We tend to accumulate small amounts of leftover dried mushrooms in our cabinets from other recipes. This batch of stock happens to include dried maitakes or Hen of the Woods, dried porcinis and the off-puttingly named, but delicious “black fungus” also known as wood ear fungus or cloud ear fungus—commonly used in Chinese cooking. I also had a few gnarly fresh crimini mushrooms on hand, so threw them in too. Different mushrooms will, obviously, change the flavor profile of the stock a bit, so experiment to see what suits your taste and the recipes you plan to make.
Related Post: Homemade Stock: Kitchen Alchemy Here in the kitchen of the TwoJunes, we practice a kind of rough magic on the days we make stock. Our precious “stockpile” of poultry carcasses, limp carrots, slightly wilted celery stalks, withered mushrooms and forlorn parsley stems bubble contentedly in the big pot along with garlic, onion and fresh herbs from the garden.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup loosely packed dried mushrooms (if buying for this recipe, porcinis will likely be the cheapest and easiest to find)
- 1 cup whole fresh mushrooms (past peak and any variety is just fine)
- ½ of 1 large onion, quartered
- 1 whole head garlic, unpeeled, halved crosswise
- 2 large collard green leaves, optional
- 1 carrot
- ½ of 1 bunch parsley stems, tied
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 1 sprig oregano
- 1 dried or fresh bay leaf
- 1 gallon water
Instructions:
- Combine all ingredients a large pot over high heat; bring a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, 4 to 5 hours. (The dried mushroom will take up roughly one half of the liquid and you will lose a bit more to evaporation. I like the super-intense mushroomy-ness of the concentrated version, but if you want a lighter flavored stock and more of it, midway through, add water to replenish to original liquid level.
- Strain out solids with colander set over another large pot or bowl. Pick out the mushrooms and garlic and reserve for another purpose (Mushroom Pasta Cooked Like Risotto Recipe)
Pour stock through fine mesh sieve back into first pot. Cool to tepid. Ladle into freezer-safe
Yield: Makes approximately 2 quarts reduced, very flavorful stock or 1 gallon lighter stock
Recipe courtesy of TwoJunes, Lisa Bell and Nicole Rees