I love this! I was never a mushroom eater growing up. In fact I loathed them. But now I adore them! When eating wild mushrooms out of season, I tend to buy the dried chanterelles, and they are great blitzed up into a powder if you want to use them to season something with a earthy hum. Thought I’d share that ;) so great in broths, in addition to autumnal stews etc.
You can heat them up in the pan (maybe even add a little water) and add the oil a little bit later. This way the Mushrooms become less absorbent and don't soak up so much oil.
If Jacques Pepin advocates for washing mushrooms then it's more than likely to be okay to do so. Alton Brown already proved that it takes a long time for mushrooms to absorb water, and even if they are porous, you're cooking a good majority of that liquid out anyway with a high-heat technique such as searing.
Hmm. I've never not washed them, but now I'm wondering if the little water that does get absorbed perhaps influences how much water comes out when I cook them. I mean PROBABLY I just need to cook it at higher temp lol
Water is the enemy of searing and getting a good crust. The moisture will make the mushrooms steam before they get a nice colour and then it will take a long time before all the liquid evaporates and the mushrooms start browning, which to my own personal experience makes it arrive at a texture similar to that of canned mushrooms...
This is great! Saw some chantarelles in there, maybe some porcinis. I fry a lot of wild mushrooms foraged in the woods and this is a great simple way to just make a big feast of them.
It depends. Some mushrooms are good to wash with water - like trumpet chanterelles or sparassis. Others - like bolete or kite-mushrooms - become horribly soggy when you wash them with water.
Mushrooms hold water and when you saute vegetables, chefs talk about "sweating" them to get the water out. The mushrooms hold the flavor and more water dilutes the taste and makes them hard to get nicely browned. If you are using button or bella mushrooms, you can simply wipe them with a paper towel, as she does here, or use a mushroom brush to get the potting soil off them. You won't get the Maillard reaction with wet mushrooms. You won't get it with a wet steak either.
leehauyuan He proved that some water is absorbed, for the types tested, they absorbed 3% or more. However that was from a 5 minute soak and a subsequent thorough towel dry. Mushrooms that are wet(and aren't thoroughly dried) will steam more. However the slight amount of steaming and water absorption will not significantly affect the flavor. The two will be indifferentiatable in a blind taste test. That's the whole story. Wash your mushrooms because it doesn't matter taste wise. But! If you don't dry your mushrooms, there can be a significant sear difference if not careful. Watch out for that.
the mushrooms whose stems she removed have woody stems that are too tough/chewy even when cooked to be palatable. some mushrooms have soft stems that the same texture as the cap, and some don't. think of it like the bottom of a piece of asparagus that you would trim off.
Omg I’m so over people who want to prove they’re are superior by correcting a professional chefs choices that won’t affect them at all. Also, none of these variations are going to make a difference when you’re cooking mushrooms, so take it down a notch.
They breathe oxygen and exhale CO2 like us, the opposite of plants! We are more closely related to fungi than we are to plants. Sorry its 9 months later and you probs don't remember commenting but I love fungi lol
FYI, mushrooms are never "crispy". What you want to say is "caramelise" or get the Maillard reaction going in the mushrooms, since both apply to give them that yummy savoury finish.
I think she's more saying that it won't be significant. It's only for a short amount of time and over a hot pan that will quickly boil off the moisture anyway.
