What to use instead of beef bone broth
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
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Savoury liquid that reduces into a pan gravy
It carries roasted meat flavour plus dissolved gelatin, so as it reduces it goes glossy and coats the meat instead of just getting saltier.
Unsalted beef stock plus gelatinRan out
1 tsp powdered gelatin bloomed in 1/4 cup of cold stock, stirred into 2 cups
Gets the body back exactly. Slightly less roasted depth than a long-simmered bone broth.
Beef base or bouillon pasteRan out
1 tsp paste per 1 cup water, then use half as much salt in the gravy
Salty and one-dimensional, and thin because there is no gelatin. Fine in a gravy you are thickening with flour anyway.
Chicken stock lifted with soy and WorcestershireRan out
1 cup stock + 1 tsp soy sauce + 1/2 tsp Worcestershire
Paler in the pan, so a pot roast gravy looks weak. Savoury enough that most people do not notice in a Salisbury steak.
Dried porcini steeping liquidPlant-based
1 oz dried porcini in 2 cups hot water, 20 min, strained through a cloth
Deeply savoury and dark with an obvious mushroom flavour. No gelatin, so the gravy needs a little more flour to coat.
What doesn't work: A stock cube dissolved in water for a gravy you plan to reduce by half. Cubes are mostly salt, so what tastes seasoned at the start of the reduction is inedible by the end. Use half a cube, or unsalted stock and salt at the finish.
Gelatin that makes a braise or sauce cling
Collagen from the bones dissolves into gelatin, which thickens the liquid without flour and gives it the sticky quality that coats a fork.
Powdered gelatin in ordinary stockRan out
1 tsp per 2 cups, bloomed in cold stock 5 min first
Indistinguishable in the finished sauce. It will not add any flavour, so the base stock has to be good already.
A split marrow bone or a piece of pork skin in the potRan out
1 bone or a 3 in square of skin per 2 quarts, 2 h simmer
The real fix if you have the time. It adds richness as well as body and the braise tastes noticeably deeper.
Chicken stock reduced by a thirdRan out
3 cups reduced to 2 before it goes into the braise
Concentrates whatever gelatin is there. Lighter in colour and it will not carry a beef dish on its own.
What doesn't work: Canned consomme or thin carton broth. There is effectively no gelatin in either, so the sauce stays watery, you end up doubling the flour to compensate, and what coats the meat is a floury paste rather than a glaze.
Liquid volume in a soup where beef flavour is the whole point
It is the seasoning and the liquid at once, giving a long-cooked meat savour that nothing quick can imitate.
Water with misoPlant-based
1 tbsp red miso per 2 cups water, whisked in off the boil
Savoury and salty with an obvious fermented note. Cloudy, and it will separate slightly if you boil it hard.
Water with yeast extractPlant-based
1/2 tsp Marmite per 1 cup water
Dark and genuinely meaty tasting. Very salty, so drop the added salt, and it goes bitter above about a teaspoon per cup.
Mushroom broth with soy and tomato pastePlant-based
1 oz dried mushrooms steeped in 4 cups water, + 1 tbsp soy sauce + 1 tbsp tomato paste
The closest plant version. Earthier than beef, and the tomato paste gives the colour that mushrooms alone do not.
What doesn't work: Plain water with more salt in it. Salt makes the vegetables taste like themselves and adds nothing behind them, so a beef barley soup made this way tastes like boiled barley and carrots with the beef sitting apart from it.