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The other day I made this delicious recipe of Bacon Tea. I thought I could make some more with some Pork Stock.

When I went to the store to buy stock I found:

  • Beef Stock
  • Veal Stock
  • Chicken Stock
  • Vegetable Stock

(Interestingly enough - no lamb stock either.)

I asked my wife about it, and she said:

No - supermarkets never have Pork Stock.

My question is: Is there such a thing as pork stock?

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  • I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is not about cooking
    – rumtscho ♦
    May 31, 2016 at 10:25
  • Hello Hawkeye, I am afraid that we cannot answer the question as it is. "Is there such a thing as pork stock" would do, if you want we can shorten it to that and reopen. But there is no way to know what items are sold in "supermarkets" in a random part of the world. Also, the choice of supermarkets to sell a product or not has nothing to do with food preparation.
    – rumtscho ♦
    May 31, 2016 at 10:27
  • Feel free to shorten it to that.
    – hawkeye
    May 31, 2016 at 10:32
  • OK, done and reopened.
    – rumtscho ♦
    May 31, 2016 at 10:33
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    Yes there is, it's just not readily available in western countries, although tokos or oriental markets may have it. I remember a similar question being asked on a Dutch radio show, and the answer was yes, but not in the west. The full answer had (amongst other things) something to do with difficulties of getting a clear stock from pork, and a clear stock was what was fashionable/desirable. If I can find a comprehensive answer I'll post it as answer, for now I'll leave it as a comment.
    – Willem van Rumpt
    May 31, 2016 at 11:05

1 Answer 1

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There certainly is such a thing as pork stock, it's made the same way as beef and chicken stock - by cooking down bones to extract the flavors. With beef you use beef bones, with pork you use pork bones.

Supermarkets stock the products that make economic sense, they don't carry items which won't move - especially if they have a very limited shelf life. Beef, chicken and vegetable stocks are the most widely used ones in many parts of the world, so they will carry those as they have a good chance to be sold. Pork, lamb, and fish stocks can be found in supermarkets in areas where enough of the customer base will buy it.

If you can't find it in your local supermarket then there may be specialty stores (online or bricks and mortar) which you could get it from. Butchers may carry it as well. If not then making stock is very simple, all you need is some bones, vegetables, a heat source and some time.

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  • Naming might also be non-obvious.... in some languages, words prefixed with whatever the word for pork is tend to have an rude feel to them if they are not established culinary terms (as a german, I would be momentarily confused if somebody mentioned "Schweinebrühe" ;)
    – rackandboneman
    May 31, 2016 at 12:10
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    'Schweinebrühe' sounds like the name for a hipster microbrew IPA.
    – Borgh
    Feb 26, 2020 at 13:29

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