Introduction to Extracts
Facts about meat, fish, and vegetable extracts, so you know when and how to use them. Always natural cooking, using natural ingredients, flavors, condiments, herbs and spices.
Extracts
They are concentrates made of meat, fish or vegetables. Some concentrates -sauces made of fermented fish, stock cubes- have been around for centuries. They were once produced in the kitchen. Nowadays, they are made commercially.
All about extracts
Ancient Greeks and Romans produced sauced from the juices of dried and fermented fish used -particularly by Romans- to season seafood and meats, and as salad dressing.
In China and south Asia, there are today preparations very similar to the ancient ones.
Food extracts, as concentrated beef pastes and stock cubes, are made from the natural juices of the particular animal or vegetable. Colorings, spices, salt, monosodium glutamate, and sometimes preservatives, are added also. According to the degree of evaporation, a moist or dry extract can be obtained.
Fish pastes and sauces keep indefinitely; yeast and malt extracts keep indefinitely, too.
Fish Extracts
Pastes or sauces produced from fermented, dried or salted fish.
Malted Milk
First used as nutritious drink for infants or invalids, now malted milk products are used in crackers, cookies, mixes for cakes, creams, pie fillings and ice cream.
Malt extracts
Made by soaking powdered malt in water.
Meat extracts
Obtained mainly from beef.
Stock cubes
Dehydrated extracts from the juices of meat, fish or vegetables. Stock cubes can absorb moisture in damp conditions and should always be kept dry, preferably in airtight containers.
Yeast extracts
Yeast extracts have a similar taste and texture to meat extracts.
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