I love mushrooms, with some particular favorites – trumpet / king oyster and maitake / hen of the woods are top of the pile for me in fresh, black / shiitake in dried, though porcini has its own special place.
Used to be that Whole Foods had a wide array of wild mushrooms in bins, though not so much these days, just some packaged assortments. Luckily, there are a few Asian markets near me that still carry quite a wide range, and, these days, a decent organic selection too.
Recent favorites for me were an old favorite restaurant dish with maitake that I recreated after a long time (crisp roasted with a preserved lemon and creamy cheese sauce), fantastic tea tree mushrooms at a Dongbei Chinese restaurant – chewy and intensely flavorful, and trumpet / king oyster mushrooms in a favorite yakitori-ish prep, glazed with tare sauce.
It’s somewhat seasonal. Crimini/brown mushrooms year-round, chanterelles in the autumn, morels in late spring. Prices are important–lobster and chanterelles are unusually inexpensive now, at around $15/lb (1/4 pound is enough for me). I just saute them until done, for omelets and meat/fish garnish. Sometimes I make more elaborate dishes. Last week’s stewed lamb had criminis, and today I’ll be braising BISO chicken thighs with chanterelles and white wine, roux to thicken.
The SE thread is an interesting opposite to the method I learned from someone mentioning it on Chowhound ages ago — dry sautéing!
When I do it the dry way, it feels like less liquid is exuded (and then reabsorbed to intensify the flavor). Butter and salt after that. Then remove to a plate and start the rest of the recipe.
But sometimes when I start with onions and garlic, it ends up like the steaming version with lots of liquid.
ETA: this article says there’s a texture and intensity difference between the two methods, and I agree about intensity, but perhaps the texture depends on the type of mushroom.
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
7
The “mushroom couple” at a local farmers market always have a selection of the weird and wonderful. But whatever we might find in their mixed box, we always add a couple of King Oyster mushroom. Dried porcini are a cupboard standby. And orgnaic portobello from the supermarket are a regular purchase. In fact three of them are tomorrow’s breakfast, served on toast (lashings of ketchup).
I was surprised at how well it worked! Roasting or a dry-saute has been my go to, but I’ve never tried to cook so many at once, which crowds the pan at first.
BTW, the Serious Eats discussion poo-poos the no washing rule.
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
11
Well if you’re going to make them wet then it doesn’t matter if you start wet
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BarneyGrubble
(Aficionado of Beethoven, and Latina singers)
13
Isn’t there a concern that if you did that they would stew instead of fry?
BarneyGrubble
(Aficionado of Beethoven, and Latina singers)
14
I love cream of mushroom soup, for which I find porcini (reconstituted in hot chicken stock) essential. I use a mix of mushrooms, scraping out any dark gills before.
A favorite mushroom is the morel, but I have trouble finding them in the suburbs, where I live. Perhaps just as well, as they used to be so expensive when I found them easily downtown.
I’m not @Saregama , but in the linked Serious Eats article they write that wet, even soaked mushrooms do not pick up much water by weight. I made a large batch
by the time they finished they were nicely browned. I won’t say dry or crisp, caramelized or at least caramelizing. I stopped a bit early because I was using them in a baked dish.
I had a really delicious chicken and morel Vol-au-Vent at Au Pied de Cochon in Montreal last month. I can’t find the Picard recipe online. Here is another chef’s recipe.
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I’m a sucker for burgers topped with Swiss and sautéed mushrooms.
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot, cooking and eating in northwest England)
19
I think my absolute favourite preparation was at Antony Worrall Thompson’s Kew Grill some years back when I was “down south” researching at the National Archives (a version is still on the menu).
Devilled lamb kidneys and sauteed field mushrooms in a creamy sauce spiked with paprika - on toast. Current version seems to have done away with the toast.
