Vegetable Stock
Vegetable stock gets ruined in two ways: everything goes in, and it cooks too long. Cabbage, broccoli and beetroot turn it grey and sulphurous, and past two hours any vegetable gives up bitterness rather than flavour. The right line-up is short — onion, carrot, celery and a few spices. Everything else is better off in the soup itself.
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 2 h
- Total
- 2 h 10 min
- Servings
- 4
- Level
- Easy
- Per serving
- 15 kcal
Ingredients
Makes: About 1 l of stock
Shopping list
The ingredients for the servings you chose — copy them or send them to a messenger. Tick what you already have at home: only the rest goes on the list.
Method
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Step 1: Cut it large
Cut the vegetables into big 3–4 cm pieces. Finely chopped ones give up their flavour faster, but their bitterness too, and we want two hours of even extraction.
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Step 2: Keep the onion skin
Leave a few layers of onion skin on: they give the stock the golden colour you would otherwise have to fake.
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Step 3: Cover and heat
Put everything in a pot, cover with cold water and bring to the first bubbles over medium heat.
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Step 4: Hold it barely simmering
Lower the heat until the water only stirs. Simmer 2 hours uncovered — it reduces by about half and gains its flavour.
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Step 5: Strain and press
Strain through a sieve and this time press the vegetables well with a spoon: unlike meat stock, vegetable stock is better for it.
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Step 6: Season to taste
Taste and salt it if it is going straight into something. If it will reduce further in a sauce, leave it unsalted.
Tips & variations
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Tip
Leave out cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and beetroot. The first three turn it sulphurous; beetroot gives a colour that makes every soup a beetroot soup.
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Variation
For a darker, deeper stock, char the vegetables in a dry pan until they catch in places before the water goes in.
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Tip
Collect trimmings in the freezer: parsley stems, celery tops, carrot peel, mushroom stalks. They make a stock no worse than whole vegetables.
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Storage
Five days in the fridge, six months frozen. Reduced by half it takes less room and is let down with water before use.
Nutrition
| 1 serving | Whole dish 4 servings | |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 15 kcal | 60 kcal |
| Protein | 1 g | 4 g |
| Fat | 0 g | 0 g |
| Carbohydrates | 3 g | 12 g |
Approximate values calculated from standard ingredient data.
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