How do you cook Portobello mushrooms?

Morning Glory

Morning Glory

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Mod. Edit. the following few posts have been copied over from another thread to start a new topic.

The discussion started with whether or not to remove the gills before cooking.
 
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Just clean out the gills in portabellos before griling. Otherwise, you have a brown, runny mess. I just use a spoon and gently scrape them out over some paper towels so I can throw the mess away. The mushrooms get lightly oiled before grilling so they don't stick.
 
medtran49 said:
Just clean out the gills in portabellos before griling. Otherwise, you have a brown, runny mess.
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Oh! I feel like I'm arguing about everything today. I cook Portobello and Portobellini mushrooms quite often and have never done this. I mean, I don't find they make a brown runny mess. Grilling however means putting on a barbecue? It gets confusing because grilling in the UK means cooking under a heat source. I generally pan fry Portobellinis or Potabollos as here:

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Yes, on a grill over charcoal outside. I find the gills exude a brown watery fluid once they are cooked, especially if you are taking time to stuff them and then put back on the grill. Besides that, more room for stuffing if you take out the gills. BTW, when I say portabello burgers, I am talking about using the large portabello mushrooms that are big enough for 1 to be used as a regular sized burger, not the little ones in your picture. I don't have a problem with the gills in the little ones, it's just the giant sized ones.
 
@morning glory
I agree with @medtran49. I remove the gills from the large portabellas - raw or grilled. I have "gilled" portabellas on the grill, in the broiler or in a cast iron skillet on the range top.

I have used portabellas - without gills - raw or grilled - instead of bread for an open faced "sandwich". Grilled for a hot sandwich (burgers) - raw for a cold deli meat sandwich.
 
ElizabethB said:
@morning glory
I agree with @medtran49. I remove the gills from the large portabellas - raw or grilled. I have "gilled" portabellas on the grill, in the broiler or in a cast iron skillet on the range top.

I have used portabellas - without gills - raw or grilled - instead of bread for an open faced "sandwich". Grilled for a hot sandwich (burgers) - raw for a cold deli meat sandwich.
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OK - its just not something which has ever occurred to me to do. I don't cook the full size portabellos very often though. And in fact, I've never heard it mentioned in a recipe - but then I haven't ever checked out that many portobello recipes!
 
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The Word grilled in Spanish is " a la plancha " and this has nothing to do with a BBQ of any type.

It means to take some Evoo and sauté your mushrooms in hot oil until tender in a sauté-ing skillet ..

I prefer wild Boletus Eduli personally .. ( Portabello are much more common in Italy than Spain .. ) ..

I mince 1 or 2 tiny cloves of lavender garlic, then mince up some fresh Italian parsely and sprinkle some sea salt or Himalayan salt on the Boletus ..

That is it .. Boletus Eduli have a totally different shaped "umbrella" and have much thicker stems, so it is best to slice into halves or quarters depending on the size ..

Baby Boletus, I do not slice at all .. They are quite tiny ..
 
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Francesca said:
The Word grilled in Spanish is " a la plancha " and this has nothing to do with a BBQ of any type.
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We're not all in Spain and grill in the States can mean on a plancha/flat top, on a ridged or not pan on the stove over fairly high heat, or on a charcoal or gas grill.
 
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medtran49 said:
grill in the States can mean on a plancha/flat top, on a ridged or not pan on the stove over fairly high heat,
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Yes - I think that would be griddle in the UK! It does get a bit crazy when we compare our words for things. :) But, hey ho, its all about cooking and as @ElizabethB says, we can learn a bit about each others vocabularies.
 
ElizabethB said:
The joy of an international forum is that we all learn new definitions for terms we are accustomed to. My culinary vocabulary has grown leaps and bounds. There is no right or wrong, authentic or not authentic. Regional is the best way I can define many of the terms used on this lovely forum.
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@ElizabethB

This is true .. I have a Canadian Coach now which comes to my agency to provide intensified Business English courses from September to June for all my Staff plus for myself ( a conversation class only ) ..

Most of my English teachers were American from The New England región of the Usa, Boston predominately and a couple from Manhattan as well ..

I have had English Trainers from Edimburgh and London Celta Tefl ( Cambridge Certified Teacher of English to Foreign Students ) as well ..

I speak 4 languages and am now studying Italian when I can .. I practice online at and with my gent at this time but am planning to do an Intensified Italian course later on this year ..
 
I've always cleaned the gills from portabella mushrooms because I've been told that they impart a bitterness. But, I've also seen people who don't and who swear by that method. I always discarded the gill-scrapings until I made mushroom soup last year, when I decided to put the scrapings into the stock I prepared for the recipe. Wow...this made for an amazing flavor.

One day, I may just grill a batch of the mushroom caps leaving the gills on half of them so I can compare.
 
The Late Night Gourmet said:
I've always cleaned the gills from portabella mushrooms because I've been told that they impart a bitterness. But, I've also seen people who don't and who swear by that method. I always discarded the gill-scrapings until I made mushroom soup last year, when I decided to put the scrapings into the stock I prepared for the recipe. Wow...this made for an amazing flavor.

One day, I may just grill a batch of the mushroom caps leaving the gills on half of them so I can compare.
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Well I can vouch for the fact that they are not at all bitter and I've never removed them. They are after all just mature common mushrooms. Now I've googled a bit I have seen that a few recipes recommend removing them (some say it will turn the dish dirty brown if you leave them in). Then I looked at Great British Chef website - a brilliant website which contains recipes from the best British chefs, some of whom are Michelin starred. There are a few recipes using Portobellos but none say anything about gill removal.

Here is a sous vide recipe which caught my attention: http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/slow-cooked-portobello-mushroom-recipe

Even better is Atul Koccher's (Michelin starred chef) - Edamame bean-stuffed Portobello mushroom.
http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/indian-stuffed-portobello-mushroom-recipe
 
morning glory said:
Here is a sous vide recipe which caught my attention: http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/slow-cooked-portobello-mushroom-recipe
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I noticed that the Chef peeled the mushrooms. Interesting. That would have been a great recipe for the Celery challenge.

The Late Night Gourmet said:
I always discarded the gill-scrapings until I made mushroom soup last year, when I decided to put the scrapings into the stock I prepared for the recipe. Wow...this made for an amazing flavor.
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Brilliant!

I scrape the gills more because I do not like the look or the texture.
 
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