High end dried mushrooms

flyinglentris

flyinglentris

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Of the following varieties of high end dried mushrooms, which would you prefer and why?

Bamboo
Bolete
Cauliflower
Cepes
Champignon Buttons
Chanterelle/Girolle
Cloud Ear
Cordyceps (Fresh Cap)
Enoki
Lion's Mane
Lobster
Maitake (Hen of The Woods)
Matsutake
Morel
Mousseron
Nameko
Nashimoto Shirakiku
Oyster
Paddy Straw
Porcini
Reishi
Saffron Milk Cap
Shiitake
Trompette
Truffle, Black
Truffle, Kalahari
Truffle, White
White Coral/Fungus
Wood Ear
Yartsa Gunbu

If I missed something, please mention it.
 
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We use cepes/porcini/boletes (same thing) all the time. Even grind them up into a powder to use in pasta, as a dust, and other uses.

I've used morels in the past and won't again. If I'm going to spend that much, I'll pay a little more and wait until I can get fresh.

Chantarelles were okay.

Cloud ears, AKA tree ears, I wouldn't call high end. They are pretty inexpensive at the Asian market. You have to cut the hard parts out, so they entail a bit of work. And, boy oh boy do they expand. You'll never believe something that small gets so big.

Shiitake, same as cloud ears. We use both of them in hot and sour soup, which I love.

I don't bother with dried oyster mushrooms because we can get the White/gray ones at the grocery, and colored one at the farmer's market or a high-end specialty market we visit occasionally. Same with Hen of the Woods.

I didn't realize they made dried truffles. After having had fresh, I'm not sure about even trying them.

Also surprised they'd even bother with enoki since they are so small and delicate in structure and flavor.
 
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medtran49 said:
We use cepes/porcini/boletes (same thing) all the time. Even grind them up into a powder to use in pasta, as a dust, and other uses.

I've used morels in the past and won't again. If I'm going to spend that much, I'll pay a little more and wait until I can get fresh.

Chantarelles were okay.

Cloud ears, AKA tree ears, I wouldn't call high end. They are pretty inexpensive at the Asian market. You have to cut the hard parts out, so they entail a bit of work. And, boy oh boy do they expand. You'll never believe something that small gets so big.

Shiitake, same as cloud ears. We use both of them in hot and sour soup, which I love.

I don't bother with dried oyster mushrooms because we can get the White/gray ones at the grocery, and colored one at the farmer's market or a high-end specialty market we visit occasionally. Same with Hen of the Woods.

I didn't realize they made dried truffles. After having had fresh, I'm not sure about even trying them.

Also surprised they'd even bother with enoki since they are so small and delicate in structure and flavor.
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You are corrrect (I had to look it up) Cepes, Porcini and Boletes are the same general type of Mushroom.

You can get dried Truffles. It's true.
 
Dried Mushrooms, like those dried Morels, can be brought back to some degree of flavor and texture originality by preparing them before using, allowing them to absorb water. I agree though. It's really not the same thing.
 
Don't think that I've ever heard of dfried mushrooms before. What do they look like? :unsure:
 
Shermie said:
Don't think that I've ever heard of dfried mushrooms before. What do they look like? :unsure:
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Pretty much what you'd imagine.

We use to use a lot of dried shiitake and morels. Haven't messed with too many others dried, as we can get them pretty readily from the growers in PA (shout out to Kennett Square). They are fantastic for adding a punch of umami in stocks and broths. Porcini powder as well. Some of the wild foraged mushrooms have such a short life, drying is the only real option if you want to have them longer than just a few weeks out of the year.
 
ThatDude said:
Pretty much what you'd imagine.

We use to use a lot of dried shiitake and morels. Haven't messed with too many others dried, as we can get them pretty readily from the growers in PA (shout out to Kennett Square). They are fantastic for adding a punch of umami in stocks and broths. Porcini powder as well. Some of the wild foraged mushrooms have such a short life, drying is the only real option if you want to have them longer than just a few weeks out of the year.
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ThatDude puts it exactly, these mushrooms are expensive and won't keep well, even in the fridge. Getting them in dry form is for that reason, preferable. I have bought brown Crimini Mushrooms only to see them start to turn soggy in the refrigerator before I around to using them.

As a side note: Why can't we just use the term savory instead of umami?
 
