Mark Bittman's Mushroom Stock

By Mark Bittman

Mark Bittman's Mushroom Stock
Sam Kaplan for The New York Times. Food stylist: Suzanne Lenzer. Prop stylist: Maeve Sheridan.
Total Time
15 minutes
Rating
4(203)
Comments
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Here’s the problem with homemade stock: It’s so good that it doesn’t last long. What’s needed is something you can produce more or less on the spot.

Although water is a suitable proxy in small quantities, when it comes to making the bubbling, chest-warming soups that we rely on in winter, water needs some help. Fortunately, there are almost certainly flavorful ingredients sitting in your fridge or pantry that can transform water into a good stock in a matter of minutes.

This recipe is meant to be fast, so by ‘‘simmer,’’ I mean as little as five minutes and no more than 15. You can season these stocks at the end with salt and pepper to taste, or wait until you’re ready to turn them into full-fledged soups.

Featured in: Simple Stocks for Soup on the Fly

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Ingredients

Yield:About 6 cups of stock
  • 1pound button mushrooms, trimmed
  • 3dried porcini
  • Some onion, carrot or celery (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (1 servings)

5 calories; 0 grams fat; 0 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 0 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 1 gram carbohydrates; 0 grams dietary fiber; 0 grams sugars; 1 gram protein; 1 milligram sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Toss a pound of trimmed button mushrooms and a few dried porcini into 6 cups water. It need not be more complicated than this, but adding some onion, carrot or celery makes it even better.

  2. Step 2

    Bring to a boil, and simmer.

  3. Step 3

    Strain the mushrooms out if you like, but make sure to use them for something.

Ratings

4 out of 5
203 user ratings
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Comments

Brandon J. Li

Made some this afternoon as we were chilled and wet after cleaning gutters. Delicious just as it is served in a big mug.......................Grandpa and I loved it :)

Ann Meyers

The directions weren't clear, but the button mushrooms should be sliced as well as having the stems trimmed. This is nearly a mushroom "tea", but very satisfying. I added a few pinches of kosher salt,and a dash of dried thyme. I plan to augment vegetable broth with it as the base for a vegetarian French onion soup or some other vegetarian soup, to add an umami dimension.

Patsy

I used this to make Melissa Clark’s easiest lentil soup. It was fantastic.

SH

The link in the head notes takes you to the original article, which provides recipes to 8 more types of stock: herb. smoky tea, fish, miso, tempeh, tomato, coconut, and prosciutto-parm.

JillC

As vegetarians, we eat a lot of mushrooms (Umami). We freeze the stems and use that for stock

Robert - Innate.Style

Make risotto! Sauté more mushrooms with anything to top the risotto. I was also taught to save mushroom stems in the freezer over time, just keep adding stems to the same ziplock bag until you're ready to make your stock.

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