Vegetarian Mushroom Soup with Shaoxing Wine

I am an omnivore with her feet planted firmly on the carnivorous side of the farm fence. No disrespect to the vegetarians—I like them; grass-fed flesh really is delicious—but I don’t believe vegetable stock can ever achieve the depth of flavor that a long-simmered meat version provides. Sometimes, as this mushroom soup proves, when necessity is forced to accept her responsibility as the mother of invention, a vegetable stock can achieve near-meaty greatness.

I first created this dis