55511
 
flyinglentris said:
Why can't we just use the term savory instead of umami?
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Umami is a distinct flavour which is recognised in the culinary world. Savoury is a general term. Umami is a savoury flavour but not all savoury flavours are umami.

Dried mushrooms are not usually regarded as a substitute for fresh or a standby for when fresh can't be obtained. They have a very strong distinctive umami flavour which fresh mushrooms don't have. As has been mentioned just adding a small amount of dried mushroom powder to a dish can really ramp up the flavour.

At the moment I've got 3 kinds of dry mushrooms: porcini, mixed wild and wood ear. The latter (as medtran49 says) are not regarded as 'high end'. They expand like crazy and have a jelly-like texture but little flavour. So they tend to be used for mainly for texture, particularly in Chinese cooking.
 
flyinglentris said:
Of the following varieties of high end dried mushrooms, which would you prefer and why?

Bamboo
Bolete
Cauliflower
Cepes
Champignon Buttons
Chanterelle/Girolle
Cloud Ear
Cordyceps (Fresh Cap)
Enoki
Lion's Mane
Lobster
Maitake (Hen of The Woods)
Matsutake
Morel
Mousseron
Nameko
Nashimoto Shirakiku
Oyster
Paddy Straw
Porcini
Reishi
Saffron Milk Cap
Shiitake
Trompette
Truffle, Black
Truffle, Kalahari
Truffle, White
White Coral/Fungus
Wood Ear
Yartsa Gunbu

If I missed something, please mention it.
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I wouldn't say you missed anything but different areas provide different species. I use mainly local mushrooms: fresh, frozen (when cooked) and dried ones. We have a drier at home. The most common dried mushrooms sold (or self-dried species) here are chanterelles (on your list) - although they're better fresh or frozen -, trompettes/horns of plenty/black chanterelles (on your list), porcini/cep; Boletus edulis ('Bolete' - porcini is one species of that family -/'Porcini' on your list, abundant, imported worldwide from Finland), false morels/lorchels/brain mushrooms (they're delicious but toxic/lethal if not boiled twice or thrice before drying or cooking so we use them very seldom; they're collected in late spring in pine forests), funnel chanterelles/yellowfeet (delicious and abundant), chaga mushrooms (mainly used as a health product; they have a mild taste so they can be used in cooking too) and curry milk-cap (Lactarius camphoratus). Local truffles are sold fresh. Imported dried mushrooms (like shiitake) are also available but they're not popular as fresh ones are readily available.
 
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I just received an order I put in for Dried Morels (1 Oz.), Dried Chanterelles (2 Oz.) and Dried Black Truffles (1 Oz.).

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Now, I've got to find an opportunity to use them in a Recipe.
 
I only buy local dried porcini at the green market in Split. In season we use fresh. My wife was born in Istria Croatia which is the center of wild mushroom and truffle picking. She is a very good forager.
The largest white truffle in the world according to the Guinness book of records, was found in Istria by our supplier Giancarlo Zigante in 1999. It weighed 1.31 kg. A previous white truffle found in 2009 was auctioned at a truffle festival for $150,000.
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my wild mushroom risotto. I use reconstituted dried porcini for the risotto and top it with sauteed fresh Chanterelle's
56827
 
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A lot of truffles are also coming from China now. The p!ace where we've gotten truffles from for years warned us about them a couple of years ago.

They are also growing truffles in the northwest part of the US for the past few years. They are a LOT less potent in smell and taste than the Italian or French ones. Not bad, but it's like comparing artisan made bread to Wonder bread, and I bet only Americans will get that comparison.

I've been considering picking up some blacks and making something special for Valentine's Day.
 
medtran49 said:
I've been considering picking up some blacks and making something special for Valentine's Day.
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In the 21 years of marriage the only fungi Mrs B has eaten is....I managed to get her to eat dried porcini in risotto for a few years now, but she will not touch sauteed fresh mushrooms. After the balkans war before the tourists returned her Istrian relative would sell the fungi to the Italians. Last year we went to visit our Bosnian friends and had a wonderful Valentines/wedding aniv meal. This year it was my turn to choose. We hoped to go here, see link. We have been before and there are dishes she likes without fungi. Covid has blocked the idea so the only thing on the menu is a piece of suckling. I spoke to Harry as usual at the weekend, we both would like an update about Craig? https://restaurantzigante.com/en/home-2/
 
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