How to make mushrooms POP

[Peter the eater]

I have developed a taste for the mushrooms that have been rolling around in the crisper for several weeks. The ones that are on their way to dessication but still have some moisture. They're darker, chewier and more flavourful than the bright white turgid mushrooms fresh from the market.

Based on the talk here I'm thinking they work so well in the skillet because the reduced water content means less steaming from within.

[dougal]

... I think aggressive sauteeing is overused, especially in American restaurant kitchens. But for mushrooms -- at least for supermarket mushrooms where the challenge is developing flavor in a product that's pretty bland off the shelf -- it's the way to go.

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I have developed a taste for the mushrooms that have been rolling around in the crisper for several weeks. The ones that are on their way to dessication but still have some moisture. They're darker, chewier and more flavourful than the bright white turgid mushrooms fresh from the market.

Based on the talk here I'm thinking they work so well in the skillet because the reduced water content means less steaming from within.

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Again, boldly risking stating the obvious and the well-known (but maybe it'll help someone), the younger, less mature, "tighter" and whiter the (cultivated) mushroom, the less flavour it is going to have.

The more mature, darker, "open" or "flat" stage of the exact same (farmed Agaricus) mushroom has much more intrinsic flavour...

[moreace01]

I second (third? fourth?) the aggressive saute technique. To be honest, I'm a better cook than my mom, but her mushrooms are ALWAYS better than mine. I finally (this summer) figured out why - because she has a tendency to cook things on high and then forget about them. She lets the pan get good and hot, pops them in with a little oil to saute in and then lets them go (um, sometimes a little too long). Tosses them in the pan a few times and that is about it. I think the trick is to get the pan really hot and then leave them the heck alone! Don't crowd them in the pan or they will sweat (and turn rubbery) and don't stir them around very much so they get good and brown. Add a little salt and there you go! Sure, adding wine or herbs will help enhance the flavor. But the basic technique is key. It took me a decade to finally figure this out.

[Fat Guy]

Right, I think that's important. It's not exactly a straight sautee when you do it at home. In a real sautee you're trying to keep the ingredients in motion pretty much constantly. Whereas, when you do this with mushrooms, you want to let them sit, then shake, sit, then shake. Getting the timing of that alternation down is essential to getting the nice browning at home-range temperatures. On a restaurant stove, at that kind of high heat, you can skip the sitting part.

[OliverN]

I have developed a taste for the mushrooms that have been rolling around in the crisper for several weeks. The ones that are on their way to dessication but still have some moisture. They're darker, chewier and more flavourful than the bright white turgid mushrooms fresh from the market.

Based on the talk here I'm thinking they work so well in the skillet because the reduced water content means less steaming from within.

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Yes! This sounds familiar! My friend who cooked the great mushrooms that I talked about in the original post said that they "weren't great quality mushrooms, in fact they've been in the fridge for ages"....

In the interest of science, I'm going to go out, buy a box of cremini mushrooms, throw them in the back of the fridge, and forget about them for a week, cook them with the dry-fry technique discussed above, and see what happens. Will you keep you posted!

Besides, mushrooms don't really go moldy... do they? Oh and, an aside... is there any difference between the 'brown' and 'white' button mushrooms they sell at the store?

Edited November 29, 2007 by OliverN (log)

[Peter the eater]

Besides, mushrooms don't really go moldy... do they? Oh and, an aside... is there any difference between the 'brown' and 'white' button mushrooms they sell at the store?

I'm quite sure mold could grow on mushrooms (both are fungi) but they never last that long around here.

Also pretty sure I have seen "brown buttons" for sale that were really creminis.

What I often wonder about are the gills - the dark fins under the cap. I've heard many say how important it is to get rid of them for flavour reasons. I'm not sure I buy into that. I agree a big portobello complete with gills can turn a white sauce into a brown-gray mess, but ruin the taste?

[dougal]

I have developed a taste for the mushrooms that have been rolling around in the crisper for several weeks. The ones that are on their way to dessication but still have some moisture. They're darker, chewier and more flavourful than the bright white turgid mushrooms fresh from the market.

