MAKES 12 CUPS
This is a wonderfully light vegetable stock that has great flavor and a lovely sweetness. For those who wish a non-meat alternative to our other stocks and infusions, it is a gem.
The infusion is a bit delicate and is best used within two days. Lengthy freezing will dull its flavors.
4 large, rock-hard heads garlic
5 to 6 large dried Chinese black mushrooms
2 teaspoons corn or peanut oil
2 yellow onions, thinly sliced
4 carrots, thinly sliced
10 quarter-size coins fresh ginger, smashed
6 to 8 fat scallions, cut into 1-inch nuggets and smashed
2 to 3 small green serrano chilis, halved lengthwise and smashed
1 tablespoon fragrant black peppercorns
1½ tablespoons Szechwan peppercorns
12 cups cold water
1 fat stalk fresh lemongrass, cut into 2-inch nuggets and smashed
It is a general rule of good cooking everywhere to season the stock or soup only just before you serve it. The same rule applies to our Chinese-style stocks and all of our soup infusions.
Why? Basically, it is to allow for flexibility and to avoid a concentration of salt. Let’s say you refrigerate the stock or infusion, and then don’t watch carefully when reheating it and discover it has boiled partly away. If you had seasoned it in advance, your dinner could be ruined. But as it is, you can simply taste the soup (it may be yummy for the reduction, or it may require a bit of water to make it palatable) and then blithely proceed to season it as you wish.
The China Moon style of seasoning stocks and infusions bound for the soup bowl is a 2-part process: The first step is to add kosher salt to the hot mixture until the flavors of the meats and vegetables come to the fore. The liquid should not taste salty! One is simply adding kosher salt to push the other tastes forward. Only then, as a final flourish, add Roasted Szechwan Pepper-Salt (page 5) to taste. This is a salty, piquant seasoner and a little goes a long way. Were you to have added it in the beginning, you would have added too much. Like lip gloss after the lipstick, it’s a last step only, designed to add a little shine.
More soup seasoning advice: Do the tasting when the liquid is hot, but not yet simmering. If it is too hot, you won’t be able to really taste the flavors, and you may burn your tongue besides. Also, taste with a spoon, ideally the porcelain Chinese type with a deep bowl. Cooks who taste with their fingers or a wooden spoon are often tasting what was last on them. Using a deep, clean spoon means that you can swirl the liquid over your tongue and really taste the full flavor range.
Stocks or infusions that are part of sauces should never be seasoned. They are simply one part in a sauce of many components, and whatever seasoning is done, is done to the whole.
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Move a rack to the middle position.
2. Roast the garlic heads on a baking sheet, root side down, until very soft, 30 to 40 minutes. Don’t worry if a bit of brown bubbles volcano-like from the top. Let the garlic cool until you can touch it, then smash the heads lightly to expose the pulp. It will ooze a bit over the knife or mallet; no matter, just scrape the pulp back onto the cloves.
3. While the garlic is roasting, cover the mushrooms with 1 cup cold water. Weight the caps down with a saucer and let them soak until soft, about 30 minutes. Cut the caps with the stems intact into thick slices. Strain and reserve the soaking liquid.
4. Heat a heavy, non-aluminum stockpot over high heat until hot enough to evaporate a bead of water upon contact. Add the oil, swirl to glaze the bottom of the pan, then reduce the heat to low. Add the garlic, mushrooms, onions, carrots, ginger, scallions, and chilis. Stir to gloss the vegetables with the oil. Cover the pot tightly and let the vegetables sweat until they are very soft and soupy, about 20 minutes. Don’t rush the process; the longer they sweat, the better the stock will taste. Lift the lid occasionally to stir the vegetables and ensure against scorching, tilting the lid at an angle so the condensation slides into the pot.
5. Add the peppercorns, water, and reserved mushroom-soaking liquid. Stir to blend, then bring the mixture to a lively simmer over moderate heat. Adjust the heat to maintain a weak simmer and cook, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Add the lemongrass and simmer 15 minutes more.
6. Strain the stock through a large, fine-mesh strainer and let the solids drip their juices into the stock. Discard the solids. For a clearer stock, clean the strainer, line it with a double layer of wet cheesecloth, and strain the liquid again.
MENU SUGGESTIONS: Vegetarians might season this stock to taste with mushroom soy sauce, kosher salt, and Roasted Szechwan Pepper-Salt (page 5) and garnish it with scallion rings and chives. It would be a fine partner to our Vegetarian Springrolls (page 349) or Buddha Buns (page 372), or the soup could be further embellished with glass noodles and Fried Ginger Threads (page 29) and a generous helping of wild mushrooms sliced paper-thin.
