Mushroomology

Have you ever cooked a mushroom and thought, “these things are disgusting?”

Cooked in the wrong way, mushrooms can be rubbery and slimy.

Here are some ways to ensure your mushrooms are delicious and perfect for your steak.

1. Mushrooms are highly absorbent. Washing mushrooms with water will weigh them down and waterlog them. You should never soak your mushrooms in water. Cleaning them with either a damp paper towel or pastry brush will eliminate this problem.  If you must wash them, do it very quickly and dry them. When it comes to mushrooms, I am very picky about the ones I buy. I try to buy mushrooms that are cleaned well already. It may cost me an extra dollar, which I know is completely against my rules, but sometimes those rules don’t make sense. When it comes to mushrooms, buy them already cleaned and sliced. If I can visibly see a lot of dirt, I just pass on them.  When it comes to being frugal, sometimes poor quality does not help us, it makes things worse for us. When it comes to mushrooms, I don’t skimp and buy old mushrooms or very dirty ones. If I buy them and they get old, I will use them in something.
2. Scorch those bad boys. I mean get your pan screaming hot.  Otherwise, you will just be cooking them in a lot of their own liquid. You want to encourage the carmelization of mushroom’s natural sugars, by keeping the liquid out of the equation.
3. Do not salt your mushrooms until they are cooked. You will make them rubbery. Salt draws out the water and creates steam instead of bringing out the natural sugars.
4. Don’t move your mushrooms around until you can visibly see that they are browning. Once they start to brown, they are pretty tough, therefore allowing you to move them and stir them; do whatever you want. But until they start to brown they have a lot of water in them.
5. As I already stated, mushrooms are very absorbent. You want to use plenty of butter or oil. Certain mushrooms burn easily and you need to keep an eye on the amount of fat that is in the pan.