On another thread someone said they got Better Than Bouillon vegetable broth because it was better than their home made. Well, I like mine. You may or may not, but here it is.
Keep a one gallon freezer bag in the freezer. Save onion end and outer peels, tomato navels, lettuce cores, carrot and squash ends, and mushroom ends. When the bag is so full you cannot get any more into, dump the contents in a jelly roll pan and (optional) toss them in a little olive oil. Roast at 425 F until browned lightly. Do not burn. Place vegetables in a large pot, cover with water, add several pinches of herbes de Provence, a dozen or so peppercorns, a couple of bay leaves, and a couple of spoons of Diamond Crystal (less for more dense brands). Simmer for about two hours. Strain and freeze or use.
I think your recipe sounds great. I often broil peppers, garlic, tomatillos, and onions for salsas/sauces, but just don’t have the patience to do broths and stock… so use BtB and other boullion ingredients.
While a classic mirepoix — carrot, onion and celery — is good for the base, the key for me for a great vegetable broth is extract of dried shiitake mushrooms.
Without meat or bones, umami is critical. And dried shiitake mushrooms provides it in spades.
I like doing a mushroom stock with either dried Boletus or Porcini mushrooms.
For my vegetable broth, I do the same as Tim and collect. Yet have never thought of roasting the vegetables first which would add so much more flavour. I just add regular mushroom stems and looking forward to adding the Shiitake mushroom Powder as ipsedixit mentioned above.
I roast my tomatoes before I make my tomato and Spaghetti sauce so not sure why I never thought if applying that same technique for vegetable stock.
Thanks Tim and ipsedixit .
Edit: changed a name as I’m tired and noted the wrong person.
I find mushroom powder hard to dissolve. I prefer to buy dried shiitakes. Pour simmering water over them, then forget the bowl for a few hours. Lift the now-tender mushrooms out so as not to disturb the broth too much. Once it settles pour through a filter or just decant it carefully so the grit stays in the original bowl. Use the mushrooms in your next sauce or soup.
This is not about broth but a roasting hack I use. I put tomatoes, peppers, and anything else I want to roast on a jelly roll pan, place it under the broiler to get the skins good and black, and put an identical jelly roll pan on top as a lid. It is very easy to pluck the blackened skins after a few minutes of steaming and avoids the heat loss of transferring the blackened items to a bag or other steaming vehicle, making the steaming process more effective in my experience.
And the shiitake powder sounds brilliant. The mushroom ends I use help, but nothing beats shiitakes for vegetable umami.
I make stock all the time. There is a rule in my kitchen that no bone goes into the garbage without a turn through the stockpot. And I also save mushroom and vegetable trimmings for the same purpose. Usually I make it in my Instant Pot. After cooling it, I strain it through a reusable basket-style coffee filter into ZipLock quart-sized screw top containers. When I need stock, I put the container in the microwave for a few minutes, pour out what I need, then put it back into the freezer.
Plus one on using the liquid from rehydrating shiitake mushrooms. The flavor is so concentrated with minimal effort. I usually rinse the dried mushrooms to remove the grit before rehydrating.
If one searches for “bone broth” one finds links to the websites of companies selling a product mistakenly called “bone broth.” From a culinary point of view, the term is oxymoronic and meaningless.
One did google and found a host of other sites discussing the topic.
Hence words change meaning over time. I’m not fond of it either, literally. But I roll with it. Marketing probably has some role yet you are commended for resisting the declining etymology trend. Keep fighting the good fight.
I understand that language changes over time. However, when specific terms are bastardized our ability to communicate ideas accurately is compromised. If people wish to discuss their preferences in bone broth at their Pilates sessions, fine, but in the kitchen such invented words only lead to confusion. And yes, I am somewhat of an iconoclast when it comes to language!
Agree!
