Bases have become indispensable tools for foodservice cooks. For them, time is of the essence. In the past, gastronomic fundamentalists may have scoffed at the notion, but today's cooks depend whole-heartedly on bases and their kin, flavor concentrates, to provide homemade taste in less time. Bases are great starting platforms to build recipes. They dissolve into flavorful savory broths; in finished dishes, they highlight flavor nuances or add bursts of ethnic spice. Talented and unskilled kitchen personnel alike proudly use these stock concentrates as they would any other convenience food, such as Worcestershire or tomato paste. Innovative startEarly in the 20th century, soup starters or soup bases -- blends high in salt and accented with spices -- were popular in foodservice kitchens. Added to scratch-made stock, they reduced the time necessary to make tasty soups. In 1951, Lewis J. Minor realized that busy foodservice cooks needed more help than just decreasing soup production hours. He noticed that cooks spent most of their valuable time and money on making stocks, the building blocks on which great soups are based. At this time, too, bone prices were high and quantities scarce, making stock production cost prohibitive. As a solution, Minor created meat-first seasonings, to use instead of salt-first seasonings, to replace making stocks from scratch. From the door-to-door beginnings and with production help from his wife, Ruth E. Minor, and friend, Audrey Tubbs, Minor innovated a staple ingredient of the foodservice industry, recounts Michael Minor, the son of L.J. Minor and president of Culinary Services and Solutions Inc., Cleveland. Small amounts of these paste concentrates diluted in water resulted in great-tasting stocks in 15 minutes rather than the traditional 10 or more hours, and eliminated the costly, time-consuming business of bone roasting. More than 50 years later, the category has grown to include familiar soup and stock starters as well as sauce starters and flavor concentrates. No matter how you name them, these timesaving devices are vital ingredients used in any busy kitchen. Though a true consensus among foodservice operators and manufacturers about the definition of bases is hard to reach, many agree that bases serve as the foundation for other food applications. Consistent in flavor, taste, and smell, and not overly salty, stock bases and flavor concentrates offer busy chefs places to start and directions to follow when developing new recipes. Production fundamentalsEarly bases were made by cooking cubed, fresh, unfrozen meat. The meat and juices from this process were then homogenized with salt and seasonings. Today, the manufacturing process is not significantly different. Companies may use a variety of proprietary methods to make their bases, but the result is always similar: a tasty concentrate for numerous applications. Incorporating salt in these concentrates reduces water activity, providing a natural barrier to undesirable microbial growth. Most paste bases have a recommended refrigerated shelf life of up to 1 year. Technically, the product may be microbiologically sound, but flavor integrity can deteriorate if stored for too long. Bases are also available as spray-dried powders. A thick liquid version of the base is atomized into a hot-air chamber. Controlled temperature and airflow conditions immediately evaporate moisture from the particles; they fall and are continuously collected from the drying chamber. These are sold to manufacturers as ingredients and used in creating other bases or finished foods that are ultimately sold to foodservice operators or distributors. Big flavor in a dabIn addition to extending shelf life, salt enhances base flavors. Old style bouillon type bases typically have 70% to 80% salt. Modern paste bases have approximately 30% salt. These salt-driven bases are tricky to use, though. Each addition of paste adds a fair amount of salt, and chefs run the risk of over-salting the recipe while trying to add meat flavors. In this way, salt-first bases are limiting. Some cooks feel that these are best used for simple soup applications where only a few other ingredients will be added. They will only add lower-salt bases to appease health-conscious consumers who desire flavorful yet healthful products. For example, 8 oz. of chicken or beef broth made with reduced-sodium bases will have about 80% less sodium. Removing salt from all aspects of the recipe, then adding a reduced-sodium base, helps boost flavor without adding salt. In small amounts, ingredients such as hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP), autolyzed yeast extract (AYE) and monosodium glutamate (MSG) are added to bases to enhance the meatiness and the savory character of meat-base pastes. HVP is made from wheat gluten, corn gluten or defatted soy flour and contains component amino acids, including glutamate, salt and water. Pale HVP subtly enhances meaty notes like chicken; darker HVP is quite strong and in some cases has charred characteristics that add subtle roasted nuances. AYE consists of nucleic acids, peptides and other constituents and functions similarly to MSG, the sodium salt of glutamic acid. In some cases, to avoid having MSG on labels, producers will use a mixture of disodium 5'-inosinate and disodium guanylate, which also enhances savory flavor. All of these ingredients boost the overall umami and meaty notes, and when used properly, can liven an otherwise dull base product. Some people report reactions that include headache, irritability, or a feeling of pressure behind the eyes and forehead when they eat MSG. Though temporary, these effects are uncomfortable, and consumer concerns about MSG and other free glutamates encourage manufacturers to omit these enhancers from their formulations.
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