Cooking Mushrooms

When I prepare mushrooms for whatever recipe I intend to use them for, I usually just rub them with a piece of paper towel to remove the dirt and that is it. I do not wash them because according to my friends the flavor is in the skin too and washing them washes the good flavor that you can get. I use mushrooms on my stir fry asian-inspired dishes.
 
The only mushroom I know is the button mushroom that we see in the fresh section of the grocery. It is quite expensive so we rarely buy it. The most common use for that is to include it as ingredient to American Chop Suey - a dish made of broccoli, cauliflower, young corn, asparagus, mushroom. With pork bits and chicken bits that were sauteed in garlic and onions, the mushroom has that neutralizing taste for the tang of the green vegetables in the dish.
 
Where to begin? Depends on the dish. But generally they are gently fried in butter first. Although not in the case of mushroom curry. But I very often eat them raw in salads. Oh, and then there's Mushrooms a la Greque, which is eaten room temperature. And then steak and mushroom pie... the list goes on.
 
I heat a few teaspoons of butter in a skillet over medium heat. You can also use olive oil but I prefer butter. I then add the mushrooms and a pinch of salt, and stir evenly coating the mushrooms with the butter. I cook them for 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently. I then continue cooking the mushrooms over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until all the moisture has evaporated and the mushrooms appeared cooked. It takes about 6-8 minutes to cook them. I like eating them just like that. :)
 
L_B said:
I heat a few teaspoons of butter in a skillet over medium heat. You can also use olive oil but I prefer butter. I then add the mushrooms and a pinch of salt, and stir evenly coating the mushrooms with the butter. I cook them for 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently. I then continue cooking the mushrooms over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until all the moisture has evaporated and the mushrooms appeared cooked. It takes about 6-8 minutes to cook them. I like eating them just like that. :)
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I do the same but using a vegetable, nut or rice oil rather than butter and without the salt. Sometimes I add some spice, such as paprika, or fresh herbs, depending on the dish I'm cooking.
 
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I don't have fresh mushrooms often mostly out of a can, they go into what ever I am cooking. I have started to reduce the amount of meat a recipe calls for and replace it with mushrooms if we have them.
 
Whenever I am using cooked mushrooms in any recipe, I try to cook them down on their own first before adding them to anything, simply because they contain way too much moisture and can otherwise cause a dish to be really bland and watered down tasting. For example, if I try to make a beef stir fry and throw the mushrooms in the beef, they will give off so much water that the meat ends up steaming instead of searing and browning. Same goes if I'm trying to saute some mushroom and onions to go over a steak or a burger, the onions will take forever to caramelize because of all the water from the mushrooms. I generally just throw them in an 8" non stick frying pan with a smidge of oil, some sea salt and black pepper, and let them cook on medium until they sweat out all of their excess moisture, and start to caramelize and brown on the outside. The other benefit of cooking them down first is that you can get a better sense of how much mushroom you are really adding to a dish since they shrink down quite a bit once they are cooked down.

I also try to do this when I am making pizzas at home. Otherwise the mushrooms will often leave a puddle of moisture in the middle of the pizza causing it to be soggy in the middle and burnt around the crust because I was trying to wait too long for the middle to cook.
 
Here in our place we had different kind of mushroom because of our good climate all the time... the oyster mushroom, button mushroom, shiitake mushroom and the enoki mushroom. Almost everyday mushrooms is present in all our cooking recipes. We stir fry or include them in stews or use them in making a side dish. But my favorite is the oyster mushroom. I slice the mushroom lengthwise then just stir fry it in canola oil and salt to taste in a ceramic pan over the stove. And I like it to be a little bit crispy and it really taste good and appetizing!
 
It's not that hard but it really depends on what you're cooking it for. I usually boil them for soups, grill them for salads and pan-fry them for mixed vegetable dishes. Some mushrooms are really hard so you have to cook them extra long while others are really fragile so watch them. Oven cooking is also good for laid-back mushroom cooking, the flavor really sticks.
 
It really depends on what I'm using them for. I like them raw, so I just wash and slice them for salads, sandwiches, etc.

Cooked, I really like them cooked in butter, garlic, and onion. Sometimes, I add a little wine if I have some on hand. They are perfect over the top of meat or in various recipes. Mmmm.
 
Apart from the usual - fried with a breakfast I love the recipe a restaurant we used to go to had where they removed the stem of a large mushroom filled the top with black pudding replaced the stem and grilled. They were wonderful.
 
sidevalve said:
Apart from the usual - fried with a breakfast I love the recipe a restaurant we used to go to had where they removed the stem of a large mushroom filled the top with black pudding replaced the stem and grilled. They were wonderful.
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I haven't had black pudding and honestly don't even know what it is, but your post reminded of something. I do enjoy stuffed mushroom caps. They can be made with a variety of fillings. They are usually broiled. I recently had some with crab, cream cheese, and shallots. Oh, my, were they delicious.
 
I carefully wipe my mushrooms with a slightly damp paper towel. Then, depending on the recipe, I sliced them and cook them in butter to put over a steak, or mixed into meatloaf, put on top of hamburgers. If I am making spagetti, I just add them to the meat while it is cooking. l also slice them and add them to a fresh leaf spinach salad. I put them raw and whole if small and cut into halves or quarters if large on a vegie plate with some kind of dip.
 
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