...

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Yes! This sounds familiar! My friend who cooked the great mushrooms that I talked about in the original post said that they "weren't great quality mushrooms, in fact they've been in the fridge for ages"....

In the interest of science, I'm going to go out, buy a box of cremini mushrooms, throw them in the back of the fridge, and forget about them for a week, ...

Besides, mushrooms don't really go moldy... do they?

...

... is there any difference between the 'brown' and 'white' button mushrooms they sell at the store?

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Again excuse me while I try and get some foundations under these 'castles in the air'.

Types of "mushroom".

Y'know how there are types of apple? How Cox, Mackintosh and Bramley are rather different in taste and usage?

Well there are thousands of different types of mushrooms, but only a few have been 'domesticated' for cultivation.

Some like Ceps (Porcini - exactly the same thing) cannot be farmed - they have to be collected from the wild. Apart from anything else this makes them more expensive than farmed products.

A word about names of mushrooms. There are market names and there are traditional names (different in different places and countries for the exact same thing) and there are scientific names. Scientific names should be specific - but, and it happens more frequently with fungi than most, things do get reclassified, yet some continue to use the 'old' name.

It can indeed get confusing.

Cremini/Crimini are the exact same mushroom as Portabella - they are just picked younger.

Its rather like lamb and mutton, beef and veal.

You get a stronger flavour from the older/larger/mature/fully-opened mushroom.

Don't believe me? Grow your own and see for yourself.

For example see the pictures here http://www.mushroomadventures.com/portabella.html

Note that I'm talking about "growing them on to maturity".

I'm not talking about ageing them (like hanging meat) after picking them.

The "common supermarket white mushroom" is terribly closely related to the cremini/portabella (botanically they are both Agaricus Bisporus).

And just like the Portabella, its adult stage has bags more flavour than the pale juvenile. Its veal and beef all over again.

The juvenile "Button" stage seems to be the most profitable time for the producers to pick and ship -- BUT that does not mean that its the ideal type to buy for flavour... !

If you can't buy adult mushrooms locally, you can easily grow your own and watch the transition from "Button" to "Flat"

See the photos here http://www.mushroomadventures.com/whitebutton.html

There are a few other varieties that can be cultivated, but for more variety of flavour and texture one has to start foraging for wild species. (Or buying foraged mushrooms.) My strong recommendation is that, for safety, people start their foraging by learning to spot those few species that are actually very dangerous to eat, so as to minimise the risk.

My personal favourite flavour (and mushroom cooking smell) is the "Shaggy Parasol" (Macrolepiota rhacoides) http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/Dis...ck~bid~6386.asp but as noted, it isn't for everyone.

And finally, yes, mushrooms do "go off", rot, decompose and even get parasitised by other fungi...

It doesn't make them taste better.

EDIT: typo missed letter added, italic tags corrected

Edited November 30, 2007 by dougal (log)

[dougal]

What I often wonder about are the gills - the dark fins under the cap. I've heard many say how important it is to get rid of them for flavour reasons. I'm not sure I buy into that. I agree a big portobello complete with gills can turn a white sauce into a brown-gray mess, but ruin the taste?

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The only reason for removing dark gills would be cosmetic.

Unless one really didn't like the taste of mushroom...

[divalasvegas]

OliverN if you like stuffed mushroom caps, try using Alton Brown's method here of baking the mushroom caps first. This method releases a lot of water and concentrates the flavor. In general, I never cared too much for stuffed mushrooms since the mushrooms always had a raw, unfinished flavor compared to the stuffing. But this method really works (used crabmeat stuffing, not his yet, but it was great).

[heidih]

OliverN if you like stuffed mushroom caps, try using Alton Brown's method here of baking the mushroom caps first. This method releases a lot of water and concentrates the flavor. In general, I never cared too much for stuffed mushrooms since the mushrooms always had a raw, unfinished flavor compared to the stuffing.  But this method really works (used crabmeat stuffing, not his yet, but it was great).

