Interesting mushroom tip

We all have experienced oily mushrooms. Apparently they have large pockets of air which absorb the fat. If you microwave them for about 30-40 seconds, you collapse the walls, and your smaller mushroom can only absorb a fraction of the oil it used to.

If you only use a little oil they only absorb a little oil.

They don’t brown properly and taste like crap. Otherwise you are right.

Just the tip you say?

From Robuchon by way of Wine Disorder:

“A lot of cooks don’t know how to prepare mushrooms properly. It looks simple, but it’s not. For porcinis, most think you have to cook them at a high heat. You have to take your time in cooking them, in a medium heat. For chanterelles, you have to blanch them in salted boiling water for a few seconds before sauteing. For black trumpet mushrooms, you have to cook out their moisture in a pan with some salt, and drain the excess water before you saute. They can really be extraordinary, if you treat them right.”

Taken from a thread discussing the technique of blanching chanterelles in boiling (non-salted) water for 20 seconds. I don’t know why, but it works. More details here:

http://winedisorder.com/comment/56/4241/?all=true#132999

I wonder if the microwaving might be having a similar effect?

I keep reading the subject as “Interesting mushroom trip,” which is always an oxymoron. That said, thanks for the as-described interesting tip.

I’m surprised it took this many posts. We’re slipping, people.

Fat is delicious.

Indeed it is; greasy is not.

+1000

Robuchon protégée Frédéric Anton (Le Pré Catelan and now Le Jules Verne) sautés mushrooms In olive oil just until they release their juices, drains them, and then sautés again in butter to brown them. It’s my go-to truc.

Fat and grease are both lipids- same.

Mushroom tip? I thought this about paying off to hush up a one-night stand.

Soggy mushrooms are one of my ghastly gastronomic pleasures in life, that are strictly cooked incorrectly.

I don’t like browned mushrooms (they get dried out and leathery) and I do like my scrambled eggs browned and hard (undercooked eggs have the texture of vomit). The ghosts of all traditionally trained french chefs are rolling in their graves.

But if you must, I find this method works best: melt some butter or duck fat, add mushrooms and salt, cook over medium without moving them for 10 minutes or so. Turn and don’t touch them again for another 3-4 minutes. Add some crushed garlic and a thimble of redwine in the last 2 minutes if you are feeling frisky.

TW




(edited for early morning typos)

Sorry, Tim, but hard-cooked scrambled eggs are satan’s food…wait…thread drift. Sorry!

What’s the best way to cook an egg and why do you think it’s poaching?