actually have a pot of them simmering right now.)

I use the TJ's one but it's not great. I do make my own, every now and again. D'Artangan's frozen demi-glace is a great substitute, but it's pricey and can be hard to find. I've also bought More Than Gourmet at Surfa's.

Here is a link that might be useful: Demi Glace

TJ's isn't like homemade but it's way better than the others I've tried. I make my own chicken stock all the time. Beef stock just seems complex. Maybe I'm making more of it than needs to be.

I have some More Than Gourmet here, their veal and beef stock reduction, but I haven't been thrilled with it. To be fair, I don't know if I should attribute that to the product or the recipe I used.

What I can tell you is that the beef stock I just made tastes like nothing I've ever bought. Ingredients were 6 pounds of beef shanks, one onion, half cup of wine, a tablespoon of oil, a half teaspoon of salt. That's it, and it is awesome. Just pure hearty beef flavor. I did clarify it per Joe's instructions. Can't wait to use it in dinner tomorrow.

I'm just plain jealous.

Yes, it was Linda C's instructions. I printed them 10/07 and it wasn't really a recipe, just instructions. Beef bones, onion, carrots, a tomato, drizzle of olive oil, S&P. Roasted in the oven and then put in a dutch oven with some water and simmered.

I chose to use the PC since I have it, and it takes no time at all and since mine is programmable, needs no monitoring.

I think you could use any veggies and herbs you have on hand. I used beef ribs that were on sale because they were nearing their "sell by" date. For the price of beef and vegetables (about $7), I got nearly 8 cups of stock. If you saved beef bones from steaks, roasts, etc. or bought plain old soup bones, it would be even cheaper.

Where I live, it's hard to find soup bones in the stores until winter sets in. That's when "they" think people make soup!

Last night, I made 12c of chicken broth, basically cost me a couple of carrots and some celery ribs since we ate the roasted chicken for dinner.

Linda

Linda..how long roasted in the oven?? Then everything is just dumped into a dutch oven or PC and simmered till the bones are "nekkid"?

Roast until browned....about an hour at 375...less time at 425.
Then just simmer until you are tired of simmering!

I have a new insight on chicken broth...I usually do the bit about simmering the carcasses fo a couple of chickens with a lot of stuff like a leek and a sweet potato, parsnip and a lot of celery tops and parsley.
But last summer I had occasion to make a lot of chicken salad for the church, and I began with making a court boullion with a chunked onion, some celery tops, a couple of cloves of garlic smashed with a chef's knife and a half of a lemon, juice and peel. Simmer for 30 minuites or so then add as many pieces of chicken as you can....simmer until the chicken is done, remove the chicken, add more, simmer and continue until all your chicken is cooked.
That broth is so rich and "chicken-ey" you won't believe it....and it's a by product of the real chicken you are aiming to cook!
Linda C

I've like Penzey's as well as any other I've tried, I don't think any of them dissolve to my satisfaction and most are extremely salty.

I also make my own, every year when I have the cattle slaughtered and I have a LOT of soup bones, I make and can broth. As has been mentioned, I roast all the bones with carrots, celery, onions, bay leaf, then start an all day simmer. I do this on days when I have all day at home and other things to do while the pot simmers so I don't feel ilke it took all day and I got nothing done except a pot of stock, LOL.

Annie

I make a lot of beef stock/brown sauce/demi glace but when I don't have any in the freezer I use Campbell's low sodium beef broth in the box and find it to be acceptable.

Here is my recipe for each stage, can be seriously time consuming but only in elapsed time not in effort. You can just stop at the beef stock but I prefer to at least go as far as the brown sauce....great way to spend a cold , rainy weekend.

Beef Stock/Brown Sauce/Demi Glace

For the Beef Stock:

5 Or 6 Pounds Of Beef Bones, Veal Bones , maybe more ( I watch for shanks and short ribs to go on sale or be marked down and keep in the freezer until I have enough, steak and roast bones are perfect as well)

2 Celery Stalks, Chopped
1 Onion, Chopped
2 Carrots, Chopped

For Brown Sauce :

3 carrots, chopped
4 celery ribs, chopped
1 Large Onion Or 2 Small, chopped
1cup Butter
1 Cup Flour
3 TBSP tomato paste
12 Cups hot beef stock
herbs such as Thyme, Bay Leaf, Parsley

For Demi Glace:
2 Tbl Maderia
additional beef stock , equal To The Brown Sauce

For the Beef Stock

Drizzel the bones and veggie with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast the veggies and beef bones in the oven at 400 degres for 30 minutes, turn and cook 30 minutes more or until lovely and carmelized.

Place in a large stock pot and cover with 18 cups of cold water. Simmer for 4-6 hours. Strain, place in fridge. In the morning skim off fat.

For the Brown Sauce (Sauce Espagnole)

Saute mirepoix ( chopped onons, carots and celery) in butter until the onions are light golden brown. Add tomato paste and continue cooking gently.

Make a brown roux over low heat in a heavy pan with 1 cup of butter and 1 cup of flour. When the roux is a hazelnut color, add two thirds of HOT beef broth. (Reserve one third for demi glace), and whisk together. Add the vegetables, as well as a bay leaf, a little thyme and some parsley stems. Simmer the mixture for 2 to 3 hours, skimming off the scum that rises to the surface. Strain it through a fine strainer, and press the mirepoix gently to extract their juices. Chill over night.Skim off fat.

Then, for the demi-glace:

Add an equal amount of beef or veal stock, bring it to a boil, and simmer until the sauce is reduced by half, again
skimming the surface as necessary. Off the heat, add 2 tablespoons Madeira.

Freeze in ice cube trays.