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I do something similar, but bake them cap side up. The entire bowl fills with liquid which I pour off into the stuffing. Could be my imagination, but I think it imparts more mushroominess.

[Fat Guy]

I was preparing to cook some mushrooms as an accompaniment to dinner this evening, so I thought I'd take a crack at photographing my standard method. I'm not sure if this is a valuable illustration or not, but here goes.

This is a well-preheated 12" skillet, into which I've put about a tablespoon of olive oil, an assortment of standard supermarket cultivated mushrooms, and some salt. Then I just shake/toss thoroughly every 30 seconds or so. The time stamp on the first photo is 17:58:18 (5:58pm and 18 seconds). The last photo is 18:02:13 (6:02pm and 13 seconds). So, you're looking at about 4 minutes of evolution here:

On the plate:

The point here is that when you apply high heat to mushrooms you don't get wet, limp mushrooms the way so many people do when they use medium heat. With high heat, you push the water out quickly enough that it doesn't interfere with the browning, and you get attractive mushrooms with nice texture and flavor. It's easy and quick. If you want to make your mushrooms "pop," it really is this simple.

[heidih]

This is a well-preheated 12" skillet, into which I've put about a tablespoon of olive oil, an assortment of standard supermarket cultivated mushrooms, and some salt. Then I just shake/toss thoroughly every 30 seconds or so.

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Have you tried it with no oil? I just spray or rub with oiled paper towel cuz my pan is a no stick versus a seasoned cast iron. I did it yesterday with King Oyster mushrooms which are much more dense than the buttons and alot more dry. Sliced across the grain. I let them brown on one side (well more color-up) and then flip using chopsticks. Really good all by themselves and greater still incorporated into some later dishes. But I definitely let them just sit on the first side until they have released moisture and are starting to color versus moving them around alot. I make myself walk away from the stove.

[Fat Guy]

That's a non-stick pan you're looking at in the photos (Calphalon Commercial Nonstick). I've done it with less oil but I like the taste of the olive oil and I think it aids the browning process. I like to drizzle the finished mushrooms with a little higher-quality olive oil too, when I'm allowed to do so.

[scubadoo97]

Steven, that's the exact method I use. I like the taste of the olive oil or butter or both

[JAZ]

The point here is that when you apply high heat to mushrooms you don't get wet, limp mushrooms the way so many people do when they use medium heat. With high heat, you push the water out quickly enough that it doesn't interfere with the browning, and you get attractive mushrooms with nice texture and flavor. It's easy and quick. If you want to make your mushrooms "pop," it really is this simple.

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It's also important to remember not to crowd the pan -- I think no matter how high the heat, if you have more than a single layer of mushrooms, the liquid won't evaporate quickly enough and they'll start to steam.

[Fat Guy]

Agreed. That skillet I'm using is 12", which I've found is larger than what most people have (the average largest skillet in a normal person's house, in my experience, is 10" or 10.5"). And even then I'm not putting a ton of mushrooms in there. You can fill the pan about as much as I did in the first photo -- it doesn't have to be a true single layer, because you're going to get almost immediate shrinkage. But if you crowd it too much then you're going to have major troubles.

[slkinsey]

Nice, Steven. Your experience and technique is much the same as mine. I also find, strangely enough, that shaking the pan or flipping the mushrooms too often can sometimes cause them to suddenly shed a lot of liquid.

[Fat Guy]

I thought it might be helpful to re-illustrate the technique with regular button mushrooms. I used quite a few: two standard supermarket boxes. This is about the maximum my 12" skillet can accommodate without tripping over into steaming territory.

So, the progression here runs from 6:46pm until 6:53pm:

I didn't do a flawless job tonight. I didn't let the pan get hot enough before adding the mushrooms, I pushed pretty far on capacity, and I think I could have gone an extra minute to get some extra browning -- then again I was concerned that a couple of the mushrooms seemed about to burn. But, the mushrooms were quite tasty. We just ate them plain.