Vegetable Broth

Store-bought vegetable broth is mostly salt water with a faint suggestion of celery. This homemade version is the corrective. The vegetable mix here is deliberately wide. Leeks for sweetness, fennel for a faint anise note, turnips for earthy depth, carrots for color, and garlic for the savory backbone.

The white wine added in the final 10 minutes is the secret. Wine brings acidity and aromatic complexity that vegetables alone can’t deliver. Adding it late (along with the peppercorns) preserves the bright wine character. Add it at the start and the alcohol cooks off entirely, leaving you with a flatter broth.

Don’t over-simmer. Forty total minutes is enough. Long simmering of vegetable stock makes it cloudy and bitter, the opposite of what you want. Strain through a medium-mesh strainer (not a fine cheesecloth) for a clear broth with some body.

Pro Tips

• Cool the broth uncovered for an hour before refrigerating. Sealed warm broth traps steam and develops off-flavors.
• Use vegetable trimmings from the freezer. Onion skins, carrot tops, herb stems and parsley stalks all work. This stock is forgiving.
• Salt at the end, not the beginning. The broth reduces as it cooks and over-salting early gives an unbalanced final flavor.

Variations

• Add a parmesan rind, kombu or a dried shiitake mushroom for added umami.
• Roast the vegetables at 400°F (200°C) for 30 minutes before simmering for a darker, richer broth.
• Freeze in ice cube trays for portion-controlled flavor bombs ready to drop into pan sauces or soups.