The Building Blocks of Flavor

Somewhat amazingly to my mind, the vegetarian broth came out more flavorful than the beef broth in this week’s barley stew. Making good vegetarian broth can be challenging. The concept necessary however underlies any good cooking, and illustrates how we approach our work in general. The driving theory is to build layers of flavor and texture. 
 First of all let’s go back to last week’s Cream of Broccoli Soup. Though rich, flavorful, and satiating (especially with that cheddar bread!), we did not use a lot of dairy. About 1 gallon of half and half for 8 gallons of soup. Instead we use vegetables and spices of course, but our secret here is chick peas! Not only do the peas yield a chicken-soup like broth with great flavor and texture, but the beans themselves go into the soup and get pureed along with everything else to yield a smooth creamy body that also happens to be rich in both fiber and protein. Beans and bean broth are the backbone of most of our vegetarian soups and stocks. 
As for these barley stew broths, we created rich flavors by pan roasting shiitake mushrooms, adding garlic and spices, then caramelizing onions, then building more umami flavor with a small but critical amount of anchovy paste, and then adding some bean broth again. Tamari and tomato paste are also good flavor builders that are nearly universally useful in small amounts even in dishes you wouldn’t normally associate them with, and result in a vegan product. These many layers work together to build a savory background to rutabaga, carrot, and celery root, plus that nutty barley and grassfed beef or the mushrooms. Enjoy!