Recipes > Shiitake Broth
This hot and earthy broth is a great shooter option that is delicious with a small poached shitake mushroom, and some spicy cress or daikon sprouts as garnish.
Dawn Thomas
- Serves: 8 cups
- Active Time: 1 hr 30 mins
- Total Time: 1 hr 30 mins
- Views: 49,452
- Success Rating: 50% (?)
Steps
Step 1: Preparing the Shitaki Broth
- 8 cups (approx. 1lb) fresh shiitake mushrooms, chopped
- 2 small onions, chopped
- 8 cloves garlic
- 1 4–inch piece of ginger, sliced
- 2 qt water
- 1/2 cup tamari or shoyu
- 1 cup mirin
- 2 pieces of kombu
Method
First, gather and prepare your mise en place.
To prepare the broth, in a stock pot on medium–high heat add the shitake mushrooms, onion, garlic and ginger. Stir continuously to ensure it does not stick. When it begins to stick, scrape the bottom of the pot while stirring, adding a splash of water occasionally to deglaze the bottom. Continue to cook for about 12 to 15 minutes.
Add the rest of the water and bring to a simmer. Allow to simmer and reduce for approximately 30 minutes. Next, add the mirin and tamari and cook for another 15 minutes. Add the kombu and simmer for 15-30 minutes.
Cool slightly, strain and use as a broth.
Note: Alternatively, the dry kombu can be added to the pot along with the water and allowed to simmer. After 30 minutes, check the flavor and remove the kombu if desired.
39 Comments
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Can dried shiitake mushrooms be used instead of fresh to make this broth? Thank you -
Rouxbe Staff
By all means, if that is what you have...Dried mushrooms are very commonly used in place of fresh in many recipes. Let us know how it turns out! ~Ken -
Thanks Ken, I'll try the dried shiitakes (3 oz to 1 lb)) for this recipe as this is a more cost effective alternative for me.
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As an experiment, you should try making the broth both ways. The advantage of using fresh mushrooms here is that you can saute them first to develop more color and flavor. That being said, if something is more cost effective and still tastes delicious, then go for it—but it's always good to try it both ways first, so you have a comparison. Cheers! -
Ok, I made the shiitake mushroom broth with 3 oz of dried mushrooms and 2 quarts of water. I thought the mushroom flavor was perfect and the final color was very deep. The texture of the broth was luxurious. I really struggled with the sweetness of the final broth. I was wondering if different brands of mirin contain varying quantities of sugar? Do you have a specific brand recommendation for this recipe? I guess the other question, related to the sweetness, is the level of concentration of the broth. When mine was complete, I had just shy of 4 cups (about 3 3/4 cups). The recipe for the shiitake udon soup using this stock suggested 4-6 cups, so I wonder if mine was overly concentrated? What amount of broth should this recipe make? Thanks
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Rouxbe Staff
Hi Rebecca- You are on the right track for sure- now it's time to fine tune. Regarding brands - there are hundreds - so just look for dry mirin or read the label and look for a version with little to no sugar. You can also slightly reduce the quantity of mirin if you wanted. Re: volume, it's hard to predict evaporation. Pot size and shape and exact heat will impact how much volume remains after simmering. Simply add a bit more water to cover the ingredients or thin out the concentrated stock with water. I hope this helps!
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Hello! I understand that miring is probably the best option but can I substitute it with something else? What would you recommend? A sweet white wine? something like seres, or something like a white dry martini?
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You are correct in that mirin is quite unique and it best suited when called for; however if you must substitute, you could try on of the following: 1 tablespoon dry sherry + ½ teaspoon sugar OR sherry OR heat two parts sake and one part sugar OR white wine + sugar to taste OR white wine For more information on substitutions, you may want to bookmark the following site called Cook's Thesaurus, they provide definitions, information and substitution for a huge amount of ingredients. Cheers!
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I made the shiitake broth again. This time I used fresh, rather than dried, mushrooms. I also reduced the mirin by 1/2 cup. I think that did the trick. The broth had a silky texture, but was quite a bit more toned down in sweetness than the first time. I couldn't really tell the difference in mushroom flavor using the dried versus the fresh mushrooms. If anything, the fresh mushroom broth had a lesser concentrated mushroom flavor. Thanks for helping me sort this out. I think that for my palate, less sweet is better. Thanks
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Good job on testing both the dried and fresh mushrooms Rebecca, and thanks for reporting back the results. Keep up the great work. Cheers!
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I am trying the shitake broth this evening and thought i had all the ingredients and only half a cup of mirin so topped it up with Shao Xing wine as it had a similar flavor or aroma. Wondering if that is an acceptable substitute for mirin in a pinch. I will report back on the results tomorrow. -
Shao Hsing or Shaoxing rice wine, is a Chinese rice wine, while Mirin is a Japanese rice wine. Mirin is also quite sweet and if often thought of as the sugar element in Japanese cooking. It is used not generally consumed as a beverage, while Shao Hsing rice wine can be consumed as a beverage. Mirin has a flavor similar to a sweet sake. While Shao Hsing has a flavor similar to sherry. In fact, if you cannot find Shao Hsing, a dry sherry can be used instead. Basically, Shaoxhing wine is sharper and more acidic when compared to mirin. Mirin imparts a very subtle flavor, sweeter to the finished product; whereas Shaoxhing, imparts a sharper, winey taste. Hope that helps. Cheers!
