TVP and Porcini Ragù

Shelf-stable TVP ragù. Dried porcini carry the umami; no fresh mushrooms, no wine, no celery.

Ingredients

  • 30 grams dried porcini mushrooms

  • 110 grams TVP granules (dry)

  • 150 grams onion

  • 70 grams carrot

  • 100 grams fennel bulb

  • 3 garlic cloves

  • 40 grams olive oil

  • 2 grams fennel seeds

  • 60 grams tomato paste

  • 12 grams red wine vinegar

  • 800 grams crushed tomatoes

  • 15 grams soy sauce

  • 15 grams white miso

  • 2 grams unsweetened cocoa powder

  • 1 bay leaf

  • 0.5 grams red pepper flakes

  • 100 grams unsweetened soy milk

  • 10 grams balsamic vinegar

  • 8 grams nutritional yeast

  • 6 grams salt

  • 1 gram black pepper

Method

  1. Soak the porcini: Heat 600 grams of water to 65°C. Pour it over the dried porcini mushrooms, cover, and leave to steep. Not boiling water — the enzyme that generates guanylate during rehydration works in this temperature window and boiling water destroys it on contact.

  2. Prep the vegetables: Finely dice the onion, carrot, and fennel bulb. Mince the garlic cloves.

  3. Rehydrate the TVP: Lift the porcini out, leaving the grit behind, and chop them. Strain the liquid. Pour 280 grams of it over the TVP granules and let it absorb completely — nothing to drain, nothing thrown away. Reserve the remaining liquid for the deglaze.

  4. Brown the TVP: Heat half the olive oil over medium-high and fry the hydrated TVP until the edges crisp and it takes real color. Remove and set aside. This is the only browning the sauce gets, so take it further than feels necessary.

  5. Build the soffritto: Add the rest of the olive oil, holding back a small drizzle for the finish, then the diced onion, carrot, and fennel bulb. Cook until soft and lightly colored. Stir in the garlic and fennel seeds for the last minute.

  6. Caramelize the paste: Push the vegetables to the side and add the tomato paste. Fry until it darkens a shade, which concentrates its glutamate and cooks off the raw-tomato edge.

  7. Deglaze: Pour in the reserved porcini liquid and the red wine vinegar. Scrape up the fond and reduce by half. The vinegar goes in here rather than later, so the simmer has time to round off its sharpness.

  8. Simmer: Add the crushed tomatoes, the chopped porcini, the browned TVP, the soy sauce, white miso, cocoa powder, bay leaf, and red pepper flakes. Simmer uncovered, stirring now and then, until thick and glossy. The TVP drinks sauce the entire time.

  9. Finish: Stir in the soy milk and reduce to a clinging consistency. Off the heat, add the balsamic vinegar — late, so its aromatics survive — then the reserved raw olive oil for gloss. Season with the salt, black pepper, and nutritional yeast.

Notes

The porcini liquid is the whole umami budget of this sauce and none of it gets discarded: 280 grams go into the TVP, the rest deglazes the pan. Reduce further than you would a normal ragù — you want it thick enough to coat a small pour of pasta rather than pool around it. It’s better on day two, and it freezes well in portions.