Stock is made from more bones...broth is from more meat.

Homemade stock will be gelatinous from the bones when cool and give you a richer mouth feel and flavor.

Here is a link that might be useful: Food Network says...

Thank you for the information. SO asked me that tonight and I didn't know.

There is no standard answer to this. Opinions largely fall into one of three categories:

1) Technically there is no difference. I saw an interesting point - though I haven't confirmed it - that languages including French, Spanish and Italian don't have multiple words for these. But some folks, apparently including at least some mfrs of canned broth/stock, differentiate it as...

2) Stock is a building block ingredient that is not meant to stand alone; broth is a seasoned stock that can be eaten as soup.

3) Terry's meat/bones answer is another common one. Vegetable stock, however, presents an obvious problem.

"2) Stock is a building block ingredient that is not meant to stand alone; broth is a seasoned stock that can be eaten as soup."

Interesting, FOAS, I would have said just the opposite here and pointed to Veg stock as the rationale..... also I think of broth being much lighter and milder and stock being that wonderful rich stuff that becomes gelatinous when chilled.

Alexa

Good question..... I have noticed that Swanson's is now selling a Chicken "Stock" and a Chicken "Broth". The ingredients are similar, but the stock has more simple ingredients.

From the labels:

Stock: Chicken stock contains less than 2% of the following: Sea Salt, Dextrose, Carrots, Cabbage, Onions, Celery, Celery Leaves, Parsley.

Broth: Chicken Stock, contains less than 2% of: Salt, flavoring, dextrose, autolyzed yeast extract, celery juice concentrate, carrot juice concentrate, onion juice concentrate.

Directions:

Stock: Swanson stock can be used to enhance the rich and meaty flavors of your favorite chicken dishes. Do not dilute.

Broth: DO NOT DILUTE. Use in your favorite recipes or serve as a piping hot beverage. Swanson Broth can be used in place of store-bought stock and other broths in recipes.

So..... I still don't know much more than I did before! I do know that the Stock is more expensive than the Broth (talking about the store-bought Swanson Brand).

And.... it seems as if the BROTH recipe has STOCK in it and other flavorings are added.

okay so how do you get a vegetable stock gelatinous and velvety??

certain veggie inclusion?

This isn't a scientific or gastronomic definition, it's just what Nana told me.

Stock is a combination of whatever you need to deal with, bones, leftover meat, veggie bits and bobs, no rules just all dumped into a stock pot. She then discarded all but the stock, which was quite strongly flavoured, and used it for all kinds of gravies and sauces and, when watered down, for a soup base.

Broth was made only from beef or chicken or veggies, salt and pepper, maybe a bay leaf, and cold water. The result was very mild and light coloured and was used exclusively for soup. The veggies etc added were part of the soup not as flavour base which was discarded.

I've often wondered the same thing, and after doing research, I've seen different results. This is what Epicurious states:

Stock
In the most basic terms, stock is the strained liquid that is the result of cooking vegetables, meat or fish and other seasoning ingredients in water. A brown stock is made by browning bones, vegetables and other ingredients before they're cooked in the liquid. Most soups begin with a stock of some kind, and many sauces are based on REDUCED stocks.
© Copyright Barron's Educational Services, Inc. 1995 based on THE FOOD LOVER'S COMPANION, 2nd edition, by Sharon Tyler Herbst.

Broth
A liquid resulting from cooking vegetables, meat or fish in water. The term is sometimes used synonymously with bouillon.
© Copyright Barron's Educational Services, Inc. 1995 based on THE FOOD LOVER'S COMPANION, 2nd edition, by Sharon Tyler Herbst.

Courtesy of website http://www.epicurious.com/cooking/how_to/food_dictionary

Chicken stock you get in a can is called broth.

You don't believe me? Take a look in your pantry.

Then you have soup, soup base, essence of chicken, chicken bouillion.

