Brown Vegetable Stock - with cups & ounces

Our brown vegetable stock recipe written for US kitchens - cup and ounce measurements, °F oven temperatures, and American ingredient names you'll find at Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Sprouts or your local farmers' market.

Method

1. Preheat an oven to 180ºC Fan.
2. Take a large roasting tin and add the onion, carrot, celery, parsnips and garlic, bruised, if using, pour over the oil and mix well to ensure an even coating. Roast in the preheated oven for 20 - 25 minutes, shaking and turning the vegetables two or three times during the process.
3. Once the vegetables are evenly brown all over add the tomato puree to the vegetables and stir to combine before roasting for another 5 - 10 minutes.
4. Once cooked remove the vegetables from the oven and add them to a large saucepan being careful to remove any burnt or charred pieces.
5. Finally add the red wine, if using, turn the hob to high and cook until the liquid has reduced a little before adding the parsley stalks, mushrooms, peppercorns and water. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer for approximately 1 hour. Skim off any surface scum if need be.
6. Once the stock has been cooking for an hour, remove from the hob. Strain through a fine sieve into a fresh pan and bring back to a low simmer for approximately half an hour until the liquid has reduced again by half in volume.
7. Once ready re-strain the stock through a fine sieve, or a sieve with a muslin cloth placed within it to capture any final particles.
8. Freeze in ice cube trays for use at a later date or chill in the fridge for 3 days.

Chef's notes

• For a nice rounded vegetable stock base, begin with onion, garlic, celery, leek, carrot and mushrooms. The standard aromatics are bay leaves, peppercorns, thyme and parsley stalks. You can then add other vegetables, herbs or spices to flavour your stock however you wish.
• Consider turnip or celeriac for an earthy taste, butternut squash or pumpkin peel for sweeter notes or fennel, star anise and some dill or tarragon for a stock with a pleasant aniseed flavour.
• Steer clear of any member of the brassica family; broccoli, cauliflower, kale and cabbage among others. These will ruin your stock with a sulphurous and bitter flavour. Softer vegetables such as potatoes or pumpkin are no good as they break down too easily, creating a cloudy stock. If adding fresh tomatoes, remove the seeds as they can impart a bitter taste.

American cooking note

US ovens run hotter than UK ovens of the same nominal setting - start checking 5 minutes early. Brand-wise, Califia Farms or Oatly Barista are the closest US matches for the cream-style milks used in the original recipe.

American substitutions for every ingredient

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