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The broth turned out well with a small amount of miring and balance of Shao Xing wine (since that is what i had). You mentioned shooter. I love the earthiness of this broth and tasted it cold. It is delicious. How do you see serving such a shiitake shooter? I am thinking of what garnishes would fit with this flavor profile and be a textural balance too. I used fresh shiitake mushrooms for this broth.
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Hey Bonnie. Yes, this is a favorite broth of mine in the course as well. This would certainly be great warm, room temp or cold as a shooter as you have suggested. As for garnishing, i would leave out any noodles, but you could do a small dice or 1/4 length julienne of the poached shitake, lotus root or water chestnut, and snow peas. Also a nice garnish could be a drop or two of chili oil and a sprig or micro greens of watercress or radish sprouts if you can find them. Yum. I hope that is helpful. Cheers, - Chad -
Chad and Dawn, Thanks for the tips and inspiration. Thinking about doing a shooter for my party later in the course. It may be tough to choose which one to make but this one is on the list. As I was thinking garnishes, I thought that finely julienned ginger would be nice or frizzled ginger as a garnish. A poached shiitake mushroom would define it too. Thank you!
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This recipe is incredible. The broth is so rich you'd almost swear there was fat in it. Thrilled with it. I've modified the recipe somewhat, given the ingredients I've got available but following the spirit of the recipe, I've learned just how adaptable and delicious it is. Thank you Dawn. -
Glad that you like it Lori, it is one of my favorite broths as well. I even go so far as to dehydrate the strained mushrooms and other ingredients. I then grind them up into a powder, which I use to add the rice dishes etc.
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What would be a non alcoholic substitute for Mirin? Can I use apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar instead? -
Hi Subha and thanks for your question. Indeed, vinegar is a great replacement for mirin. Rice wine vinegar provides a similar taste to mirin, but any white wine or distilled white vinegar will work as well. In terms of ratios - I suggest using 1 tablespoon of vinegar and a 1/2 teaspoon of granulated sugar for every 1 tablespoon of mirin. I hope this helps. Thanks so much for cooking with Rouxbe. Chef Kirk -
Hello Dawn, was just wondering if the shiitake mushrooms could still be used in a second stage. How do you dehydrate the shiitake mushrooms please? -
How do you dehydrate the wonderful leavings? Such a pity to waste . -
Hi CK, thank you for your question. Generally in the process of stock making, the flavor and much of the nutrition of the ingredients are given to the liquid. If you taste the components of the stock after you have properly simmered, you will notice that they do not have much flavor left in them. For this particular stock, the shiitakes and the Kombu can be sliced and added back in to be eaten with the stock if you would like but I would compost the ginger, onions and garlic. Thank you, Lauren -
really tks for this amazing broth, good inspiration to make a noodles more tasty and enjoyable. -
Can you remind me why we use the Kombu? And why do we not add it sooner? -
I called several stores and they do not have Lotus Root. It is very expensive online too. Is it essential to the Shitake broth?
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Rouxbe Staff
Not essential - it just adds a great flavor and texture as well as stunning visual appeal. ~Ken
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Rouxbe Staff
re: Kombu -Kombu adds a certain depth and umami characteristic that can diminish if cooked for too long. It's common in veggie broths and miso soup.
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Would Mead wine be a good substitute for Mirin? -
Rouxbe Staff
Hi, Marisol--great question. From my experience, Mirin substitutes are sweet Marsala, dry sherry, white wine, rice wine vinegar. You are searching for the "sweet flavor." And while mead is honey-based, not sure it brings the same level of sweetness. My preference is rice wine vinegar. Thanks for writing! Char -
Hello, read all the comments which I found very useful. However, I am curious as to what the shredded red garnish is? It is sitting on top of the watercress in the picture of the plated dish. Thanks. -
Rouxbe Staff
Hi Liliana: thanks for writing. The red garnish is chile threads. Usually found commercially as "Korean Chile Threads." They certainly add a flair to a nice dish. -Char
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Hello from Australia, I am doing a 8 course degustation dinner in 3 weeks and would like to know if i make the broth is it suitable for freezing till the day of the dinner? Thank you in advance -
Rouxbe Staff
Hello, Leisa: Thanks for writing. Yes, you can freeze the stock until the day of use. I would suggest to freeze it in small 240 cc amounts, so that each cup will defrost quickly. Sounds like a charming event, let us know how it goes. Best wishes! Cheers, Char
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how can i make this into a ramen like broth with kombu -
How many servings does this broth make? -
Rouxbe Staff
Hi Stacey, this recipe yields about 8 cups of shiitake broth. The number of servings can vary depending on how much broth you use per serving. -
This is one of my go-to Rouxbe recipes. Like a few earlier comments the sweetness of the mirin was too much for me so I've reduced it by as much as 1/2 and used water to offset the difference. As someone that's been trying to reduce waste in my kitchen the idea of using 8 c of mushrooms only for them to end up in the compost has been hard to swallow so I've been storing my mushroom stems, onion skins/end & garlic pieces in the freezer. Once I've accumulated enough I make a batch of this. -
I used shittake for the first time yesterday and made an Indian curry. It tasted somewhat bitter. Does shittake taste bitter or I might have done something wrong? I mean I use button mushrooms on a regular basis and they taste absolutely fine but shittake tasted really bitter. I actually had to add sugar to slightly balance it.
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Rouxbe Staff
Shikha, shiitake can have a strong taste. And while I don't recall experiencing bitterness with shiitake, I can understand. It could be a reaction with another ingredient. Or, it could be the shiitake itself. Consider tasting the shiitake on its own to see if you detect bitterness. Also, consider using less shiitake to see if the results differ. ~Eric
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