How to Make the Best Vegan Broth

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I got a problem with something,

it's called vegetable stock.

They're not an attractive color

and they lack in depth of flavor.

So what did I decide to do?

To come up with a broth that actually tastes good.

It has onions, celery, carrots, some herbs,

but the three ingredients that make this stock real special

and give it a depth of flavor are dried shiitake mushrooms,

white miso, and kombu, which is just

some special term for dried seaweed.

Now I'm gonna show you how to make it.

First thing is, we're gonna thinly

slice a lot of vegetables.

Rather than cutting your vegetables

into one inch, two inch pieces,

like you normally would for a stock,

we're gonna shave them on a mandolin.

You want them pretty thin.

They don't need to be translucent, by any means.

When you get down, the knob,

just eat it as a snack.

We'll cut the garlic in half, crosswise.

You're gonna want to actually save the onion skins.

This is gonna impart a kind of golden hue to the stock,

that you would get if you were having a chicken stock.

I never thought I'd cry on camera.

[whining]

Then six sprigs of parsley, flat leaf, the kombu.

We'll crumble these up slightly.

Three tablespoons miso.

We're gonna take about two tablespoons,

any kind of neutral oil.

About two tablespoons of water,

just to kind of loosen up the miso a bit.

We'll combine it with this, we'll give this a toss.

We're gonna try to have, basically, all the vegetables

coated in the miso mixture, as best you can.

So this is gonna go in at 300 degrees for about an hour.

You're gonna see the vegetables kind of shrink down

and get all shrivel-y, get some color to them.

That's when you know they'll be ready.

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Oh wow, so they've shrunk up a lot.

You can see the onions are super soft.

Everything's really soft, or has dried up a bit.

The color on the garlic.

We're gonna scrape this into a pot

and then combine it with about four quarts of water.

Don't forget your peppercorns.

We're gonna add a teaspoon of whole black peppercorns.

So we're gonna place this on the stove top.

We're gonna bring it to a simmer

and we're gonna let it go for about an hour,

or basically, until it reduces by half,

and then you're gonna strain it

through a fine mesh strainer.

So it's been an hour.

It's certainly reduced quite a bit, by half, to be exact.

Ooh, it smells really good, and that golden color

I was talking to you about, we definitely got it.

You're gonna gently press on the solids, just a bit,

to extract any of the liquids, but gently.

You don't want any of the solids to pass through the sieve.

Now take a look at this.

It actually looks like chicken stock.

Again, this is ready to go.

You could add it to your soups or braises.

I'm just gonna ladle a little

into this bowl, just for myself.

Now, this hasn't been seasoned.

There is three tablespoons of miso,

but that's more of just to add

the umami effect into this broth.

You're not actually adding salt to the point

where you're being able to taste the salt in the broth.

So it's gonna need a good pinch.

This is really good.

Once you have a sip of this, you're gonna

forget about the bone broth craze.

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It's sweet, it has a little bit of that

lip-smacking effect, from the mushrooms and the kombu.

Just with a few ingredients and a little bit of patience,

you're gonna be making something

that'll transform any other dish,

whether it's a braise or a soup,

and it's a great alternative to the bone broth.

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