SOUP!
I tried to make vegetable stock the other day for vegtable soup(daughter is vegetarian), filled a pot full of carrots, peppers, onions, turnips, etc. covered in water, salt and pepper, brought to a boil let slow boil (simmer) for two hours, tasted, and it tasted like boiled water! What am I doing wrong? Should I just buy stock? Pretty expensive for a big pot of soup though! Thanks for any and all advice.
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11 Comments:
the best way to extract flavor from vegetables is to roast or saute them first. try either putting them in a roasting pan with olive oil, salt, and pepper, roasting them until they are brown, deglazing the pan, and cooking your stock from there, or saute onions until they are transparent, add garlic, herbs {i usually use thyme and bay} salt, and pepper, whatever veggies you're using, cook them until they start to brown, then add water. a wonderful trick for adding flavor to vegetarian stock is to add a tablespoon of brewer's yeast and cooking it for a couple of minutes before adding the water. you can also add kombu, a type of seaweed, which adds lots of depth, and a squirt of bragg's amino's, a type of soy sauce, which i actually like better than soy sauce.
cybercita at 10:35AM on 10/31/09
The possibilities are endless...
I like to sautee the mirepoix in vegetable oil.
I roast garlic (I prefer a less garlicy flavor).
I add dry white wine.
I use a sachet d'epices with,
Bay Leaf
Dried Thyme
Peppercorns, crushed
Parsley stems
I go nuts with the vegetables, you can do any kind of vegetables you like but it must (for me) have tomato and mushrooms. I also small dice everything to increase the surface area so maximum flavor extraction is possible.
I also add an onion brule to add color and depth of flavor.
The beauty of vegetable stock is that there are really no rules, and multiple ways to make it. Don't give up on making good stock. Keep trying... and for the love of pete, don't use store bought vegetable "stock".
Pavlov at 11:01AM on 10/31/09
i agree with roasting them first. i learned to make mine from the recipe in "how to cook everything vegetarian" - which is a great book to have anyway ifyoure leaning to cook for a vegetarian!
nalega at 11:47AM on 10/31/09
I roast a bunch of veggies in the oven and then do the stock in a crockpot, plus I usually use a little bit of white wine with other spices to amp up the flavor a little bit too.
joyyy at 11:56AM on 10/31/09
Great advice all.
Just a small note- cut the vegetables in a large dice to expose more surface before seasoning, oiling and roasting. This exposes more vegetable surface to carmelization.
Basically- what Pavlov said.
CJ McD at 12:09PM on 10/31/09
For a basic stock that has great depth of flavor, a savory natural sweetness and a good color:
Melt a half stick of butter with a splash or two of corn or other vegetable oil in a Dutch oven on medium-low heat. Omit the butter and use oil only if a vegan stock is desired, but I think vegetables brown better in butter.
Chop off the root end of one or two nice yellow/copper onions, then quarter them--do not peel.
Throw the onions into the pot and add one clove of smashed garlic (optional), about four rough-chopped well-scrubbed unpeeled carrots and two ribs of washed and rough-chopped celery with leaves. Salt and pepper the vegetables, then allow to cook slowly until everything is caramelized.
Add two quarts of water, a small sprig of parsley (optional) and a bay leaf (optional); bring to a simmer.
Taste after it has simmered for a few minutes and correct the seasoning by adding more salt, pepper or water. Strain and cool.
I add garlic depending on what the stock is for--if I'm using it for cream of mushroom or potato soup, for instance, I omit the garlic. I don't add strong-flavored vegetables like turnips, brussels sprouts, broccoli and such to the stock itself because I find them to add a slight bitterness. Depending on what you'll be using the stock for, you can add a touch of miso or soy sauce, a piece of seaweed, lemon rind, ginger, etc.
betteirene at 2:52PM on 10/31/09
Thank you! I didn't think to roast the vegetables first! I will try another batch tomorrow with all your wonderful advice. Thanks.
chilimama at 11:06PM on 10/31/09
I save all of my vegetable trimmings - potato and carrot peels (scrub first), onion skins, garlic skins, fresh herb stems, any veggies that have gone past peak in the fridge or on the counter, etc. - and keep them as they accumulate in zip-top bags which are kept in the freezer. Once I have a couple of one quart zip-top bags, I simmer the contents in a big stockpot of water and a tablespoon of salt.
Makes the most flavorful stock and it costs nothing - no buying stock or perfectly edible veggies to boil.
yayfood at 11:15PM on 10/31/09
Ooooh, we just worked on this in culinary school - it was one of my favorite days.
Ditto most everything above. It's difficult to get a good vegetable stock by just boiling vegetables without a strong foundation. And, you need a LOT of vegetables, which really only should be simmered for 45 minutes to an hour.
Roast or pan fry the vegetables you'd like to use in the stock, with olive, corn or vegetable oil. This will caramelize the vegetables and give them depth of flavor. Roast on high heat (435 F) in the oven for about 45 min. or on the stove in the stock pot for about 20 min. on med./high.
Then deglaze the pan with water or white wine -- even sparkling apple cider might be a nice way to deglaze, depending on what you'll be using the stock for later on.
Scrape up the dark bits on the bottom of the pan, called "fond," which means "foundation" or "base." The fond contains all of the concentrated flavor that will make your stock taste better than any store bought vegetable stock.
There is also a technique called "au sec," where you deglaze the pan, and allow the liquid to evaporate almost completely, forming more fond in the bottom of the pan. Then you deglaze again, repeat and deglaze one more time for maximum flavor.
Then add the water to the pot with a sache of herbs (herbs tied up in cheese cloth), bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer for about 45 minutes.
Depending on the use, you may or may not want to season with salt.
WickedGoodDinner at 7:39AM on 11/01/09
If you want a quick veggie stock try adding vegetable boullion cubes to water or add to stock for additional flavor. They are super economical, you can buy a large container and have stock for years. Only downside is that I would guess they are pretty high in sodium.
KtMc24 at 12:12PM on 11/02/09
Rapunzel is a brand of boullion that has no added salt. You can buy it at Whole Foods.
fatitalianbroad at 7:01AM on 11/03/09