History of bouillon

In the late 18th century, Count Rumford (1753-1814) an American born physicist during his service to the Elector of Bavaria, he invented and mass-produced a fully nutritious, solidified stock of bones, inexpensive meat by products and other ingredients. He fed the Duke’s army with it. His invention was the precursor of the bouillon cube.

When bullions are used in preparation, it is bullion of beef or chicken that late-medieval recipes call for most frequently.

A stock of beef bouillon sees most have been a staple of most kitchens of the time, and in mid-19th century cooks were instructed to keep soup stock on hand for the base ingredient of soup, of for use in cooking other foods.

Soup stock which wasn’t wanted for soup could be used to make gravy or given to the poor so that they could use it to make nourishing soup.

The word is French, a derivative of bouillir ‘to boil’ and in present-day English is commoner in America where stock cubes are known as bouillon cubes than in Britain.

He was an innovative chef, who introduced many new ideas, including compressing bouillon in a storable tablet in 1831.

From 1843, together with his students, Justus Liebig studied the composition of the meat from different animals. He then developed meat extract, but it was more expensive than bouillon cubes.

Industrially produced bouillon cubes were commercialized by Maggi in 1908 and by Oxo in 1910.  In 1890 The Maggi favor was invented to improve soups. Julius Maggi simplified the recipe for bouillon, and made it cheaper. He then produced a concentrated bouillon based on meat extracts, first in capsule form, then as a cube.
History of bouillon