Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Preparing Wild Mushrooms

Whether you forage for them yourself like I do, or you pick them up at the market, fresh wild mushrooms, rare seasonal treat that they are, should be treated with lots of care. Wild mushrooms keep best stored in a paper bag in the refrigerator.

To prepare wild mushrooms, simply brush them clean with a dry pastry brush.


You can use a moist paper towel for the most stubborn dirt, but otherwise avoid cleaning mushrooms with water as they will become slimy. Trim as necessary with a paring knife.


Don’t worry too much about removing every last speck, after all, wild mushrooms do come from the forest floor.

To preserve their natural shapes, tear large chanterelle, hedgehog, oyster, and maitake mushrooms into smaller pieces.


Slice lobster, porcini, and morel mushrooms into bite-size pieces with a knife.


The wild mushrooms are now ready to cook.

2 comments:

Finla said...

I love different kinf of mushrooms and now they are in full season.
Looking forward to see why you made with those wonderful mushrooms

LJ said...

I actually do wash my mushrooms. They usually come home covered with mud and pine needles and require more thorough cleaning. I fill a large bowl with water and dump them in. After soaking for a couple minutes I pull them out, run them under a light stream of tap water to get the last bits of dirt out, and then lay them out on a towel-covered baking sheet for 12-24 hours (more if they were waterlogged when I picked them). Then they get wrapped in a towel, put in another bowl and tossed in the fridge. I've never had any sliminess problems, and I've done it with chanterelles, hedgehogs, pig's ears and yellow-feet.

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