Why stock is not water, and how it changes the whole dish.

Chef Islom Qurbonov believes: the difference between homecooking and restaurant food often comes down to one word - stock. 

At home, we are used to cooking with water. In restaurants, water is replaced with stock - and it is not just a whim, but a fundamental principle. Water dilutes flavor. Good stock enhances it. It penetrates every layer of a dish works as an invisible amplifier - makes sauce deeper, risotto richer, braised meat more intense. 
(Carousel)
Kurbonov recalls coming for a degustation to an unfamiliar restaurant and trying their stock. "Is it... water?" - was his first thought. It was in that moment that he realized: even the most basic element of cooking either elevates a dish, or ruins it. 

The advice is simple: start making stock in advance. Chicken, beef, vegetable - any kind. Freeze it in portions. And next time you will be making sauce or risotto, replace water with stock. You will feel the difference from the first bite.