They should call broth made with only chicken chicken juice. :-)

dcarch

Doesn't sound like we're going to solve the great debate here, does it? ;-)

dcarch - I won't lie and say they're in my pantry but Kitchen Basics sells only stock, College Inn apparently has some stocks which I've never seen, and Swanson sells both stock and broth (which I've seen) and differentiates them much like I stated in my point #2 near the top of this thread:

BROTH: Essential ingredient to add flavor to soups and side dishes that don't have a strong flavor of their own. Finished, highly seasoned flavor. Best used in Homemade soup, vegetables, stuffing, rice, potatoes and reheating leftovers.

STOCK: Stock is a foundational ingredient used to enhance the rich and meaty flavors and juiciness of your main meat dishes and gravies. Less seasoned, rich and robust, with a meaty flavor. Best used in Main meat dishes, gravies and sauces.

I just canned what I've always called beef stock, made from roasted beef bones, some onions, carrots and celery, a few bay leaves, salt and pepper. Cover with water and simmer for several hours, mine went 9. Let it sit overnight refrigerated, skim the fat and can it.

I use it for homemade soup, as FOAS says broth is for, and I use it for gravies and sauces, like stock.

Grandma always told me that it was stock if you used the bones, broth if you didn't. I'll be darned if I know, I use whatever I have on hand interchangeably.

Annie

I didn't know I was going to start such a debate...LOL. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one that didn't really know the difference especially among all you good cooks.

Pam

Before reading all the answers, I was like, I dunno! Then I read all the answers... and I still really don't know I guess! I would categorize this under "questions that have baffled mankind for centuries". LOL

For me, the two words are interchangeable. By that I mean, if a recipe calls for either stock or broth, I use whatever I happen to have on hand. Sometimes, that's the stuff I've made from meat, sometimes it's from bones. I don't actually keep track. I honestly don't think that whatever you use, it's going to have that much on any given recipe.

I will say that my cooking is extremely INexact, I tend to do whatever works for me based on my tastes and ingredients on hand, and very seldom follow a recipe to the T. So if it calls for stock and I use what might actually be broth, or vice versa, no one is any the wiser! LOL

Most of my Chicken Stock comes in a jar labeled,
Custom Culinary " Select Chicken Base " Masters Touch.

I use it to enhance the flavor of Chicken Soup and Sauces,
As most Restaurants do.
Just dig out a Tabelspoon full and put it in the pot.

I always thought of Chicken Stock as a Concentrated
Chicken Soup,
because of the long simmering.
And used as a base for Chicken Soup.
I have also used a large can College Inn for making a big pot of Chicken Soup.
Lou

Stock is something you make on purpose. It's the end product of cooking up a bunch of bones and veggies.
Broth is the liquid resulting from cooking something. Chicken broth results from poaching a chicken, or simmering some oxtails and vegetables for soup.
Then there is pot liquor which is what comes out of what you cook...like the stuff in the bottom of the pot when you cook up a mess of greens.
Then there's boullon, which is somewhere between stock and broth, seasoned highly and served in a dainty 2 handled cup with a little round boullon spoon.
Chicken base is chemicals in a jar, mainly salt, sugar, maltodextrin, hydrolized yeast, MSG, BHA, Propolene glycol, disodium insinate....and who knows what else.
Linda C

" As most Restaurants Do "
Lou

See, that's why I don't eat in restaurants, LOL. I'd never use the packaged gravy at our restaurant either, and I scrape the nasty stuff off potatoes if I happen to make the mistake of not making sure mine come out without any.

I don't care for soup base or bouillion, it only tastes like salt to me and I can't pronounce about half of what's in it. And THAT'S why I make and can my own stock.

Funny, elery is always trying to cut down the sodium in stuff, but he loves that fake flavoring....

Annie

Here are something for you guys to consider:

1. Turkey necks are cheap, they make very good "chicken broth". (In NYC supermarkets)

2. Chciken gizzards are cheap. They make very good broth.

3. Go to a Chinese butcher in Chinatown (NYC), you get two chicken carcasses with some meat still on them for one dollar.

dcarch

okay but no one answered about veggis and "rich" stock..vs broth??