Yes, mushroom stock. It is the secret ingredient to many of my dishes, subtly enriching my soups, stews, ragus and risottos with its earthy savouriness. I'm pretty sure these stock cubes would be a welcome addition in any kitchen, regardless of your level of enthusiasm for mushrooms themselves, although, being a diehard fan, I can't vouch for this myself. The stock is delightfully mushroomy, being made of the intensely flavoured porcini mushrooms, and is suberb even as the star of the show as a broth or simple soup.
There's one catch: availability. For months after the sad demise of the Star brand Porcini Bouillion cubes which were widely available at good supermarkets and Italian specialty stores, I had to (I suppose had to is a bit strong, it's not really life and death after all) resort to the expensive solution of using large quantities of dried porcini mushrooms reconsitituted in water to get even a pale imitation of the flavour of the cubes. I almost wept with joy when I found an equivalent product: Knorr brand mushroom stock cubes. They are available at Krakus Continental Deli at O'Halloran Hill and cost $3 for 6 bouillion cubes (makes 3L of stock), not a bad price, especially considering the cost of actual mushrooms. I haven't seen these for sale anywhere else, but I'm hoping that other stores eventually cotton on. I'll keep you posted if I see them elsewhere.
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