By Chef Alexis Hernandez
Updated March 17, 2026
Let’s Just Say It
It’s easy as a professional chef to talk about making your own stock.
Yes, homemade stock is great. Of course it is. If you do not have a job outside the house, if you are writing a book, or if you are a stay-at-home mom or dad — which is one of the most important jobs there is — then maybe you do have the time to simmer bones all day, freeze stock in ice cube trays, and feel very accomplished.
And honestly — good for you.
I am not even saying that sarcastically.
I used to believe in that whole ritual too.
I made my own stocks.
I froze them in flat bags.
I poured them into ice cube trays so I could pull out a cube whenever I needed a little flavor.
I know the system.
I know the process.
I know the speech.
It’s Easy When Someone Else Made It
It is also easy to romanticize homemade stock when you own a restaurant and have a brigade of people making the things you designed.
That part gets left out a lot.
It is easy to say, “I make my own stock,” when what you really mean is the restaurant made it and you brought some home.
There is a difference between making stock yourself on a Wednesday in your home kitchen — and having access to stock because somebody else already did the labor.
I know that world too.
Meanwhile, People Need Dinner
And let’s be real — the people with jobs, kids, errands, laundry, and a freezer that is already too full are not always trying to spend half a day making broth. They are trying to get dinner on the table.
I would rather have a big chuck roast in my freezer for a future meal than give that space up to trays of frozen stock.
That is the truth.
And all the people who have children, jobs, full lives, and still somehow manage to keep a steady supply of homemade stock tucked away at all times — maybe they just have some Elon Musk gene for extreme productivity and excellence.
I did not get it.
The Jar I Keep Reaching For
So yes — I use canned broth. I use boxed stock. And I use what restaurants have relied on forever, even before home cooks started acting like it was some clever little secret — concentrate.
Most people know it now as Better Than Bouillon.
And I use it all the time.
Vegetable. Chicken. Beef. Those are the ones I keep around because they do exactly what I need them to do.
They bring flavor fast.
They save time.
They help me get dinner moving.
The low-sodium one is not really my thing.
I like salt — judge me later.
Effort Is Not the Point
Somewhere along the way, people started confusing effort with value.
Yes, homemade stock can be wonderful. Yes, there are dishes where it matters more. If I am making something delicate and broth-forward, I will always admit that fresh stock has its place.
But for most home cooks, on most nights, the goal is not to prove how virtuous you are.
The goal is dinner.
The goal is flavor.
The goal is feeding people without turning every meal into a test of character.
A shortcut that works is not laziness — it is judgment. And good judgment in the kitchen matters a lot more than performative labor ever will.
I’ll Be at the Stove
I know how to make stock. I have made stock. I will probably make stock again.
But I will also keep that jar in my fridge and use it happily — because real life is real life, and dinner still has to happen.
And if that disappoints the people who think every serious cook should be simmering bones in saintly silence all weekend, they are welcome to come open my freezer and explain why I should give up a chuck roast for a tray of broth cubes.
I’ll be at the stove — making dinner.
