Stock cubes usually contain flavour enhancers, yeast extract, hardened palm oil and a salt content that is difficult to account for. We have been making our own meat broth from a homemade stock paste for years. It sits in the fridge and can be measured out to the teaspoon. A spreadable preserve of vegetables and beef that stays stable on its own because of the salt.
We make the paste on a Sunday, when it is soup day anyway. 700 grams of finished paste lasts us around three months, because one teaspoon per 500 grams of water gives a full meat broth. That means we have replaced every stock cube and every packet broth in our family kitchen.
Meat Stock Paste, Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 10 ✓
- 1 onion
- 30 g chives
- 20 g flat-leaf parsley
- 150 g carrot
- 100 g celery
- 150 g leek
- 400 g beef (boneless)
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 180 g salt
- 40 g white wine
Instructions 0 / 4
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1
Vegetables.
Peel the onion and halve it. Wash the chives and cut into 5 cm pieces. Wash the parsley and remove the thick stalks. Wash the carrots, celery and leek, trim and cut into pieces.
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2
Chop.
Place everything in the mixing bowl and chop for 15 sec / speed 5, using the spatula to push the ingredients down.
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3
Meat.
Cut the beef into small cubes (approx. 1 cm), add with the rosemary, salt and white wine, mix briefly with the spatula and cook for 28 min / Varoma / speed 2 without the measuring cup in place. Set the steamer basket on top as a splash guard.
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4
Jar.
Meanwhile, rinse the preserving jars and lids with boiling water. Insert the measuring cup and blend the paste for 1 minute, gradually increasing to speed 7. Fill into the prepared jars, seal and leave to cool. Then store in the fridge. Use approximately 1 tsp of stock paste per 500 g of water to make a flavoursome meat broth.
Tip: Because of the high salt content, the stock paste keeps in the fridge for several months. If you would like to make it with less salt, it is a good idea to fill the paste into freezer-suitable containers and freeze it.
Video
Nutrition per serving
Why the paste stays spreadable and does not dry out
Classic stock powder is dried and ground. It keeps for a long time, but the aroma fades once the essential oils from the parsley, leek and chives have evaporated. Our version takes the opposite approach: we keep all the moisture and preserve with salt. 180 grams of salt in 700 grams of total mass is around 25 per cent. That is exactly the range at which bacteria and mould have no chance, yet the paste remains spreadable.
The Thermomix® does two things in one bowl that would otherwise need two separate appliances. In the first step it chops the carrots, celery, leek, onion, parsley and chives in 15 seconds at speed 5 into a fine vegetable paste. Then the beef, rosemary, salt and a splash of white wine cook for 28 minutes at Varoma temperature at speed 2. After that the whole mixture is blended for one minute, gradually up to speed 7. Chunky vegetables with cooked beef become a smooth paste that fits into any screw-top jar.
The ratio: 1 teaspoon per 500 g of water
This is the rule of thumb we use when making any soup: one level teaspoon of paste per half a litre of water gives a strong meat broth. For two litres of soup that is four teaspoons. Anyone who skips measuring and just adds the paste straight from the jar will oversalt the soup slightly, because the paste is considerably more concentrated than a stock cube due to its high salt content. We always measure carefully, especially in soups where cheese, bacon or smoked ham will be added later.
The paste replaces every stock cube one for one in our favourite soups. It works in pumpkin soup, in potato soup, in gyros soup, in pancake soup, in tomato soup, in cream of leek soup and in cheese and leek soup. In all of those recipes we add the paste directly to the mixing bowl with the water instead of using a stock cube.
What often goes wrong on the first attempt
The beef turns tough instead of tender. If the beef is cut too large, you will still have firm pieces after 28 minutes of Varoma cooking that will not blend properly into the paste. The cubes really do need to be about 1 centimetre on each side. With larger pieces, an extra ten minutes of cooking time will not help. Our solution: take the time to chop properly on the chopping board, and the consistency after blending at speed 7 will be right first time.
The paste splatters out of the mixing bowl. At Varoma temperature without the measuring cup, the mixture bubbles very actively. Without a splash guard, half the broth ends up on the mixing bowl lid. The steamer basket placed on top catches this. Still, check occasionally that it is sitting properly.
The paste becomes watery in the jar. This happens when the preserving jars are not prepared properly before filling. We always rinse the jars and lids with boiling water immediately before filling. The jar needs to be still hot so that a slight vacuum forms as it cools. Cold jars draw condensation, which noticeably shortens the shelf life.
Other ways we use the paste
Sauce boost. Half a teaspoon of paste in any gravy or goulash noticeably deepens the meaty flavour. This is especially useful in poultry sauces, which can taste flat on their own. Because no extra water is added, always account for the additional salt content.
Risotto stock. Instead of expensive stock from a jar, we dissolve 3 to 4 teaspoons of paste in 1.5 litres of hot water and use it as a risotto stock. The flavour is noticeably richer than any shop-bought vegetable stock and is enough for a risotto for four.
Without meat as a pure vegetable paste. If you want to leave out the beef, replace the 400 grams with an extra 150 grams of carrots, 150 grams of celery and 100 grams of mushrooms. The cooking time stays at 28 minutes and the salt content stays the same. This gives a vegetarian version that keeps just as long.
Shelf life and storage
In the fridge, in cleanly filled 250 ml screw-top jars, the paste keeps for at least six months. For us it is usually used up within three months because we use it every day. Important: always use a clean spoon, never the one you have just been stirring the soup with. Once water or other food gets into the paste, the salt content in the jar drops locally and mould can develop at that spot.
We have gathered further basic recipes for the Thermomix® in our basics collection.
Goes well with: vegetable soup.
If you want to reduce the salt content, for example because a low-sodium diet is important in your household, you can cut the salt down to 90 grams. In that case the paste will no longer keep in the fridge and must be frozen in small portions. We use ice cube trays with lids for this: one cube is roughly one teaspoon and can be added directly from frozen into a hot soup.
For soups where the paste works straight away, our classic soup recipes are worth a look: potato soup, pumpkin soup and cheese and leek soup.
