Vegetable stock

TIME2 hours MAKESAbout 2L of stock PORTION
0.5x 1x 2x 3x

A simple and delicious vegetable stock that gets additional layers of flavour from a combination of searing the alliums (to provide more complexity and browning from the Maillard reaction), dried shiitake mushrooms (a source of guanylic acid, one of the three molecules responsible for umami savouriness), and MSG. The olive oil, though not essential, adds a thin layer of flavourful fat at the top of the stock — making this a nice vegetarian substitute for chicken soup.

INGREDIENTS

  • Olive oil
  • 2-3 large (225g) brown onions or shallots (cut into eigths)
  • 1 leek (cut into 1 inch pieces)
  • 2-3 medium (115g) carrots (cut into 1 inch pieces)
  • 2 large celery sticks (cut into 1 inch pieces)
  • 2L water
  • 1 head of garlic (halved crosswise)
  • 1 tbsp black peppercorns
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 4 dried shiitake mushrooms
  • MSG (to taste)
  • Salt (to taste, optional)1

STEPS

  1. Drizzle a healthy amount of olive oil in a large cast-iron pot, and place on the stove over medium-high heat. Add the onions (or shallots) and the white part of the leek, and sear until they begin to develop a golden brown crust (about 5-7 minutes). Add the carrots and celery and saute until slightly softened, a further 2-3 minutes.

  2. Add the water, garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves, dried mushrooms, and optionally an extra tablespoon or so of olive oil. Bring to a boil, and then turn down to a simmer. Leave to simmer for approximately 30 minutes.

  3. Strain, and season with salt (optionally) and MSG to taste.

NOTES

  1. Feel free to leave out the salt if making a vegetable stock for general cooking, in order to better control salt levels. However, if serving the stock as the main soup component of a dish, I prefer to season it here. ↩︎

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