This is a rich vegetable stock, a perfect replacement for beef stock in soups and stews. It’s simplified with a French profile, but can easily be adapted to phở, ramen, or any cuisine with a few add-ins. This recipe blends the method from Bon Appétit’s Andy with Glen & Friends Cooking (AKA, Canada’s Alton Brown), which rely on thinly sliced veg roasted for hours to deliver a deeply flavoured and coloured stock.
It takes about 3 hours (or about half that with a pressure cooker).
Mechanic
The rich, sweet flavour and colour come mostly from deeply browned vegetables, sliced very thin so they roast dark. It works best at 2:3 veg to water.
Ingredients
- 2 large carrots
- 2 stalks celery
- 1 red pepper (optional)
- 2 large yellow or white onions
- 1 shallot (optional; sub onion or garlic)
- 1 leek (optional; sub onion)
- 1 head garlic
- 8 dried porcini mushrooms
- 8–10 (60 g) dried shiitake mushrooms
- 200 g mixed fresh mushrooms
- 1 tsp (5 ml) black peppercorns
- 3 tbsp white (or other) miso
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- ~2 tbsp vegetable oil
- ~4 L water
- 1 medium piece kombu (dried kelp)
Optional add-ins
- 1 beet
- 1 knob ginger, diced
- cinnamon, star anise
- bouquet garni, fennel, etc.
Method
Heat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Thinly slice the veg into one or more roasting trays; slice the denser vegetables on a mandoline and the softer ones by hand.
Crush the dried mushrooms (without soaking them) and add them to the trays.
Mix the tomato paste, miso, and vegetable oil together and toss with the vegetables until thoroughly coated.
Roast, stirring occasionally, until deep brown but not burnt, 30–45 minutes.
Transfer to a large pot, add the water, and simmer for 1 hour. In a pressure cooker, cook on low pressure for 20 minutes and let it depressurize naturally for a clearer stock.
Remove the solids and strain. With the heat off, add the kombu to the strained stock and steep for 15–25 minutes, then lift it out. Or soak the kombu in the water before it goes in with the veg.
Taste a little stock in a small bowl with a pinch of salt or soy to judge its strength for whatever you plan to use it for.
Notes
- At 2:3 the stock should be dark and rich, ready to use 1:1 in most preparations. It varies a bit with roasting time and the ratio of veg to water.
- Reduce the stock by half for freezing, or use within 5 days refrigerated.