Vegetarian and vegan cooking should celebrate vegetables rather than forcing them into a meat-shaped box.
Vegetable stock tends to lack three crucial properties: rich flavor, fat, and collagen.
Adding them back is what separates great stock from weak-ass tea.
Heres what I use to ensure my veggie stock ticks all the boxes.
It tastes, well,meaty.
Thankfully, there are plenty of vegan ingredients you might use to approximate that flavor.
Carrots and my belovedcelery roothave a similar effect, but parsnips are the holy grail.
All the alliums you have:Theres no such thing as too manyalliumsin veggie stock.
Dont you dare peel themthe skins do great work.
Dried mushrooms:Chuck em in by the handful, I say.
I buy mine at Asian markets, where theyre both abundant and very affordable.
Apples:Half a cored apple adds subtle sweetness and body to vegan stock.
Chickpea aquafaba:Replace some of the water withaquafabacanned or homemadefor extra flavor and body.
I dont particularly like nooch, but this is utterly brilliant.
MSG:A pinch or two will do ya.
A mixture of browned and raw vegetables yields the most complex, meat-like flavor profile.
Always use something thats solid at room temperature to approximate the unctuousness of animal fat.
Whether you prefer base ingredients with thickening qualities or powerful thickening additives, you have several options.
Personally, I prefer to choose ingredients that thicken stock as they cook.
(I know, I know, who remembers to soak beans?
Certainly not me, which is half the reason I own an Instant Pot.)
Do you have any secret ingredients I missed, or a favorite way to use veggie stock?
Tell me about it below.
