Another step in the basic series today: vegetable broth! After I already showed you to cook game stock and beef stock, we are making vegetable broth today, which I use the most. I have now 5 kinds of stock in my pantry. The latest addition is duck stock, because I had some duck carcases leftover and they needed to be used up ;). I’m curious how it will taste. Are you interested in that kind of stock?
In contrary to duck stock the vegetable broth is used very often and it’s so convenient to have a jar or bottle handy. As always I bought suitable 250 ml jars and 500 ml bottles at Gläser und Flaschen, because that are the amounts I use mostly. Leftovers can be stored for a few days in the fridge.
I’m always freezing leftovers of different vegetables and put them all in the next batch of stock. I’m always doing that with asparagus and mushroom ends. Like always this recipe is not a definite, you can vary after your needs.
One year ago: dulce de leche cheesecake with fleur de sel
Three years ago: pasta with mushrooms
Four years ago: gluten-free graham cracker
Vegetable Broth
Tip: I’m freezing asparagus and mushroom ends to use them in my broths. So you use all the leftovers.
- clarified butter
- 2 carrots
- 2 onions
- 1 leek
- 1/2 celeriac
- 1 tsp peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
- 5 allspice berries
- stems of 1 bunch of parsley (use the leaves otherwise)
- 2 stalks of rosemary
- 3 stalks of thyme
- 250 ml white wine
- salt
Rinse the vegetables. Peel the carrots (you can leave the skin on, if you are sure about the origin of them, e.g. your own garden) and celeriac. Dice the celeriac and slice the carrots in rounds or half moons. Halve the leek, rinse and slice. Rinse the onions, but do not peel them. Cut in halves.
Using a large pot (mine is 8 litre) and heat clarified butter on high heat. Sear the onions with the cutting side down, then add the vegetables and sear, too. Add the wine and let it reduce. Add the herbs and spices and fill the pot with water. I add about 5-6 litres. Bring the water to a boil, then turn down the heat, so the stock is just simmering. Let it simmer for about 6 hours.
Let the stock cook a bit and pour through a mesh strainer. I remove the large vegetable pieces with tongs or a slotted spoon, so it doesn’t splash so much. Rinse the pot and place a cheese cloth in the empty sieve and strain again.
Reheat the stock and season with salt. Fill the stock in sterilized jars and bottles, seal and place them in a deep tray in the oven. Fill the tray with 1-2 cm of water (cold water for cold stock, warm water for warm stock, hot water for hot stock) and heat the oven to 180° C. When the stock starts fizzing in the jars, turn off the oven, but do not open it! Keep the jars for 30 minutes in the hot oven. Remove the jars with tongs and place them on dish towels. Let them cool.
Check the cooled jars and bottles for vacuums, the lids should be concave. Jars without vacuum seals should be stored in the fridge and used in the next 2 weeks.
The preserved stock is best before 12 months.
