Attention chefs!! Culinary advice needed!!!

Okay, so, my girlfriend is a vegetarian. I'd like to cook her dinner sometime soon, probably on Sunday, and I would like to try to make a risotto.

Here's my dilemma - a lot of the recipes (and it seems like all the good ones) call for chicken stock. So, the simple question is - is it possible to substitute vegetable stock or would that totally fuck up the recipe?

The stock adds flavor.

Plain water would work, but plain water lacks flavor, so use veggie stock.

:loveya: :yourock:

:loveya:

Right back atcha!

They should have aseptic containers (shelf stable paperboard cartons) of vegetable stock or faux chicken stock (which is just vegetable stock blended to taste sorta vaugely like chicken.) Substitute one for one.

It sounds like they'd have something like that :shrug:

Imagine Foods makes a stock called "not chicken" or something like that that would work nicely. I used it to make stuffing this year and it was good, not too salty or anything.

I used it the other day. It's not quite the same as chicken stock, but it's pretty darn good.

I love it in risotto.

when you are trying to make a meal more of a vegetarian fare. The taste will be fine.

if you want it to be a special meal, make it something that's actually good when it's vegetarian

I've used the latter, and could find no real difference between it and real chicken stock.

And i've cooked some things with vegetable broth, and it tasted just as good (though slightly different of course) as the chicken stock.

Though I have never used either in a Risotto, I am absolutely certain it won't make a difference at all.

And use some nice expensive mushrooms in that risotto for the girlfriend, dude.

Surprisingly enough for a vegetarian...

You can make a really lovely mushroom risoto with dried chanterelles and shitakes.

Veg stock is a perfectly good sub for other stocks, but it is generally not as rich. Meat stocks gain richness (mostly concentrated fats & associated flavor) as you cook them down, and then add that richness to dishes that you use them in; veg stocks get bitter and cloudy if you cook them down, and add mild flavor to the dishes but little richness.

I guess the short response is that you may need to add some element of complexity to make up for the loss of the fatty, rich flavors. Porcinis are a great way to add some depth to veg risotto flavors. If your gilrfriend eats dairy, smoked cheeses (like smoked gouda) are also good in risotto.

Good luck! Feel free to stop by the veg board if you want some recipes!

Helps things along nicely - or is that just what I do with the rest of the bottle which helps things. :shrug:

You could even make your own.