Hi, this is my first time asking of you Gentle Folks.

I've recently found the advantage to using canned chicken broth to start my chicken soups and other dishes. However, what's the difference between "chicken stock" and "chicken broth"? It has come up because I have a couple of coupons for Swanson's version of each different type.

So, please, what am I actually getting in each of these categories? Thanks so much.

Chicken broth, you drop a whole cleaned chicken in a big pot with water to cover and boil it a few hours until done, or put it in your crockpot and turn it on and go back in a few hours. You take out the meat and skim off the fat and the liquid left over is chicken broth.
Chicken stock, you take a leftover cooked chicken carcass (works great with leftover Thanksgiving Turkey) with most of the meat pulled off and boil that, then strain out the bones.
Both of them are yummy and probably interchangeable in your recipes.

By the way, homemade broths and stocks are relatively inexpensive and very easy to do; they just take time. The results are well worth the effort. You can also make large batches and freeze them into portions. The homemade versions are worlds better than anything you can buy in a can.

If you must use canned, try the boxed versions instead; they're much better.

It's vald76 here, from the original question on chicken stock, etc. Thanks for the clear answers. It's not such a puzzle after all. I'll be sure to select boxed broth & if I make some myself, I'll let it "steep" longer than my usual one hour. That was probably my problem that the store bought varieties were more flavorful than my weak brew. Thanks again.

If you are making home broth, the best tasting chickens are the freshest killed, also you can use the larger older hens 4 or 5 lbs the ones called broilers or fryers are young chickens only a few months old that are tender and cook quick but have less flavor.

Hi again! I thought you could use some basic chicken stock recipes. I make stock about twice a week, and then I use it in all kinds of things, from soups and sauces to risotto and more. One thing I always do is make the stock a day before I'll need it. Then I let it sit in the fridge overnight so I can scrape off all of the fat (it sits on top) before I use it.

The following will give you a general guidline on what to do. You can make adjustments as necessary. Everyone has their own way of doing it.

In italy there's a saying that old hens make for the best broth.

This one is the closest to what I do:
Martha Stewarts Homemade Chicken Stock recipe (http://www.bigoven.com/137389-Martha-Stewarts-Homemade-Chicken-Stock-recipe.html)

Chicken Stock Recipe at Epicurious.com (http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/CHICKEN-STOCK-109143)

Brown Chicken Stock Recipe at Epicurious.com (http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/BROWN-CHICKEN-STOCK-231824)

chicken stock Recipes at Epicurious.com (http://www.epicurious.com/tools/searchresults?search=chicken+stock)

I want to point out that STOCK is made from uncooked bones or browned bones in the case of brown stock. If they have been boiled before it is called rumouillage. (Which literally means 're-wetting' in french.) Broth : from meat only. Stock : from bones only. Using both seems more like a soup / consomme. (Homemade consomme starts with stock and then adds matching meat plus mirepiox and egg white to form a 'raft'. This results in a VERY flavorful enriched clarified soup. It will have crystal clarity, prominent meat flavor in addition to rich mouth feel from the gelatin of the stock.)

So in short, stock from bones, broth from meat, rumouillage from re-used bones.

My reference is my culinary foundations 1 & 2 classes a Le Cordon Bleu, MSP as well as our text cook "Professional Cooking, Wayne Gisslen, sixth edition, copyright 2007"