cooking instructions, button mushrooms <3

Mushrooms in general are sensitive little things to cook, it's not super complicated, but it is gotten wrong far too often. Here is a quick quide line for cooking mushrooms;

 

Frying.

1. clean them with a brush / tissue rather than water. The little fellas are going to get soggy and sad otherwise.

2. start with a high heat with a thin layer of oil (I prefer rapeseed or sunflower, as they are neutral and have a reasonably high burning point), don't add too many mushrooms at once, as a rule you should be able to see maybe 30% of the pan still, if you go to crazy they are going to start boiling / steaming and loosing essential mushroom moistures.

3. don't try being a hero moving the pan around all the time, this is classic trainee cook business. If you need something to keep you from throwing the pan around, try counting backwards from 30 before moving the pan. We are trying to get some colour on them... and again... moving them round upsets them, releases water. The cooking time would be approx 3 minutes, it depends on the type & quantity of the mushroom. For me I'd rather have a mushroom slightly raw inside, but well coloured, rather than one taken too far. 

4. season them towards the end of the cooking process, with salt & pepper and add margerine / butter at this point also (we don't start with marge / butter, because it's going to burn)

5. your best to eat them say 1-10 minutes out the pan, whilst still warm. If you refridgerate them now, you will loose everything that made them magic, but they are still going to be better than potato. 

eat them raw.

1. clean them.

2. slice them.

3. add salt and leave it for 30 minutes or so, then add some pepper & olive oil

the right mushrooms are super yummy raw, I think they often need some contrasting texture, as they can sometime be a touch on the slimey side. Raw onion works well, very thinly sliced, good crunch, good acidity (think Finnish mushroom salad)

boiling

1. would not recommend

roasting

1. start off with an oven at a pretty high heat, I'd say 235 - 250c

2. mix the mushrooms with rapeseed or sunflower oil, salt & pepper

3. lay them out well on a baking tray

4. cook them for around 6-8 minutes

5. strain excess fat 

this is not going to be as good as frying them to perfection, but to be honest, if you are cooking for a large group, and or they are not going to be served immediately, I think this is a fair option

 

top 5 things in the world to eat mushrooms with;

toast / chives / egg / peppercorn sauce / spinach & sesame

bonus recipe;

peppercorn-miso sauce

200ml oat cream

2 tbs white miso

1tbs dijon mustard

1tsp whole black peppercorns

1tsp whole green peppercorns

salt

1tbs chives

add everything but the chives in to a saucepan, reduce on a low heat for 30 minutes, 

strain out the peppercorns, add the fresh chives. Serve it with some perfectly cooked mushrooms :-)

that's all for now, hopefully in some very tiny way this will help of fungi friends getting to our plates in top form, please comment with any questions!