Stocks

Stocks were originally invented to facilitate kitchen organization and to augment integral sauces. Integral sauces are those prepared directly from the juices released by meats and fish during cooking. There are two major difficulties in preparing sauces with only the natural savory elements released in cooking. First, meats and fish, especially when roasted, rarely supply enough of their own flavorful elements to make enough savory sauce to go around. Second, in a restaurant setting, it is difficult and impractical to prepare an integral sauce for each dish. Because of these problems, chefs developed stocks, which can be made from less-expensive cuts of meat, inexpensive meat trimmings, and bones.