INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

*One oz. = 2/3 cup.  Suggested mushrooms are cepes, porcini,
Steinpilze or boletes marketed as "Chilean dried mushrooms."
Combine mushrooms in a bowl with 4 cups very warm water.  Push them
under the surface, weight them with a saucer, and let them soak
overnight or for at least 6 hours, until they are very soft.  Stir
them occasionally.
Lift mushrooms from the liquid with a slotted spoon (save the liquid)
and chop them fine, saving as much juice as possible.  Combine them
with the remaining 2 cups water in a saucepan, bring them to a
simmer, and simmer them, covered, for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, to clear the soaking liquid of grit, pour it carefully
into a bowl, leaving behind the sediment - this is certain to be
sandy. Let the liquid settle again and again pour it off; repeat, if
necessary, to be sure any grit has been left behind.
Pour the simmered mushrooms and their liquid into a sieve set over a
bowl and lined with fine nylon net or two layers of dampened
cheesecloth. Press hard on the mushrooms to extract all possible
liquid; discard the debris. Let this second batch of liquid settle,
then decant it as described for the soaking liquid; repeat if
necessary.
Combine the two batches of liquid with the shallots, peppercorns,
mace and bay leaf in a saucepan.  Bring the liquid to a boil over
medium-high heat and simmer it briskly, uncovered, until it has
reduced to 2 cups.
Strain out the solids and let the concentrated liquid settle for one
last time - we're still on the track of any sand that may remain.
Decant the cooled essence, then freeze it in an ice-cube tray. Remove
the cubes from the tray and store them in an airtight freezer
container. Keeps for up to a year in the freezer.
Yield: 16 cubes, about 2 tb. each.
Helen Witty, "Fancy Pantry"  Posted by Cathy Harned.
File ftp://ftp.idiscover.co.uk/pub/food/mealmaster/recipes/vegan4.zip

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